Civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson dies in Chicago at age 84
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson died at age 84, his family announced Tuesday.
A statement from the reverend's family said he died peacefully surrounded by family members.
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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," said the Jackson family. "We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. 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."
Reaction is pouring in from some of the civil rights icon's children, speaking about their father's influence not only on the nation, but on their own lives.
Rev. Jackson's children reflect on his influence
His son, Jesse Jackson Jr. said that while his father never stopped being the young man who grew up in South Carolina. His tireless fight for justice made him a civil rights icon on a global scale.
"When we reflect on his life and contribution, it is really too much to try and summarize in a brief moment, because for six-and-a-half decades, he has committed himself to a better nation, a better world, and while he may have had his fair share of detractors, as we all do, our family expresses its gratitude expresses to everyone at this difficult hour," he said. "I want to thank all of the Chicagoans, especially the people of the city of Chicago, who allowed our family to have this ministry and to allow him to be his best self here in the city. And the city made him better, and and I think we are all better because of the life that he lived."
Jesse Jackson Jr. said his father fought a lengthy battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, a condition similar to Parkinson's disease.
"He had stopped eating about 12 days ago, and the last three or so days, I was counting down, because he can only go so many days without water, and we knew end was coming and was near," Jesse Jackson Jr. said.
On his radio show, he recalled the moment after he heard his father take his last breath.
"I said, 'Mom, Dad's not breathing.' Mom got up, we went over, Mom grabbed her husband. She looked at him very carefully and she said, 'It's happened. Dad's gone,'" Jesse Jackson Jr. said.
The rest of the Jackson family arrived shortly after the reverend's passing.
"We all began crying and praying and trying to hold the pieces of our family together, and everyone was breaking down, and I couldn't believe it," said Jesse Jackson Jr.
Rep. Jonathan Jackson, another son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, says initially, he did not aspire to hold a public office, but he was influenced by his father's tireless fight for humanitarian issues.
"I've had my father for 60 years in a very dangerous business. We've had death threats and bomb threats and hotel rooms set on fire, and through it all, God's been merciful," said Rep. Jonathan Jackson.
"He had a heart for humanity and I think that is how I would like him to be remembered," he continued. "He believed in personal salvation and social salvation."
The reverend's daughter, Santita Jackson, is the eldest of his children. She described him as a doting father and, at his core, a man of faith.
"My father wanted to be in our lives. He wanted to be present for us. He said, 'The greatest present I can give you is my presence.' So, there was never a day in my life where I didn't speak with him," she said.
At West Side prayer vigil on Tuesday night, faith leaders paid tribute to Jackson's family while sharing their personal reflections of his impact and loss.
"I never shall forget sitting on that campus at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and hearing his voice saying, 'Keep hope alive,'" said Greater St. John Bible Church Rev. Ira Acree.
"Keep hope alive" was Rev. Jesse Jackson's rallying cry.
"There is an empty, empty seat in Chicago," Acree said. "We're just hopeful that one of the proteges, if not more than one, many of us because it takes many to fill the shoes of Reverend Jesse Jackson."
Acree says Rev. Jesse Jackson's life reminds us that justice is not a moment, but a movement that he and others are dedicated to keep going.
Each of the reverend's children said they are thankful for the time they had with him, and they are thankful for the outpouring of support not just here in Chicago, a city he loved dearly, but from around the world.
Jackson's education and journey to civil rights work
Rev. Jesse Jackson's foundation as a civil rights champion began with his upbringing in South Carolina. Born in the segregated town of Greenville, his mother, Helen Burns, was a high school student at the time. Jackson was taught to ride in the back of the bus.
It was Rev. Jesse Jackson's decision to enroll in Hyde Park's Chicago Theological Seminary in the 1960s that, in many ways, led to Chicago becoming his adopted home. His influence in Chicago and at his alma mater in North Carolina not only helped shape him, but also shaped those who have come after him in the decades since.
Rev. Jesse Jackson did well in school and was accepted to the University of Illinois on a football scholarship. But on a visit back home to South Carolina, he joined a demonstration of Black students at the whites-only public library.
"Some of my classmates and I, we were arrested trying to use a public library in Greenville, South Carolina. We could not buy ice cream in the front door of the Howard Johnson," Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
Rev. Jesse Jackson transferred to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, and he found his focus in the Civil Rights Movement.
SEE ALSO | Politicians, leaders react to death of Rev. Jesse Jackson: 'He kept the dream alive'
"I am somebody. I may be poor, but I am somebody," he said.
It was 1963 when a young Jesse Jackson was elected to student government at North Carolina A&T State University.
"He was also quarterback. He really had impact on so many lives of our students," said Crystal Boyce with North Carolina A&T State University.
