Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr., the towering civil rights leader, two-time presidential candidate, and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, died peacefully on Tuesday morning (February 17, 2026). He was 84. In a poignant statement released shortly after his passing, the Jackson family described the Baptist minister as a “servant leader” who dedicated seven decades of his life to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked across the globe.
Jackson’s death marks the end of an era for the American civil rights movement. A protege of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson was present at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis when King was assassinated in 1968. He went on to become one of the most influential political figures in modern American history, famously breaking barriers with his 1984 and 1988 bids for the Democratic presidential nomination. His “Rainbow Coalition” campaigns mobilized millions of first-time voters and laid the indispensable groundwork for the eventual election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president.
In his later years, Jackson faced significant health challenges. He revealed a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 2017 and was more recently diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurological disorder. Despite his declining health, he remained a fixture on the frontlines of social justice, advocating for voting rights and racial equity during the 2020 global justice protests. Beyond domestic politics, Jackson was a celebrated international mediator, successfully negotiating the release of American hostages and political prisoners in nations ranging from Syria and Cuba to Iraq and Serbia.
Tributes have begun pouring in from global leaders, activists, and the millions of citizens whose lives were touched by his “Keep Hope Alive” mantra. Jesse Jackson was more than a politician; he was a steadfast ally who leveraged his platform to fight for the dignity of Black people everywhere. As the family asks the world to honor his memory by continuing the fight for justice and equality, the legacy of the man who marched from Selma to the doorsteps of the White House remains an indelible part of the human quest for freedom.
