Civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson has died at age 84.
Civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson, an influential and powerful figure in the civil rights movement has died at age 84 at his home in Chicago, according to the Associated Press.
Jackson had fought serious illness for more than 10 years and was hospitalized in November 2025. He had struggles with Parkinson’s disease and supra-nuclear palsy.
Born Jesse Burns to a 16-year-old single mother in Greenville, South Carolina in 1941, the future Reverend Jesse Jackson was a child of the Jim Crow South. He took the last name of his stepfather.
After graduating from college in 1966, Jackson moved to Chicago to attend the Chicago Theological Seminary.
Jackson dropped out in 1966 three credits short of graduating after getting his start in the Civil Rights Movement working for DR. Martin Luther King Jr. He was at the Lorraine Motel when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968.
He was ordained as a Reverend in 1968 and the school awarded Jackson his masters degree in 2000, counting his life experiences and previous work in place of those three missing credits.
Impressed by Jackson, King and fellow civil rights leader James Bevel tapped Jackson to lead Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s economic division.
In 1971, Jackson left Operation Breadbasket to start the Operation PUSH. Short for People United to Save Humanity its goal was advancing social justice and civil rights.
Operation PUSH would come to prominence as it led boycotts of several companies including Coca-Cola, Anheuser Busch and Nike PUSHING the companies to hire more Black workers and buy from Black-owned businesses.
In addition to activism, Jackson aimed for the presidency. He sought the Democratic nomination in both 1984 and 1988.
After coming in a distant third in 1984, Jackson had a much stronger showing in 1988 by winning 13 states and finishing runner-up to eventual nominee Michael Dukakis.
Activism, however, was never far from his campaign.
The Rainbow Coalition grew out of his presidential run and eventually merged with Operation PUSH to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. It still fights for social justice and civil rights today.
After his presidential runs Jackson walked the halls of Congress, serving as the Shadow Senator for Washington, D.C. from 1991 to 1997.
He continued to back Democratic Party candidates, including giving an early endorsement to fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential bid.
In 2017, Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
A minister, Jackson devoted his life his Baptist faith through serving others.
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