Civil Rights Icon Jesse Jackson Dies
Reverend Jesse Jackson, a civil rights activist and prominent Chicago figure, has died at the age of 84. Jackson founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and was a key participant in numerous social justice movements, leaving a significant legacy in Chicago and across the United States.
- A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson was appointed the head of the Chicago chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Operation Breadbasket in 1966. He was at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis with Dr. King when he was assassinated in 1968. - Jackson made two significant bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988. In his second campaign, he won 11 contests and garnered 6.9 million votes, briefly leading the delegate race against eventual nominee Michael Dukakis. - His presidential campaigns were instrumental in increasing Black voter registration and participation; his 1984 campaign is credited with registering over one million new voters. - As a diplomat, Jackson negotiated the release of U.S. citizens and prisoners in several countries, including Syria (1984), Cuba (1984), and Yugoslavia (1999). In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. - He founded People United to Save Humanity (Operation PUSH) in 1971 and later the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984, which merged in 1996 to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. The organization focused on economic empowerment for Black communities and advocated for equal rights for women and LGBTQ+ individuals. - In 1991, Jackson was elected as a "shadow senator" for the District of Columbia, a position he used to advocate for D.C. statehood. - In 2017, Jackson announced his diagnosis with Parkinson's disease. Later reports in 2025 indicated a revised diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rarer, related neurodegenerative condition.
