U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson dies at 84
Jackson was affected by profound health challenges, including a rare neurological disorder that affected his ability to speak and move
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Jessie Jackson, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States for decades after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., died Tuesday. He was 84.
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Jackson’s daughter, Sanita Jackson, confirmed that her father died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family.
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“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the family said in an online statement. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, a fellow civil rights leader who called Jackson his mentor, said on Facebook that Jackson was “a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world.”
“He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits. A giant has gone home,” Sharpton said.
‘I Am Somebody’
Jackson was a young organizer in Chicago when he was called to meet King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., shortly before King was killed. He publicly positioned himself as King’s successor.
He devoted his life to crusades in the U.S. and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on various issues, including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care.
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Jackson also championed Black pride and self-determination in corporate boardrooms in an effort to make the U.S. a more open and equitable society.
He is famously known for declaring “I am Somebody” in a poem he often repeated as he sought to reach people of all colours.
“I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” Jackson said.
Student drawn to civil rights
Born in Greenville, S.C. on Oct. 8, 1941, Jackson was a star quarterback on the football team at Sterling High School and accepted a football scholarship from the University of Illinois.
After being repeatedly told Black people couldn’t play quarterback, Jackson transferred to North Carolina A&T, where he not only became a quarterback, but also an honour student and student body president.
On campus, Jackson immersed himself in the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1965, Jackson’s crusade brought him to Chicago, working with King to launch Operation Breadbasket, an effort to pressure companies to hire Black workers. Jackson worked with King for four years before King was assassinated in 1968.
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In 1971, Jackson formed Operation PUSH, an organization with a sweeping mission, from diversifying workforces to registering voters in communities of colour across the U.S. The organization used lawsuits and boycott threats to pressure corporations to spend millions to commit to diversifying workforces.
Presidential aspirations
Long before the presidency of Barack Obama, Jackson would make two runs at it, winning 13 primaries and caucuses for the Democratic nomination in 1988, four years after failing at it the first time.
Jackson would run despite previously telling a Black audience he wouldn’t “because white people are incapable of appreciating me.” His successes left supporters chanting “Keep Hope Alive,” which became a Jackson slogan.
During a 1988 C-SPAN interview, U.S. Rep. John Lewis said Jackson’s two runs “opened some doors that some minority person will be able to walk through and become president.”
At the time, Jackson, along with members of the NAACP and other civil rights movement leaders, called in the late ’80s for Black people to be identified as African Americans.
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Health challenges
In his final years of life, Jackson was affected by profound health challenges, including a rare neurological disorder that affected his ability to speak and move. Despite that, Jackson continued to work, protesting against racial injustice well into the Black Lives Matter era.
In 2024, he appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago as well as a city council meeting to show support for a resolution backing a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, their children – Santita, Jesse Jr., Jonathan, Yusef, Jacqueline; daughter Ashley Jackson (fathered with Karin Stanford), and grandchildren.
– With files from The Associated Press
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