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.”
Bishop William J Barber II, who co-founded the Poor People’s Campaign, recalled Jackson’s hope for America’s promise as he paid tribute to the late civil rights activist.
“Jesse Jackson was a gift from God and a witness that God exists in the ways he cared for and lifted all people, the way he called forth a rainbow coalition of people to challenge economic and social inequality from the pulpit to a historic presidential run, the way he dared to keep hope alive whenever the nation struggled with being who she says she is and yet ought to be,” said Barber.
He added:
When I was a college student, he was a gift to me as a mentor, and it has been my great privilege to have him walk alongside me through my whole public ministry.
May we all take up his hope for the America that has never yet been but nevertheless must be.
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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.
“We are deeply indebted to the energy, principled clarity and personal risk with which he supported our struggle and campaigned for freedom and equality in other parts of the world.”
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.
“Jackson has been, and will always be, a central part of the story regarding America’s ongoing quest for justice and equality.”
During Black History Month in the early 1970s, Jesse Jackson, the civil rights icon who died Tuesday, appeared on the set of the public television show, Sesame Street. Reciting the poem “I Am Somebody”, which was meant to bolster the self esteem of underserved children in urban environments, Jackson led a group of multiracial children on the show in a call and response:
“I am somebody. I am somebody. I may be poor, but I am somebody. I may be young, but I am somebody. I may be on welfare, but I am somebody. I may be small, but I am somebody. I may have made mistakes, but I am somebody. My clothes are different, my face is different, my hair is different, but I am somebody. I am Black, brown, white, I speak a different language, but I must be respected, protected, never rejected. I am God’s child. I am somebody.”
Jackson’s version of the 1940s poem, originally written by Atlanta minister and civil rights leader Reverend Dr. William Holmes Borders, would become a popular refrain in Black households after its airing on Sesame Street that year.
“I Am Somebody” also served as a rallying call for Jackson throughout his life. In August 2021, he chanted the words with protesters as he advocated for voting rights outside of the US Capitol.
Political leaders have celebrated Jesse Jackson as a “titan” of the civil rights movement after the announcement on Tuesday of his death at the age of 84.
Al Sharpton, the veteran civil rights campaigner who Jackson worked closely with after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, called his friend and mentor “a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world”.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Sharpton wrote: “He shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits.”
Senior Democrats, the party for which Jackson campaigned twice as a presidential candidate, in 1984 and 1988, were also quick to pay tribute.
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, praised Jackson for embodying “courage, hope, and a relentlessness that will not be denied.”
“His historic presidential campaigns paved the way for generations of Black leaders to imagine ourselves in rooms we were once told were closed to us,” Robinson said in a statement.
“Reverend Jackson also stood up when it mattered; when it wasn’t easy and when it wasn’t popular. His support for marriage equality and for LGBTQ+ people affirmed a simple, powerful truth: Our liberation is bound together.”
The veteran civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who has died aged 84, made history when he stood for the White House in 1984 and 1988. He was not the first African American to seek the US presidency, but he was the first to mount a serious challenge, breaking through racial barriers, securing millions of votes and, at one point, becoming frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.
His run opened the way for Barack Obama two decades later. But Jackson deserves to be remembered as more than a footnote in Obama’s biography. It took courage and self-confidence to stand in the 1980s, with memories of segregation and the civil rights battles of the 60s still raw.
In the middle of the 1984 presidential run, the writer James Baldwin offered what today still stands as a fitting epitaph. The writer told reporters that the presence of an African-American civil rights activist in the race had been a significant moment.
Jackson’s presence “presents the American Republic with questions and choices it has spent all its history until this hour trying to avoid ... And nothing will ever again be what it was before.” The quote came from Marshall Frady’s sympathetic biography, Jesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson, published in 1996.
“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.
His life was a testament to the power of faith in action – faith that justice could be won, that dignity belongs to every person, and that love must always have the final word.
