Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and twice ran for president of the United States, died on Tuesday. He was 84.
In a statement via BBC News, Jackson’s family said he “died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family.” The statement continued: “His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless from his presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilizing millions to register to vote — leaving an indelible mark on history.”
Born Jesse Louis Burns in 1941, Jackson grew up in Greenville, S.C. during the Jim Crowe South. He graduated from Sterling High School in 1959. After two semesters attending the University of Illinois on a football scholarship, he transferred to North Carolina A&T where he continued to play football, served as student body president, became involved in local activism and graduated with a degree in sociology. He then studied at the Chicago Theological Seminary and was ordained as a minister in 1968, but dropped out of the school before earning his master’s degree.
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While in college, Jackson began working with Dr. King among other civil rights activists and participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches. Dr. King and James Bevel tasked Jackson with establishing an office for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Chicago and heading the chapter’s Operation Breadbasket, which served as the organization’s economic arm. He organized protests and boycotts against businesses that refused to hire Black employees and became the national director of the Operation in 1967.
In 1968, Jackson was present at the assassination of Dr. King. He subsequently worked on the SCLC’s Poor People’s Crusade in Washington, D.C and later organized the Black Expo in Chicago. Dr. King’s SCLC chairman successor, Ralph Abernathy, took issue with Jackson’s handling of the Expo and suspended him from his leadership position in Operation Breadbasket. In solidarity, Jackson’s entire Breadbasket staff and most of its board resigned from the SCLC to create a new organization under Jackson’s leadership.
Hence, in 1971 Jackson launched People United to Serve Humanity, or Operation PUSH, a civil rights organization focused on creating economic opportunities through political activism. Jackson was president of the organization throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1983, he went to Syria on the United States’ behalf to make a personal appeal to Syrian President Hafez al-Assad for the release of captured American pilot Navy Lt. Robert Goodman. The appeal was a success and President Ronald Reagan invited Jackson to the White House, elevating Jackson’s national profile. The following year, he successfully negotiated the release of 22 American soldiers held prisoner in Cuba, appealing to President Fidel Castro.
In 1984, Jackson stepped down as president of PUSH to run for president of the United States. His campaign sparked the Rainbow Coalition, which aimed to meet the needs of all Americans facing economic and social struggles. He articulated the concept at the Democratic National Convention, with its primary concerns being social programs, voting rights and affirmative action for the economically disenfranchised.
Jackson did not receive the Democratic nomination in 1984, but he continued to fight for the causes of the Rainbow Coalition and ran again on the same platform in 1988. He again lost the nomination, but by a slimmer margin to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.
Throughout the 1990s, Jackson continued to engage in activism in the United States and abroad. He successfully negotiated with Saddam Hussein for the release of British and American individuals held captive in Iraq on the eve of the Gulf War. In 1992, he became the host of “Both Sides With Jesse Jackson,” a political talkshow on CNN, and in 1999 he negotiated the release of Americans from Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. All throughout, he continued to operate PUSH, which officially merged with the Rainbow Coalition in 1996.
In the new millennium, Jackson continued to run PUSH, advocating for racial and social justice on national levels, appealing to politicians including Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. He participated in demonstrations for voting rights and economic mobility and was a fierce critic of President Donald Trump’s policies.
In 2001, Jackson was the subject of a scandal when it was revealed that he had an extramarital affair with one of his staffers, which resulted in the birth of a daughter. The affair went public and CNN suspended “Both Sides” before canceling it.
Jackson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2017 and stepped down as president of PUSH in 2023 due to health concerns. In April 2025, his condition was confirmed to be Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, and he was hospitalized for observation of the disease in November.
Jackson is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jacqueline, and their five children: Santita, Jesse Jr., Jonathan Luther, Yusef DuBois and Jacqueline Lavinia. He is also survived by his daughter Ashley and her mother Karin Stanford.
