Jesse Jackson (1941-2026): The life and legacy of the civil rights leader through the years
Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades has died. He was 84.
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Democratic presidential primary candidate Jesse Jackson speaks to a group of his supporters at a rally held at a Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio, April 14, 1984. (AP Photo/Rob Burns)
Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, and President Fidel Castro speak to reporters at Jose Marti Airport in Havana after Castro released Cuban and American political prisoners to Jackson, June 28, 1984. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)
Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., right, and his aide Rev. Jesse Jackson are seen in Chicago, Aug. 19, 1966. (AP Photo/Larry Stoddard)
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, stands with Hosea Williams, left, Jesse Jackson, second from left, and Ralph Abernathy, right, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place, April 3, 1968. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly)
Rev. Jesse Jackson raises a clenched fist from a police van after he and 11 others from Operation Breadbasket were arrested during a sit-in at the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co., offices in New York, Feb. 2, 1971. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
Hartford Mayor Thirman Milner, right, gives his support to the candidacy of Rev. Jesse Jackson in front of the Hartford city hall on March 26, 1984. (AP Photo/Don Heiny)
Former Congresswoman Cardiss Collins, right, appears at a news conference with the Rev. Jesse Jackson in Washington, Nov. 12, 1980. (AP Photo/John Duricka)
Bobby Seale, left, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson talk at the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Ind., March 12, 1972. (AP Photo)
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, left, and Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson, right, gesture on Jan. 4, 1984, after a White House Rose Garden ceremony honoring Navy Lt. Robert O. Goodman. (AP Photo/Ira Schwarz)
Jesse Jackson, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks at a University of California rally on May 27, 1970, at The Greek Theater in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)
U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the White House in Washington, April 4, 1979. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty)
Cuban Premier Fidel Castro, right, and Rev. Jesse Jackson talk to the international media during a joint news conference, following the end of their marathon meeting at Havana's National Palace, June 27, 1984. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)
Rev. Jesse Jackson, the veteran civil rights leader shakes hands with the Patriarch of Antioch and the whole East, Ignatius Hazim IV in Damascus, Aug. 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)
Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, listens as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the former middleweight boxer, speaks during a news conference inside the North County Correctional Facility in Castaic, Calif, March 3, 2000. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Rev. Jesse Jackson, from left, and his son Yusef DuBois Jackson, speak with Joe Jackson, father of the late pop star Michael Jackson, outside the Jackson family home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday, June 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, greet Jesse Jackson before a public memorial service, Oct. 29, 2002, in Minneapolis for U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone. (AP Photo/Stacy Wescott, Pool)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson are seen at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Awards Breakfast in Chicago on Jan. 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson clasps hands with his mother, Helen Jackson, during taping of the Phil Donahue show in New York. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma)
Rev. Jesse Jackson gestures to a friend in the balcony at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson waits while son Jesse Jackson Jr., introduces him to delegates at the United Center Tuesday, Aug. 27, 1996, in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Former South African President Nelson Mandela, left, walks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson after their meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, Oct. 26, 2005. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Rev. Jesse Jackson joining hands with his family, from left, wife Jackie, mother Helen, and son Jesse Jr. before a crowd of supporters at New York's Sheraton Centre Hotel, April 19, 1988. (AP Photo/David Bookstaver)
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, left, walks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the opening ceremony of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, Aug. 31, 2001. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
Democratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson gives his wife Jacqueline a warm embrace as he takes time out from his political stumping in Los Angeles, May 18, 1984. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)
U.S. President George W. Bush speaks with Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, after signing a bill in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Dec. 1, 2005, authorizing a statue of civil rights leader Rosa Parks be placed in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, talks with singer and civil right rights activist Harry Belafonte after a news conference announcing the installation of a Nelson Mandela plaque in Yankee Stadium's Monument Park in New York, April 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Jesse Jackson, with his wife Jacqueline, concedes defeat in the Illinois Democratic primary on March 16, 1988, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Lisa Genesen)
Democratic Presidential candidates Jesse Jackson and his wife Jackie hold their hands aloft during a rally at Chicago's Arie Crown theatre, March 13, 1988. (AP Photo/Lisa Genesen)
Civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson shares memories of his longtime friend Muhammad Ali at a news conference, Saturday, June 4, 2016 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson listens to speakers at the Tabernacle Baptist Church during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mike Stewart
