The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, one of America's most influential civil rights leaders and a two-time presidential candidate who reshaped the Democratic Party, died on Tuesday at the age of 84. According to a statement from the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization he founded, Jackson passed away peacefully surrounded by family members after being hospitalized since November.
Jackson had been living with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare degenerative neurological disorder, for over a decade. In 2017, he publicly revealed a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease while receiving treatment at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. His health had been declining steadily in recent years, though he continued to make occasional public appearances to advocate for social justice causes.
Born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most recognizable voices in the American civil rights movement. He participated in landmark demonstrations alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., including the historic 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery marches. Jackson was present at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, the day King was assassinated, an event that profoundly shaped his lifelong commitment to the struggle for equality.
Jackson's presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 broke new ground in American politics. In 1984, he won over 18 percent of primary votes and captured several state primaries and caucuses. His 1988 campaign proved even more formidable, as he won 11 primaries and caucuses, demonstrating that an African American candidate could build a broad, multiracial coalition. He founded People United to Save Humanity in 1971 and later established the National Rainbow Coalition, which merged into the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 1996.
Beyond domestic politics, Jackson earned international recognition as a diplomat and negotiator. He successfully secured the release of American detainees held abroad on multiple occasions, including three United States soldiers captured during the conflict in Yugoslavia in 1999. For his decades of service, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
Tributes poured in from leaders across the political spectrum. Senator Raphael Warnock stated that equal justice is not inevitable and requires constant vigilance and commitment. Jackson married Jacqueline Brown in 1962, and the couple had five children, including former Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. His legacy as a pathfinder who expanded the boundaries of political possibility for generations of Americans is expected to endure for decades to come.
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