Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader who ran for president, dies at age 84

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the famed civil rights leader who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and later ran for president, has died, his family said. He was 84 years old.

He died peacefully Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family, they said in a statement.

Jackson was hospitalized for observation in Novemberand doctors said he was diagnosed with a degenerative disease called progressive supranuclear palsy. He revealed in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s diseasewhich affects the nervous system and slowly restricts movements and daily activities. Jackson I called him a “physical challenge,” but he refused to let that stop him from continuing his defense of civil rights. His father, Noah Lewis Robinson Sr., also suffered from Parkinson’s disease and died from it in 1997 at the age of 88.

Long known for his activism and political influence, Jackson dedicated his life to defending the civil rights of disenfranchised groups both in the United States and abroad.

“Jackson’s unwavering commitment to justice, equality and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. A tireless agent of change, he raised the voices of the voiceless… leaving an indelible mark on history,” his family said.

“Our father was a leader serving our family, but also the oppressed, the voiceless and the disenfranchised around the world,” the family said. “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 ​​by which he lived.”

As a young man, he became a member of King’s circle and was with King when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

That same year, Jackson was ordained by Rev. Evans Clayalthough he dropped out of Chicago Theological Seminary three credits short of graduating in order to work in the civil rights movement with King. He later earned a master’s degree in theology from the seminary in 2000, based on his life’s work and experience.

Over the years, he has received more than 40 honorary doctorates from the nation’s top universities, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Chicago-based organization he led for decades.

Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on October 8, 1941. His mother, Helen Burns Struggs, was 16 and unmarried and gave him the name Jesse Burns. During his teenage years, his mother married Charles Jackson, and Jackson took his new stepfather’s last name.

In high school, Jackson was an honors student, according to Stanford’s King Institute, which helped him win a football scholarship to the University of Illinois. He studied there before transferring to the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, where he graduated in 1964.

As the civil rights movement grew, Jackson became involved in local activism. In 1960, a push to desegregate a local public library led Jackson to become a leader in student-led sit-ins. After graduating, he abandoned his studies at Chicago Theological Seminary to join King in Selma. There, he applied for a position with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a group of religious leaders led by King that focused on protests and nonviolent demonstrations, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

“This conference is called because we have no moral choice, before God, but to deepen the struggle – and to do so with greater reliance on nonviolence and with greater unity, coordination, sharing and Christian understanding,” King wrote of the SCLC in 1957.

Jackson, with King’s support and trust, helped lead the Chicago chapter of the SCLC and spearheaded Operation Breadbasket, a community empowerment campaign. His age and ambition led to numerous conflicts with leaders, including several arguments with King himself, according to the King Institute at Stanford. King and Jackson reconciled in 1968 in Memphis while meeting for another civil rights protest.

In a now famous place photograph from that fateful moment, Jackson stood to the right of King and fellow executives Hosea Williams and Ralph Abernathy on the balcony of Memphis’ Lorraine Motel. The next day, in almost the exact same place, King was assassinated by a gunman.

After King’s death, Jackson was unable to reconcile with the SCLC. Instead, he founded PUSH, a Chicago organization whose name stands for People United to Save Humanity. In 1984, he also founded the Rainbow Coalition, which focuses on social justice through voter engagement and representation. The two organizations merged in 1996.

The same ambition that angered SCLC leaders also led Jackson to run for the Democratic Party nomination for president in 1984 and 1988.

Jackson received 18% of the primary vote in 1984, placing third overall and winning several states. But his campaign was marred by controversy following an anti-Semitic remark he made about New York’s Jewish community in a Washington Post article. Former Vice President Walter Mondale ultimately won the nomination and lost to Republican incumbent President Ronald Reagan.

Yet even without holding office, Jackson continued to present himself as a major political figure, championing the release of foreign nationals detained in Kuwait in the lead-up to the Gulf War, becoming a “shadow senator” to push for statehood for Washington, D.C., and working as a special envoy under President Bill Clinton.

In 2000, Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

On election night in 2008, when Barack Obama was expected to win the presidential election, Jackson was filmed with tears in his eyes. He said CBS News that the moment America elected its first black president brought it back to the struggles of the civil rights movement.

“To get here, we walked through bloody trails of terror. Good people – I think of the two Jews and the black children who were just wiped out,” Jackson said, referring to the young civil rights workers. murdered in Mississippi in 1964. “Medgar Evers, Dr. King at 39. We paid a price to get here.”

Jackson is survived by five children with his wife of more than 60 years, Jacqueline, another daughter and countless figures inspired by his leadership.

Public celebrations will be held in Chicago, according to his family. Final arrangements for the celebration of life services, including all public events, will be announced by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, they say.