Remembering Reverend Jesse Jackson

America said goodbye to Reverend Jesse Jackson on Tuesday, February 17. The prominent civil rights leader, who reminded the country to “keep hope alive” in a 1988 Democratic National Committee speech, died at 84 after a long journey with a progressive neurological disease

Born in 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson became an advocate against racial injustice at an early age. His early work includes organizing with the Congress of Racial Equality, participating in marches and sit-ins. He was one of the eight African Americans involved in a sit-in at the Greenville Public Library, later arrested for “disorderly conduct.”

During his divinity studies at the Chicago Theological Seminary, Jackson began rallying support for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jackson joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to work alongside King full-time, shortly after participating in the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march in Alabama.

Jackson was at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis when King was assassinated in 1968. After King’s death, Jackson’s advocacy transformed. He resigned from SCLC and founded the organization People United to Save Humanity, or PUSH, in 1971. At first, PUSH worked to improve the economic conditions of Black communities in America. Later, the organization expanded into politics, hosting a weekly radio show and presenting awards to Black people.

Jackson became the second Black person to make a bid for a nomination by a major party in 1984, running as a Democrat, but he never made it to a general election. His 1984 presidential bid prompted the launch of the National Rainbow Coalition, which advocated for social programs, voting rights and affirmative action. Jackson merged PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition in 1996 to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Jackson won the Democratic primaries in five states and secured 18 percent of the total primary vote (80 percent of the Black vote) in the 1984 Democratic race. Four years later, his presidential bid picked up more support. He won 13 state primaries, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina. Jackson doubled his primary votes from his first attempt, coming second in the 1988 Democratic race.

Jackson later became an elder statesman within the Democratic party.

Despite being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy — a condition which shares features with Parkinson’s disease — Jackson remained an outspoken advocate for civil rights. He was arrested twice in 2021 over his objection to the Senate filibuster rule, and he appeared at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, and their children: Santita, Jesse Jr., Jonathan, Yusef, Jacqueline and Ashley. His legacy of activism will forever be ingrained in United States history.