Civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson (1941–2026), a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, leaves behind a monumental legacy of advancing equality, dismantling oppressive systems and amplifying voices of the underserved.
In 1965, the year after his college graduation, Jackson marched with Dr. King and others at Selma to demand Black voting rights. He was with Dr. King on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was slain.
Jackson went on to found the organizations Operation PUSH in 1971, a tool to improve the economic conditions of Black communities, and the National Rainbow Coalition during his first presidential campaign in 1984, which sought equal rights for all Americans.
In 1996, both organizations merged to become the Rainbow Push Coalition. The diverse alliance of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans and LGBTQIA+ people sought to protect, defend and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields and to promote peace and justice around the world.
Poster with headline “Vote Jesse Jackson '84 for president.” Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-42733
In the 1980s, Jackson ran twice for president (1984 and 1988) and paved the way for other democratic candidates, galvanizing both Black and White voters from diverse spectrums.
Jackson’s campaign and civil rights work would eventually pave the way for a more progressive wing of the Democratic Party and the election of the first Black president Barack Obama.
He led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care.
In 2008, during a victory speech by former President-elect Barack Obama at Chicago’s Grant Park, Jackson was caught on camera with tears in his eyes. He later explained “… that he was thinking about all those who made it possible and who were not there. People like Ralph Abernathy, Dr. King, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer… those in the movement in the South.”
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