The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a pioneering civil rights leader who marched with Martin Luther King Jr., ran twice for U.S. president, and founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, died Tuesday morning at age 84 after a prolonged battle with progressive supranuclear palsy.
Jackson died peacefully in Chicago, surrounded by family, according to a statement from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition posted on Instagram: “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.”
The announcement followed his hospitalization on Nov. 12 amid complications from the neuromuscular disease, which is similar to Parkinson’s and had progressively affected his mobility and voice. Despite these challenges, Jackson remained active in advocacy, including arrests in 2021 protesting the Senate filibuster and support for racial justice causes.
Born Jesse Louis Burns on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, to a teenage mother, he was later adopted by his stepfather and took the name Jackson. His activism began early: at 18, he was arrested with others for protesting segregation at a public library. He joined King’s movement, marched in the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights campaign, and stood near King during the 1968 assassination in Memphis.
Jackson earned ordination as a Baptist minister in 1968 and completed his divinity degree. He led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, using boycotts to push companies toward hiring more Black workers and economic equity.
In 1971, he founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), later merging it into the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to broaden focus on civil rights, economic justice, and political empowerment. His 1984 and 1988 Democratic presidential campaigns mobilized millions of Black voters, highlighted issues of poverty and inequality, and influenced party platforms despite primary losses to Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.
Jackson’s international efforts included securing the 1983 release of a downed U.S. pilot from Syria, negotiating freedom for American detainees from Cuba in 1984, and freeing hostages held by Saddam Hussein in 1990. In 1999, he helped obtain the release of three U.S. POWs during the Kosovo conflict.
President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000, stating: “It’s hard to imagine how we could have come as far as we have without the creative power, the keen intellect, the loving heart, and the relentless passion of Jesse Louis Jackson.”
Jackson’s influence extended to later generations. Rashad Robinson, former president of Color of Change, credited him with paving paths for figures like Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, noting Jackson’s campaigns inspired first-time political donations in many families. Trahern Crews of Black Lives Matter-Minnesota recalled Jackson’s “I Am Somebody” chant as a foundation for modern activism against systemic racism.
His death arrives amid ongoing debates over voting rights and racial equity, following losses of peers like Rep. John Lewis in 2020. Jackson’s persistence through illness underscored his lifelong commitment, as he declared in 2017 upon his diagnosis: “As we continue in the struggle for human rights, remember that God will see us through, even in our midnight moments.”
In 2021, he visited Minneapolis to back protesters during the Derek Chauvin trial and attended services for Daunte Wright, urging young activists to persist.
Jackson’s legacy includes energizing voter registration, corporate accountability, and global diplomacy for justice.