Closing summary
The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights campaigner who was prominent for more than 50 years and who ran strongly for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 84. “Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement.
No cause of death was given, although Jackson had had progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) for more than a decade. He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He was also twice hospitalised with Covid in recent years.
The former president Barack Obama has said he is “deeply saddened” by the death of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson. In a statement from both him and his wife, Michelle, he paid tribute to Jackson and the friendship between their families.
President Donald Trump said Jesse Jackson was a “good man” in a social media post, in which he reels off the many ways he claims to have supported the civil rights activist over the years. Trump paid tribute to Jackson, describing him as “very gregarious” and said he had known him over many decades.
Former president Joe Biden has paid tribute to Jesse Jackson and said the civil rights activist was “determined and tenacious” in his belief in America’s promise. He said the late civil rights activist was a man of God, as well as a man of the people and that he was “unafraid to work to redeem the soul of our nation”.
Former vice-president Kamala Harris has also paid tribute to Jesse Jackson, describing him as “one of America’s greatest patriots”. “He spent his life summoning all of us to fulfil the promise of America and building the coalitions to make that promise real,” she wrote in a post on X, adding that he gave a voice to those who were “removed from power and politics”.
The civil rights campaigner, Al Sharpton, has paid tribute to his “mentor” Jesse Jackson, whom he worked closely with over the civil rights era. In a tribute posted to X, Sharpton wrote: “My mentor, Rev. Jesse Jackson, has passed. I just prayed with his family by phone. He was a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world.”
“Jackson was more than a civil rights advocate – he was a living bridge between generations, carrying forward the unfinished work and sacred promise of the Civil Rights Movement,” Martin Luther King III and his wife, Andrea King, said in a statement. The pair added: “He walked with courage when the road was uncertain, spoke with conviction when the truth was inconvenient, and stood with the poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten when it was not popular to do so.”
Bernice King, the daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr, has posted a tribute to Jesse Jackson, saying her “family shares a long and meaningful history with him”. In a statement posted to X, King wrote: “Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. devoted his life to lifting people in poverty, the marginalized, and those pushed to society’s edges. Through Operation PUSH, he pushed barriers and opened doors so Black people and other excluded communities could step into opportunity and dignity.”
Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the House Democrats, has also joined the chorus of tributes to Jackson. In a post on X, Jeffries said he was “the people’s champion” and a “trailblazer extraordinaire”.
Govenor JB Pritzker has ordered flags to half-staff across Illinois in honor of Jesse Jackson. Pritzker, a Democrat, called Jackson a “giant of the civil rights movement.” “He broke down barriers, inspired generations, and kept hope alive,” Pritzker said in social media posts.
Jackson, who first travelled to South Africa in July 1979, just after Steve Biko’s passing, vigorously advocated for American sanctions on the apartheid regime and supported Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid struggle. “His campaigns for an end to apartheid included disinvestment from the apartheid economy and challenging the support the regime enjoyed in certain circles and institutions internationally,” president Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Jackson’s impact “can be felt in virtually every aspect of American life,” said Kristen Clarke, a former assistant attorney general for Civil Rights, US Department of Justice during the Joe Biden administration. “A tireless and extraordinary public servant, his charge to all of us was to stay hopeful, keep up the good fight and respect the dignity and humanity of all people,” Clarke said in a statement on Tuesday.
Minority leader of the Senate Chuck Schumer has called Jesse Jackson an “icon” and “fearless warrior” for justice. In a post on X, he said: “Jesse Jackson was an icon of the civil rights movement and a fearless warrior for justice for all people. He was one of the most powerful forces for positive change in our country and our world. America is a more equal and just place thanks to his work.”
Obamas pay tribute to 'true giant' Jesse Jackson
The former president Barack Obama has said he is “deeply saddened” by the death of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.
In a statement from both him and his wife Michelle, he paid tribute to Jackson and the friendship between their families.
The statement reads:
Michelle and I were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of a true giant, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.
For more than 60 years, Reverend Jackson helped lead some of the most significant movements for change in human history. From organizing boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect.
Reverend Jackson also created opportunities for generations of African Americans and inspired countless more, including us. Michelle got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager. And in his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land.
Michelle and I will always be grateful for Jesse’s lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share. We stood on his shoulders. We send our deepest condolences to the Jackson family and everyone in Chicago and beyond who knew and loved him.
Twenty years after Jackson’s second run for president, Obama saluted Jackson for making his victory possible. Obama celebrated in Chicago, also home to Jackson.
“It was a big moment in history,” Jackson told the Guardian, 12 years later. In an interview with NPR, Jackson said: “I cried because I thought about those who made it possible who were not there … People who paid a real price: Ralph Abernathy, Dr King, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, those who fought like hell [at the Democratic national convention] in Atlantic City in 64, those in the movement in the south.”
