Celebrated civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson died early Tuesday, his family said in a statement, after battling the neurodegenerative disorder Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP).
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He was 84 years old.
“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said.
“We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family,” it added.
“His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”
Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the civil rights and social justice organization Jackson founded, said in a statement last November that Jackson had been admitted to a hospital “under observation” for PSP, a rare disorder that he had been managing for over 10 years.
PSP impacts certain functions like balance, swallowing and walking, and there is no cure for the rare neurodegenerative disorder. Symptoms can only be managed.
Jackson is survived by his wife Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, and their five children Santita Jackson, former Rep. Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), Jonathan Luther Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Esq., and Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson, Jr.
Jackson became a national icon within the civil rights movement, particularly during the 1960s, when he and seven others, who later became known as the “Greenville Eight” — tried to desegregate a public library in protest of racial segregation policies in the South.
Considered a “protégé” of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson helped spearhead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s (SCLC) Operation Breadbasket, a program that focused on economically improving the lives of Black communities, first in Chicago and later nationally.
Jackson was with King during the Selma to Montgomery, Ala., march for voting rights in 1965. He described his time with his fellow civil rights icon as “a phenomenal four years of work.”
He was also with King when he was assassinated in 1968.
Jackson later created his own social justice group, which later became a merger of two groups — Rainbow PUSH Coalition — in the mid-1990s.
“He was a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world,” MS NOW host Rev. Al Sharpton said of his mentor in a statement. “He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits.”
The civil rights leader was also known for his two presidential campaigns.
During the 1980s, Jackson ran twice for president, once in 1984, losing to former Vice President Walter Mondale in the Democratic primary, and once more in 1988, losing to former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (D) in that primary.
Jackson saw some success during his second race primaries, winning 13 primaries and caucuses. He won almost 7 million primary votes despite Dukakis winning the nomination.
“I was able to run for the presidency twice and redefine what was possible; it raised the lid for women and other people of color,” he told The Associated Press. “Part of my job was to sow seeds of the possibilities.”
Jackson later served as one of Washington’s “shadow senators” between 1991 and 1997. In 2000, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In 2008, Jackson remarked during former President Obama’s campaign for president that he was “talking down to Black people,” caught on a microphone he did not know was on during a filming break.
Tears later streamed down Jackson’s face, while in a crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park, when Obama was elected as the 44th president.
“I wish for a moment that Dr. King or [slain civil rights leader] Medgar Evers … could’ve been there for 30 seconds to see the fruits of their labor,” he later told the AP. “I became overwhelmed. It was the joy and the journey.”
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