A member of the Historically Black Colleges and University, A&T was not just the school Rev. Jesse Jackson attended 50 years ago, but also a place he returned to often over the years. He returned most recently in 2021, when his wife, Jacqueline, was awarded an honorary doctorate.
"The students being able to see that live, knowing what he had to overcome, and the success he had being an advocate, it made it real for them, that they could, too, do the same thing," Boyce said.
Rev. Jackson's work with Martin Luther King Jr.
Upon his graduation, Rev. Jesse Jackson moved to Chicago with his wife and young daughter, Santita, enrolling at the Chicago Theological Seminary during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
"He met two other seminarians there, David Wallace and Gary Masonry, and together, Dr. King recruited them, and they became a part of the Chicago branch of the Breadbasket movement," said the Rev. Dr. Brian Smith with Chicago Theological Seminary.
Rev. Jesse Jackson's passion impressed King. Although, their relationship was not always smooth.
And Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, became, in many ways, the precursor to Operation Rainbow PUSH.
READ MORE | Examining the history of Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition
The seminary, which originated as a way for faith leaders to combat the spread of slavery in the North, was the ideal place for Rev. Jackson to center himself, as he fought for economic justice for African Americans. The purpose was to create jobs for African Americans and support Black-owned businesses.
"Reverend Jackson practiced a street corner religion, whereby we do away by the stained glass and the steeples, and we take the church out to the streets," Smith said.
The reverend was eventually appointed as director of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago.
Returning to the seminary often, Jackson, along with his Breadbasket co-founders, contributed to CTS by creating a living legacy known as the Oral History Project. It's just one of the many ways his impact is still felt today.
"It's not enough just to talk about what Reverend Jackson accomplished. But rather we should try to accomplish those same things ourselves," Smith said.
All of the interviews done for the Jackson Oral History Project are permanently archived at the Chicago History Museum and can be accessed by anybody.
In 1965, Jackson stood with Martin Luther King Jr. in the Alabama marches from Selma to Montgomery, the state capitol.
"Against that setting, he dreamed of a day when we judge by character, not condemned by color," Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
Rev. Jesse Jackson was with King in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968 when he was assassinated.
"Shot, killed in cold blood, all I can remember is some voice saying, 'one bullet cannot kill a movement: We must keep going,'" Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
Two months later, in June, Rev. Jesse Jackson was ordained a minister.
Rev. Jackson's founding of Operation PUSH
In 1971, he founded Operation PUSH, People United to Save Humanity, which later became the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Based on Chicago's South Side, it would become a powerful political and religious force, urging economic development and opportunity for Black Americans and racial diversity in hiring and management, using the muscle of boycotts against businesses that stood in the way of its efforts.
Coca Cola was a target, as were Anheuser Busch, Burger King, Nike and CBS Television, among others.
The man who demanded respect from giant corporations could also crack up America on "Saturday Night Live."
His rendition of a Dr. Seuss classic in his trademark speaking style is iconic.
But over decades, Rev. Jesse Jackson was growing in political stature, and in his influence on international matters.
He traveled to Syria in 1983 to secure the release of a captured American Navy pilot.
He helped to negotiate the release of 22 Americans being held in Cuba by Fidel Castro.
His private diplomacy found success over the years, as well as his growing political strength.
Rev. Jackson's runs for president
In 1984, Rev. Jesse Jackson made his first run for president of the United States.
"This is not a Black campaign. It's a campaign through the eyes of the hurt and the rejected," Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
But his primary campaign took a hit when he used derogatory terms for Jewish people in New York City in a private conversation that became public.
He would run for president again in 1988, coming in second in the Democratic primary.
Rev. Jesse Jackson's own goal of leading the nation from the Oval Office would not happen, but ABC7 Chicago was with him in Denver in 2008: the night Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
SEE ALSO | How Rev. Jesse Jackson's historic runs for president paved way for generations of Black politicians
"I practiced not crying tonight. I was gonna be real tough because I had a lot of emotions," Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
Tears would fill his eyes three months later, watching in Chicago as America elected its first Black president.
"We went from the balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, where Dr. King was killed, to the balcony the White House in Washington, President Barack Obama waving over the Potomac River," Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
It was late 2017 when Jackson announced he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the same condition that took his father's life.
The reverend's Rainbow PUSH Coalition now says that years later, doctors instead diagnosed him with PSP.
It didn't slow his quest for civil rights and equality, protesting the deadly police shooting of Laquan McDonald.
"We need a sense of fairness and, and justice applies to all," Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
In July 2023, Rev. Jesse Jackson stepped down as the head of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
And in July of 2025, the National Bar Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Rev. Jesse Jackson left large footprints for the journey that remains.
Arrangements for a celebration of Rev. Jackson's life are still being finalized. His family is expected to speak at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