May his memory be a wellspring of strength and courage for all who continue the sacred work to which he gave his life. As he so often reminded us: keep hope alive.
A statement on behalf of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chairman, Leon W Russell, vice-chair, Karen Boykin Towns and the organisation’s president, Derrick Johnson paid tribute to Jackson today.
It read:
Reverend Jesse Jackson was not only a civil rights icon - he was family to the NAACP. His work advanced black America at every turn. He challenged this nation to live up to its highest ideals, and he reminded our movement that hope is both a strategy and a responsibility.
His historic run for president inspired millions and brought race to the forefront of American politics.
We honor his legacy by continuing the work he championed: protecting the right to vote, expanding economic opportunity, and fighting for the freedom and dignity of black people everywhere.
The mayor of Atlanta said in a statement that he intends to keep Jackson’s hopes alive, as he paid tribute to the late civil rights activist.
“I join the people of Atlanta mourning the passing of an American icon,” mayor Andre Dickens said.
“Rev Jackson showed up for us consistently. He never stopped challenging leaders to do better by Americans, especially when it comes to economic justice. And that’s a fight that we will continue.
“Here in Atlanta, as well as around the country, we would be wise to heed Rev. Jackson’s words and ‘keep hope alive.’ We intend to.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren said Jesse Jackson was a “trailblazer and a fighter” in an X post today.
She said:
I had the privilege of speaking with him about his vision for a fairer, more equal and just country.
He has given a generation of leaders hope that we can and should keep fighting for that vision.
He will be missed.
Here is a video obituary, detailing the remarkable life of the civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who died today:
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.
My prayers are with his family and all of those who were inspired by him. As we honor Rev. Jackson in the coming days, I will be thinking of the many lessons he taught us: “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping them up.” We should all seek to embody that spirit and serve others the way Rev. Jackson did.
Keep hope—alive!
Jesse Jackson’s unapologetic progressivism was rebellion at its core
By the early 1980s, the Democratic party was facing a crossroads. The 1980 landslide election of Ronald Reagan, who clenched the presidency with a whopping 489 electoral college votes against Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter, swiftly pulled the Democratic party to the right in the political and cultural wave of the “Reagan Revolution”.
For those Democratic constituents left behind, however, a challenge was mounting, mostly within US industrial cities whose economies were ransacked by Reagan’s “trickle-down” economics. Record tax cuts for the wealthy had come at the expense of a contracted social safety net, thus exacerbating inequality and collapsing much of the working class into the poor.
Grassroots resistance campaigns spawned across the country in response to this dire urban crisis that had disproportionately devastated African Americans, and between 1982 and 1984 they had registered 2 million new Black voters – the largest gain in registered Black voters since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
These hands-on voter registration drives were orchestrated much in part by Rev Jesse Jackson, the nationally known civil rights activist who died on Tuesday. Jackson had cut his teeth as one of Martin Luther King Jr’s youngest and most charismatic lieutenants in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and throughout the civil rights movement.
By the 1970s, in the wake of King’s assassination, Jackson had transferred the movement’s master-classes in strategic organizing into founding Operation Push, a populist leftist offshoot of the SCLC that coalesced progressive whites, LGBTQ+ communities, environmentalists, Asian Americans, Indigenous Nations, Latinos, anti-war activists, and labor unions.
Jackson led discussions with leadership across the country about the prospect for a national Black-backed progressive movement that could map a viable path to a Democratic nomination for president.
Biden: Jackson was 'determined and tenacious' in his belief in America’s promise
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”.
In a statement on social media, Biden said:
I’ve seen how Reverend Jackson has helped lead our Nation forward through tumult and triumph. He’s done it with optimism, and a relentless insistence on what is right and just. Whether through impassioned words on the campaign trail, or moments of quiet courage, Reverend Jackson influenced generations of Americans, and countless elected leaders, including Presidents.
