Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Icon And Faith Leader, Dies At 84
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon and a protege of Martin Luther King, Jr., died Tuesday at the age of 84 following a long fight with a rare brain disorder known as progressive supranuclear palsy.
Jackson was seen as the primary leader of the Civil Rights Movement following King’s murder in 1968 and was known for using his Christian faith to fuel his political protests.
“He reminded me that faith without action is just noise,” fellow civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton wrote in a statement. “He taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work.”
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Jackson was born on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, and later landed a football scholarship at the University of Illinois. However, he was told that Blacks couldn’t play quarterback, and he subsequently transferred to North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.
It was there that he became an honors student and student body president. Jackson also became deeply involved in the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. In 1965, he joined King’s march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of voting rights.
Shortly after, King sent him to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, a project that used the “persuasive power of Black ministers and the organizing strength of the churches to create economic opportunities in black communities” through boycotts on businesses and negotiations with industry leaders, according to the King Institute at Stanford University.
Following King’s assassination, leaders of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference disagreed on where the headquarters of the national Operation Breadbasket should be located. So, Jackson chose to stay in Chicago and formed a similar organization, Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity).
Jackson called his time with King “a phenomenal four years of work,” according to the Associated Press, and he was present when King was killed on April 4, 1968. Jackson, who later became an ordained Baptist minister, positioned himself as King’s successor and became known for his activism at home and diplomatic work abroad.
Jesse Jackson (right) in 1966 with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during a meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in South Carolina. (Photo courtesy of Bob Fitch Archive/Stanford University)
He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, but was unsuccessful both times. During his 1984 presidential campaign, Jackson referred to New York City as “Hymietown” and Jews as “Hymies” in what he believed was a private conversation with a reporter. When the remarks were reported by The Washington Post, Jackson initially denied making them. He later apologized for making the comments.
His political career, however, paved the way for future Americans who were racial minorities to run for office. Two of his six children, Jonathan Luther Jackson and Jesse L. Jackson Jr., went on to become members of Congress.
The NAACP said in a statement that Jackson “was not only a civil rights icon — he was family to the NAACP. His work advanced Black America at every turn. He challenged this nation to live up to its highest ideals, and he reminded our movement that hope is both a strategy and a responsibility. His historic run for president inspired millions and brought race to the forefront of American politics.”
Later, Jackson was at times critical of President Barack Obama, but he famously joined Chicago’s jubilant celebration after Obama was elected.
“I wish for a moment that Dr. King or [slain Civil Rights leader] Medgar Evers ... could’ve just been there for 30 seconds to see the fruits of their labor,” he told the Associated Press following Obama’s election in 2008. “I became overwhelmed. It was the joy and the journey.”
In a statement, Obama said Jackson “helped lead some of the most significant movements for change in human history.”
Jesse Jackson was a big part of the protest movement during the 1970s. (Wikipedia Commons photo)
“Reverend Jackson also created opportunities for generations of African Americans and inspired countless more, including us. [My wife] Michelle got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager,” he added. “And in his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office in the land.”
Jackson also founded PUSH/Excel, an educational advocacy organization, and The National Rainbow Coalition, an economic empowerment organization, which both now fall under the umbrella of the Rainbow Push Coalition.
“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 in a statement following his death. “We ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”
Jackson took his advocacy skills abroad and successfully freed a downed U.S. pilot in Syria in 1983, won the release of prisoners held by Saddam Hussein in Kuwait in 1991 and helped diffuse ethnic tensions and promote democratic reforms in Kenya in 1997 and 1998.
“He was a gifted negotiator and a courageous bridge‑builder, serving humanity by bringing calm into tense rooms and creating pathways where none existed,” said Martin Luther King’s daughter Bernice King. “My family shares a long and meaningful history with him, rooted in a shared commitment to justice and love. As we grieve, we give thanks for a life that pushed hope into weary places. May we honor his legacy by widening opportunity, uplifting the vulnerable, and building the Beloved Community. I send my love and prayers to the Jackson family.”
Jackson married his college sweetheart, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, in 1963. In addition to their five children, Jackson acknowledged being the father of a sixth child, Ashley Jackson, whose mother was one of the elder Jackson’s employees.
Cassidy Grom is the managing editor of Religion Unplugged. Her award-winning reporting and digital design work have appeared in numerous publications.