By Megan SaylesAFRO Employees Writermsayles@afro.com
Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., the civil rights large and founding father of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition (RPC), has died at age 84. Members of the family made the announcement on Feb. 17.
The social and racial justice champion’s loss of life follows battles with Parkinson’s illness and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a uncommon neurological dysfunction affecting motion and stability. Jackson is survived by his spouse, Jacqueline Jackson; their youngsters— Santita, Jesse Jr., Jonathan, Yusef, and Jacqueline; daughter Ashley Jackson and grandchildren.
“Our father was a servant chief — not solely to our household, however to the oppressed, the unvoiced, and the ignored world wide,” mentioned the Jackson household of their Feb. 17 assertion. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world grew to become a part of our prolonged household. His unwavering perception in justice, equality and love uplifted thousands and thousands, and we ask you to honor his reminiscence by persevering with the struggle for the values he lived by.”
Born in Greenville, S.C. as Jesse Louis Burns on Oct. 8, 1941, the person who got here to be often known as Jesse Jackson rose to prominence as a detailed aide of Dr. King throughout the Civil Rights Motion. The son of a teenage Helen Jackson and her married neighbor, Noah Robinson, Jackson later would change his identify after being adopted by his stepfather, Charles Henry Jackson.
Upon receiving a soccer scholarship, Jackson discovered himself on the College of Illinois in 1959. Whereas there, Jackson grew to become a member of the Pi Psi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. in 1960. Finally, he would switch and change into a 1964 graduate of North Carolina A&T College, the traditionally Black school positioned in Greensboro, N.C. Whereas nonetheless in school, Jackson started to appear within the AFRO Archives as a scholar chief and activist. He grew to become a protégé of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., labored with the Southern Christian Management Convention (SCLC) in 1965 and later created Operation PUSH in 1971, which targeted on financial empowerment and increasing schooling, enterprise and employment alternatives for Black communities.
In 1996, Operation PUSH merged with the Nationwide Rainbow Coalition to kind the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, cementing Jackson’s legacy as a steadfast advocate for racial, financial and social justice.
Jackson made historical past as a political trailblazer, working for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. His campaigns registered thousands and thousands of latest voters and impressed generations of Black political leaders. Additionally they helped broaden the nationwide dialog on civil rights and progressive insurance policies from financial fairness and labor rights to common healthcare and anti-poverty initiatives.
All through his profession, Jackson additionally served as a world diplomat, negotiating the discharge of hostages and advocating for democracy and human rights worldwide. He was well known with honors, together with the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Invoice Clinton in 2000, over 40 honorary doctorates and quite a few awards for his work in civil rights, nonviolent resistance and political activism.
Simply months earlier than his loss of life, Jackson was hospitalized for almost two weeks at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago for commentary associated to the neurological dysfunction, PSP. Throughout that keep, he spent a number of days within the intensive care unit. In 2013 it was disclosed that Jackson was dwelling with Parkinson’s illness. His analysis was up to date to PSP in April 2025.
Within the wake of his loss of life, leaders and group members have shared reflections on Jackson’s enduring affect and the legacy he leaves behind.
Chrissy Thornton, president and CEO for Baltimore-based Related Black Charities (ABC), mentioned Jackson’s instance has served as a guiding pressure for generations of leaders, together with herself.
“Rev. Jesse Jackson’s legacy stands as one of many fiercest reminders that the struggle for civil rights isn’t solely about altering legal guidelines, however about increasing the horizon of what Black individuals consider is feasible,” mentioned Thornton. “His management within the motion— from the frontline activism of Operation PUSH to the transformative imaginative and prescient of the Rainbow Coalition— essentially reshaped how this nation understands multiracial democracy and financial justice. He pushed the nation to reckon not solely with racism, however with poverty, inequity and the structural obstacles that maintain communities from thriving.”
Thornton mentioned she is reminded of his contributions on a regular basis as she carries out ABC’s mission of dismantling structural racism, increasing alternative and advancing generational wealth.
“Rev. Jackson paved the street so that somebody like me may very well be prepared to select up the mantle— to steer, to advocate, to struggle for justice and to make sure that the motion he helped construct continues with power, readability and unshakeable hope,” mentioned Thornton.
Religion leaders throughout the area are additionally reflecting on Jackson’s generational affect and the distinctive function he performed in shaping fashionable social and racial justice work.
Longtime Baltimore-based activist Rev. Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon mentioned the reverend served as a bridge between architects of the Civil Rights Motion, like Dr. King and Whitney Younger, and the leaders who adopted.
“As a result of he sat on the toes of the elders he possessed insights and connections his contemporaries weren’t privileged to,” mentioned Witherspoon. “In King, Rev. Jackson discovered Moses and in Rev. Jackson, Dr. King found Joshua.”
Witherspoon recalled Jackson’s capacity to mobilize younger individuals and join nationwide actions to native communities, pointing to a pivotal second throughout the Iraq Conflict. In 2003, he mentioned Jackson got here to Coppin State College (CSU) to assist manage college students for a protest in Washington, D.C. He helped assemble younger individuals from CSU and Morgan State College for a march within the nation’s capital alongside civil rights leaders Andrew Younger and Walter Fauntroy.
For Witherspoon, Jackson’s affect was each historic and deeply private.
“I grew up studying about his work with King; his inspirational runs for the U.S. presidency that cleared the way in which for the election of transformational leaders and ‘first Blacks’ everywhere in the U.S.; and his hostage negotiation abilities that made him not only a chief, however liberator,” mentioned Witherspoon. “Having the chance to satisfy him and be in his presence for even a comparatively quick time in my life was a memorable expertise, which grew to become etched into the crevices of my carnal coronary heart.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights chief and president of the Nationwide Motion Community (NAN), remembered Jackson as each a mentor and an ethical compass, whose management formed his personal path.
“In the present day, I grieve not solely a pacesetter, however the regular voice that guided me when the street was unsure. I’m heartbroken. However, I’m eternally grateful that God allowed me to stroll beside a person who helped bend the arc of historical past and formed the arc of my very own life,” mentioned Sharpton, in a Feb. 17 assertion. “In the present day we mourn, however we don’t retreat. We pray for the Jackson household to hold the torch. The best method to honor Reverend Jesse Jackson isn’t in reminiscence alone, however in motion. He taught us to maintain marching. He taught us to maintain organizing. He taught us that justice isn’t given, it’s demanded.”
Maryland Governor Wes Moore prolonged his condolences to the Jackson household in a press release issued on Feb. 17. In it, he dubbed Jackson a “champion for the dignity of working individuals.”
“Of the various shoulders that we stand on, Jesse Jackson’s have been amongst the broadest. He led with love and reminded all of us of our voice and our energy. Reverend Jackson was a trailblazer who by no means waited for permission or to ask for a seat on the desk—he insisted on it, and he widened that desk for generations to come back,” mentioned Moore within the assertion. “Reverend Jackson spent his life turning ache into goal and protest into progress and organizing communities to make these guarantees actual.”
Public observances for Jackson will happen in Chicago, with particulars about his celebration of life to be shared by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition on www.rainbowpush.org and www.jessejacksonlegacy.com.