Reverend Jackson believed in his bones the promise of America: that we are all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, he dedicated his life to ensuring we never fully walked away from it either.
Jill and I are grateful to Reverend Jackson for his lifetime of dedicated service and inspirational leadership. We extend our love to the entire Jackson family, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and all those who counted Reverend Jackson as a mentor, friend, and hero.
Illinois governor orders flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Jackson
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.
“Our state, nation, and world are better due to his years of service.”
Chairman of the Democrats Ken Martin described Jesse Jackson as “a tireless champion for justice, equality, and human dignity”.
In a post on X, he said:
We mourn the passing of civil rights legend Jesse Jackson, a tireless champion for justice, equality, and human dignity.
Rev. Jackson’s lifelong fight for civil rights helped shape a more just America, and his historic 1988 campaign for President broke barriers and inspired millions.
May his legacy continue to guide us forward.
California representative Ro Khanna said Jesse Jackson was a “giant of our times” as he paid tribute to the civil rights activist.
“Reverend Jackson spoke for all those who the powerful do not see. He inspired us to build a rainbow coalition,” he wrote on X.
“His 1988 Convention speech is one of the greatest in our nation’s history. He was a giant of our times.”
Kamala Harris pays tribute to 'one of America's greatest patriots'
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”.
She continued:
He let us know our voices mattered. He instilled in us that we were somebody. And he widened the path for generations to follow in his footsteps and lead. As a young law student, I would drive back and forth from Oakland, where I lived, to San Francisco, where I went to school. I had a bumper sticker in the back window of my car that read: “Jesse Jackson for President.”
As I would drive across the Bay Bridge, you would not believe how people from every walk of life would give me a thumbs up or honk of support. They were small interactions, but they exemplified Reverend Jackson’s life work – lifting up the dignity of working people, building community and coalitions, and strengthening our democracy and nation.
I was proud to partner with and learn from him on this work throughout my career, and I am so grateful for the time we spent together this January. Reverend Jackson was a selfless leader, mentor, and friend to me and so many others.
Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate, said in tribute to Jackson:
Rev. Jesse Jackson understood the immense promise of America and his role in shaping its destiny.
With courage, tenacity and an audacious spirit, he widened our capacity for imagining true unity and deepened our commitment to justice for all.
I was one of the lucky beneficiaries of a vision he never forsook. God bless him and the Jackson family.
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'America has lost a titan in the struggle for civil rights and racial justice' - Buttigieg
Adding to the tributes, former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary in the Biden administration, said Jesse Jackson was a “titan in the struggle for civil rights and racial justice”.
In a tribute posted to social media, he said:
America has lost a titan in the struggle for civil rights and racial justice. From his days at the side of Dr. King, to his moral leadership in this century, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. spent his life pushing our nation closer to its own ideal.
As we pray for his family and loved ones, we should also mark his passing by recommitting ourselves to the vision of a fully free and just society.
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Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro said Jackson was “unrelenting crusader for civil rights, equality and opportunity”.
He also remembered sharing the pulpit with him in 2016 as he paid tribute to him in a post on X.
He wrote:
Rev. Jesse Jackson was a change maker, a boundary breaker, and a passionate and unrelenting crusader for civil rights, equality and opportunity. To be around him felt like you were experiencing history.
It was an honor to share the pulpit with him back in September of 2016 at Sharon Baptist Church in West Philly. I hung on his every word and could feel how much his presence meant to the congregation.
Lori and I are praying for his wife Jacqueline, his family, and everyone he inspired over the years. May the memory of Rev. Jesse Jackson be a blessing.
Donald Trump calls Jackson a 'good man' who 'truly loved the people'
President Donald Trump has 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.
Writing on Truth Social, he said:
He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and “street smarts.” He was very gregarious - Someone who truly loved people! Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way.
