Reverend Jesse Jackson died on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. He was an important African American leader. Let’s take a look at his life and the influence he has had on our country.
Jesse Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1941. He grew up in poverty before attending college on a football scholarship. In college, Jackson became involved in the growing Civil Rights Movement. After college, he moved to Chicago to go to a seminary, a school that trains ministers.
In 1965, Jackson and a group of people from his seminary joined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma, Alabama. Protesting for African American voting rights, they marched from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery. After the march, Jackson became a leader in Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He led a campaign of boycotts in Chicago known as Operation Breadbasket. These boycotts pressured companies to hire African American workers.
After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackson was ordained as a minister. Reverend Jackson continued to work for civil rights. He formed his own organizations, including the Rainbow Coalition. He called it the Rainbow Coalition because he wanted to bring poor and working-class people of different backgrounds together.
In 1984, Reverend Jackson ran for president. He ran again in 1988 and had more success. He did not win the Democratic Party’s nomination, but he was a serious contender. He also gave memorable speeches at the Democratic National Conventions. He dared his audience to “keep hope alive.” Many people believe his presidential campaigns laid the groundwork for Barack Obama to become the first African American president.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Reverend Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2017, Reverend Jackson announced he had Parkinson’s Disease. He still made appearances and spoke out for causes he believed in for many years. He died peacefully in his home surrounded by friends and family. He was 84 years old.
What Do You Think? What causes are important to you? How would you like to be remembered?
Photo Credit: A1C Robinson/National Archive Catalog
