Keeping Hope Alive: Remembering Rev. Jesse Jackson, 1941-2026

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	Keeping Hope Alive: Remembering Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, 1941-2026 HB Meeks-Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Tell Us Worldwide Media Company CHICAGO,IL - The Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr., the son of a teenage mother from segregated Greenville, South Carolina, who rose to become one of the most recognizable voices of the American civil rights struggle and a two-time candidate for president, has died at 84. His family said he died peacefully at home on Tuesday morning, surrounded by loved ones, and asked the public to honor him by continuing the fight for justice, equality and human rights that defined his life. Final Days Jesse Jackson’s family announced his death in a statement Tuesday, calling him “a servant leader” who belonged not only to them but “to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world.” They said he “died peacefully” in the morning hours at home, without immediately disclosing a specific cause of death. In recent years Jackson had lived with serious health challenges, including a long battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurodegenerative disorder, after previously disclosing a Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017. He had also been hospitalized with Covid-19 and, in 2023, stepped down from day-to-day leadership of his Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Early Life Jesse Jackson was born on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, and came of age in the Jim Crow South, where racial segregation shaped his earliest experiences and propelled him into activism. As a young minister and organizer, he joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., marched in Selma in 1965 and was in Memphis with King on the day of King’s assassination in 1968. Jackson later led Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, then broke away in 1971 to found Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), blending the language of the pulpit with hard-edged campaigns for jobs, contracts and investment in Black communities. His work helped steer corporate money, hiring and scholarships into neighborhoods long shut out of economic opportunity, and introduced a new generation of young people to a politics grounded in the affirmation, “I am somebody.” Political Rise In the 1980s Jackson moved from movement leader to national political trailblazer, running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and winning millions of votes across racial and regional lines. He called his base a Rainbow Coalition of African Americans, Latinos, labor, farmers and progressives, forcing the party to confront issues such as voting rights, poverty, apartheid and police violence on the biggest political stages in the country. Though he never captured the nomination, his strong 1988 showing made him the most successful Black presidential contender up to that point and helped open doors for future candidates of color. Beyond campaigns, he served as a global mediator, negotiating the release of American hostages in Syria, Iraq and the Balkans, speaking out against apartheid and Palestinian dispossession, and in 2000 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for decades of activism. Enduring Legacy Jackson’s later years were marked by both enduring influence and mounting health challenges. Even as illness advanced, he continued appearing at protests, speaking on voting rights and police killings, and in 2023 stepped down from day-to-day leadership of Rainbow PUSH after more than half a century in public life. In a family statement, his children described him as “a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” and said public memorials will be held in Chicago, the city from which he helped carry the civil rights movement into a new era. Supporters and critics alike agree that Jackson leaves behind a complex but indelible legacy in American and global public life. Admirers credit him with expanding the civil rights agenda beyond desegregation to encompass voting rights, economic justice and international human rights, while inspiring generations with his call to “keep hope alive.” Others bristled at his confrontational style, political ambition and personal controversies, but his ability to move crowds, pressure institutions and put marginalized people at the center of national debate is widely acknowledged. As tributes poured in from political leaders, clergy and community organizers, a consistent theme echoed through statements: that Jesse Jackson spent his life tearing down walls and building bridges, and that the most fitting way to remember him is to continue the unfinished work he leaves behind.