I provided office space for him and his Rainbow Coalition, for years, in the Trump Building at 40 Wall Street; Responded to his request for help in getting CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM passed and signed, when no other President would even try; Single handedly pushed and passed long term funding for Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), which Jesse loved, but also, which other Presidents would not do; Responded to Jesse’s support for Opportunity Zones, the single most successful economic development package yet approved for Black business men/women, and much more.
He also claimed that Jackson “could not stand” former president Barack Obama, adding:
Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgment or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand. He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!
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The Georgia senator Rev Raphael Warnock said that Jackson worked to “remind America that equal justice is not inevitable” as he paid tribute to the civil rights activist.
In a post on X, he said:
America has lost one of its great moral voices. Reverend Jesse Jackson spent his life working to ensure our nation lives up to its highest ideals. From his early days as a young staffer with Dr. King onto the national stage, he fought for freedom, racial justice, equality, and for the human dignity of the marginalized and the poor.
As a kid growing up in public housing while watching him run for President, Rev. Jesse Jackson gave me a glimpse of what is possible and taught me to say, “I am somebody!” As an adult, I was proud to call him a friend.
With an eloquence and rhythmic rhetoric all his own, Jesse Jackson reminded America that equal justice is not inevitable; it requires vigilance and commitment, and for freedom fighters, sacrifice.
His ministry was poetry and spiritual power in the public square. He advanced King’s dream and bent the arc of history closer to justice.
The former mayor of New York City Eric Adams has paid tribute to Jackson’s “unshakable belief in justice” and said he “never stopped pushing America to be better than it was the day before”.
Writing on X, he said:
Today, we mourn the passing of Reverend Jesse Jackson, a man whose life was defined by faith, courage, and an unshakable belief in justice.
As a young man, I watched him stand shoulder to shoulder with Dr. King and carry that movement forward when the cameras were gone and the work was harder. He never stopped pushing America to be better than it was the day before.
Rev. Jackson reminded us that leadership is about lifting others, that faith must move us to action, and that no community is too small to matter.
New York City stands on the shoulders of giants like him.
His faith shaped his leadership, and his leadership shaped a generation. May God bless his memory.
Top Democrat says Jackson was 'the people's champion'
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”.
He wrote:
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. was a legendary voice for the voiceless, powerful civil rights champion and trailblazer extraordinaire.
For decades, while laboring in the vineyards of the community, he inspired us to keep hope alive in the struggle for liberty and justice for all.
We are thankful for the incredible service of Rev. Jesse Jackson to the nation and his profound sacrifice as the people’s champion. May he forever rest in power.
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New York mayor calls Jackson a 'giant in the civil rights movement'
The mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani has paid tribute to Jackson, calling him a “giant in the civil rights movement”.
In a post in X, Mamdani said:
Today we mourn the passing of Rev. Jesse Jackson, a giant of the civil rights movement who never stopped demanding that America live up to its promise.
He marched, he ran, he organized and he preached justice without apology.
May we honor him not just in words, but in struggle.
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Jason Rodrigues is a researcher and writer in the Guardian’s research department
As a trailblazing US civil rights activist, Jesse Jackson spread his message both at home and abroad, and he was no stranger to the United Kingdom. Groups campaigning for racial equality frequently invited him to address rallies and demonstrations.
In 1969, the Guardian reported on an invitation extended to Jackson by the UK Black Power movement, at a time when controversial voices on the British far right, notably Enoch Powell, were challenging UK immigration policy and opposing moves toward racial integration, which outlawed discrimination.
Jackson was asked to address a rally at London’s Trafalgar Square and to share a platform with leading figures on the British left, including Tariq Ali and Obi Egbuna, an influential leader in the British Black Panthers, founded in Notting Hill in 1968.
Martin Luther King Jr's daughter says Jackson 'created pathways where none existed' before
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.
With the Rainbow Coalition, he cast a bold vision of an inclusive society-uniting people across race, class, and faith to build power together and expand the table of economic opportunity.
