Memorial services for Jesse Jackson begin at Chicago HQ of his civil rights group
CHICAGO– Memorial services across the country for the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. are set to begin Thursday in Chicago, the city where the late civil rights leader called home.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. protégé and two-time presidential candidate will lie in state for two days at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters ahead of events in Washington, D.C. and South Carolina, where he was born.
“The outpouring of love and support received from around the world has been abundant and deeply felt,” Jackson’s family members said in a recent statement.
Jackson died last week at the age of 84 from a rare neurological disorder that affected his mobility and ability to speak in his final years.
Memories have already poured in from around the world and several US states, including Minnesota, Iowa and North Carolina, have lowered their flags to half-mast in his honor.
But his death was perhaps never felt more keenly than in the nation’s third-largest city, where Jackson lived for decades and raised his six children, including a son who is a congressman.
Bouquets have been left outside the family’s Tudor-style home in the south of the city for days. Public schools offered condolences and city trains used digital screens to display Jackson’s portrait and his well-known mantra: “I’m somebody!” »
His causes, both in the United States and abroad, were countless: advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues such as voting rights, job opportunities, education, and health care. He won diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow PUSH coalition, he channeled cries for black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring leaders to make America a more open and equitable society.
“We honor him and his hard-earned legacy as a freedom fighter, philosopher and faithful shepherd of his family and community here in Chicago,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.
Next week, Jackson will be laid to rest at the South Carolina Statehouse, followed by public services. According to the Rainbow PUSH agenda, Gov. Henry McMaster is scheduled to deliver a speech, but the governor’s office said Thursday that his participation has not yet been confirmed. Jackson spent his childhood and began his activism in South Carolina.
Details about services in Washington have not yet been made public. However, he will not lie in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol after a request for a commemoration was rejected by House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office.
The two weeks of events will conclude next week with a grand celebration of life at a Chicago megachurch and finally, back-to-school services at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters.
Family members said services would be open to all.
“His life is broad enough to cover the entire spectrum of what it means to be American,” his eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr., recently told reporters. “We just ask people to come and be respectful in the context of the extraordinary life he lived.”
