Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate who reshaped the American political landscape, died Tuesday morning at the age of 84. Jackson, who had been battling Parkinson’s disease, passed away surrounded by loved ones.
Jackson left a graduate program at Chicago Theological Seminary in 1965 to join the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. issued a call for support in a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama. He worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was a mentor to him and selected him to run the Chicago branch of Operation Breadbasket in 1966. The organization according to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford, “used the persuasive power of black ministers and the organizing strength of the churches to create economic opportunities in black communities.” Jackson would become an ordained Baptist minister in 1968.
He traveled with King to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, to support the city’s Sanitation workers strike and witnessed King’s assasination. A few years later, he founded Operation PUSH to advocate for Black Americans politically. Operation PUSH eventually merged with the Rainbow Coalition, a national civil rights organization, which united people of different races and religions under one umbrella in 1984, which bolstered Jackson’s run for President.
The family provided the following statement upon his death:
“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.”
Jackson was not the first Black person to run for president; however, his two campaigns for president in 1984 and 1988 galvanized African Americans and allies in unprecedented ways. His historic bids gave hope and helped lay the groundwork for the eventual election of Barack Obama as the first Black U.S. President in 2008, twenty years after Jackson’s second presidential campaign.
In 2000, Jackson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bill Clinton. Although he retired as president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition in July 2023 citing his battle with Parkinson’s disease as the reason, he remained a compelling political voice and commentator on national politics and race relations.
Jackson is survived by his wife, Jaqueline, six children and many grandchildren. His son Jonathan is serving his second term as U.S Representative of Illinois’ 1st Congressional District.
Public commemorations will take place in Chicago according to the Jackson family.
Learn more about Rev. Jesse Jackson’s involvement in St. Louis, read The St. Louis American article ‘Rev. Jesse Jackson expanded Black political influence.’