He was a gifted negotiator and a courageous bridge‑builder, serving humanity by bringing calm into tense rooms and creating pathways where none existed. My family shares a long and meaningful history with him, rooted in a shared commitment to justice and love.
As we grieve, we give thanks for a life that pushed hope into weary places. May we honor his legacy by widening opportunity, uplifting the vulnerable, and building the Beloved Community. I send my love and prayers to the Jackson family.
Both now ancestors… pic.twitter.com/ueLNefWI25
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) February 17, 2026
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You can watch Jesse Jackson’s famous 1988 speech at the Democratic convention urging Americans to “keep hope alive” below. It quickly became an American political classic and was echoed in the “hope and change” slogan of Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential campaign.
Al Sharpton calls his 'mentor' Jesse Jackson a 'transformative leader who changed the world'
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.
He shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits.
On 4 April 1968, Dr Martin Luther King Jr was shot by a sniper as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The Rev Jesse Jackson, in the motel courtyard at the time, was said to be one of the witnesses to King’s murder, as my colleague David Smith reported in this fascinating interview piece from 2018. Here is an extract:
Jesse Jackson still remembers the sound of the gunshot and the sight of blood. They have been with him for half a century. “Every time I think about it, it’s like pulling a scab off a sore,” he says. “It’s a hurtful, painful thought: that a man of love is killed by hate; that a man of peace should be killed by violence; a man who cared is killed by the careless.”…
Amid the tumult of the 1960s, King, outspoken against the Vietnam war, was one of the most hated men in America and his life was in constant danger. His house was bombed, his followers were killed, his name was trashed by newspaper editorials and his phones were tapped by J Edgar Hoover’s FBI. His two-thirds disapproval rating in a 1966 Gallup poll sits at odds with today’s “I have a dream” sanctification.
“They loved him as a martyr after he was killed but rejected him as a marcher when he was alive,” recalls Jackson, 76, still a dedicated activist, speaking by phone from an African development conference in Morocco. “We tend to embrace martyrs. In many ways he has a moral authority now you wouldn’t see if he was still alive. He is a universal frame of reference for moral authority, the global frame of reference for nonviolent justice and social change. If he had not died, that probably would not be the case.”
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Jesse Jackson meeting world leaders and public figures over the years – in pictures
The Rev Jesse Jackson met numerous world leaders, politicians and other public figures over the years and has a remarkable collection of archive images as a result. Here are some of the best:
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Here is an interesting extract from a 1984 New York Times Magazine profile on Jackson’s 1984 Democratic presidential nominee campaign, in which he finished third behind eventual nominee Walter Mondale and Gary Hart, but had a profound effect on Democrats going forward.
Jackson’s time in the sun as a serious candidate may be short, depending on what happens on March 13. But in this effort in which the party nomination is less important than his major quest, Jackson may continue trying to forge his coalition right up until and after the July convention – well after his potential for winning delegates has ended but long before the November elections, when his support will be needed.
Part of what is likely to continue driving Jackson could be seen recently when 80-year-old Nellie Cuellar, head of the National Association of Black Aged, was among those paying tribute to Jackson’s successful Syria mission before more than 7,000 people at the University of Detroit’s Calihan Hall.
‘‘I’ve longed and dreamed to see the day when one of my people would be President, and I believe it’s going to become a reality,’’ she said. ‘‘It means don’t go laying down. Go down fighting.’’
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How Jesse Jackson moved from activism to the mainstream political arena
As well as being a prominent civil rights campaigner, Jackson became a focal point of black political power after running twice for the Democratic nomination for president in 1984 and 1988.
He was the first African American to make the giant leap from activism to major-party presidential politics, firmly cementing his place in the history books in doing so.
Here is some more from Jackson’s political career (courtesy of my colleagues’ story):
In 1984, Jackson ran as a Democratic candidate for president, becoming the second Black person to launch a nationwide campaign following Shirley Chisholm more than a decade earlier …
He lost the Democratic nomination to former vice-president Walter Mondale, with the incumbent Republican president Ronald Reagan ultimately winning the election.
After his first presidential run, Jackson created the National Rainbow Coalition to push for voting rights and social programs. In the mid-1990s, Jackson merged his two organizations together to form the multiracial group Rainbow Push Coalition, which focuses on educational and economic equality.
Throughout the years, the coalition has paid more than $6m in college scholarships, and gave financial assistance to more than 4,000 families facing foreclosures so that they could save their homes, according to their website.
Jackson ran for the Democratic nomination for president a second time in 1988, performing strongly but losing out to Michael Dukakis, the Massachusetts governor, who was beaten heavily in the general election by George HW Bush.
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What was Jesse Jackson's trailblazing role in the civil rights movement?
My colleagues Melissa Hellmann and Martin Pengelly have looked back at the Rev Jesse Jackson’s extraordinary contribution to the civil rights movement and how he fought for the rights of Black Americans and other people of colour alongside his mentor Martin Luther King Jr:
A fixture in the civil rights movement and Democratic politics since the 1960s, Jackson was once close to Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
In an interview with the Guardian in May 2020, Jackson said: “I was a trailblazer, I was a pathfinder. I had to deal with doubt and cynicism and fears about a Black person running. There were Black scholars writing papers about why I was wasting my time. Even Blacks said a Black couldn’t win.”
“It was a big moment in history,” Jackson told the Guardian, 12 years later.
Twenty years later, the first Black president, Barack Obama, saluted Jackson for making his victory possible. Obama celebrated in Chicago, also home to Jackson …
In 1964, Jackson enrolled at the Chicago Theological Seminary, as he continued to be involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Jackson travelled with his classmates to Selma, Alabama to join the movement after he watched news footage of “Bloody Sunday, where King led nonviolent civil rights marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, who were then beaten by law enforcement. Impressed by Jackson’s leadership at Selma, King offered him a position with the civil rights group that he co-founded, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
After a couple of years, Jackson put his seminary studies on hold to focus on SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket, an economic justice program that harnessed the power of Black churches by calling on ministers to put pressure companies to employ more Black people through negotiations and boycotts. In 1967, Jackson became Operation Breadbasket’s national director, and was ordained as a minister a year later.
“We knew he was going to do a good job,” King said at an Operation Breadbasket meeting in 1968, “but he’s done better than a good job”.
Tragedy struck soon after Jackson gained a leadership position at SCLC. On 4 April, 1968, Jackson witnessed King’s assassination from below the balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
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As we mentioned in the opening post, no cause of death was immediately given by the Rev Jesse Jackson’s family.
In 2017, he revealed he had Parkinson’s, an incurable neurological disease that can cause tremors and affect coordination.
“After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson’s disease, a disease that bested my father,” Jackson said at the time.
“Recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful, and I have been slow to grasp the gravity of it.”
Jackson had had progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) for more than a decade. He was also twice hospitalised with Covid in recent years.
Our father left an 'indelible mark on history', family says
Here is the Jackson family statement in full:
It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family.
His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless from his Presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilising millions to register to vote – leaving an indelible mark on history.
Reverend Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline; their children – Santita, Jesse Jr., Jonathan, Yusef, Jacqueline; daughter Ashley Jackson, and grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his mother, Helen Burns Jackson; father, Noah Louis Robinson; and stepfather, Charles Henry Jackson.
“Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world. We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honour his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”
Public observances will be held in Chicago. Final arrangements for Reverend Jackson’s celebration of life services, including all public events, will be released by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has died aged 84, family says
The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights activist and two-time presidential candidate, died on Tuesday aged 84, his family said, according to NBC News.
A statement from the Jackson family read:
Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world.
We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.
His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.
The cause of Jackson’s death was not given. His family said he died peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones.
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