Chicago has begun a multi-day series of memorial events to honor the late Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., the towering civil rights icon and two-time presidential candidate who died on February 18 at the age of 84. The commemorations, which began on Thursday, mark the start of a “cross-country” farewell reflecting Jackson’s global impact on social justice and political empowerment.
The events in Chicago kicked off with the legendary leader lying in repose at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization he founded to champion economic and racial equality. For two days, from February 26 to February 27, members of the public are invited to pay their final respects. The city’s transit system has joined in the tribute, with digital screens on L trains displaying Jackson’s portrait and his iconic mantra, “I am Somebody!”
Following the Chicago repose, the memorial schedule will expand to Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, the state of his birth and early activism, between March 1 and March 5. Jackson’s family noted that these locations were chosen to honor the “profound significance” they held in his lifelong crusade for the oppressed. In South Carolina, he is expected to lie in honor at the Statehouse, a rare distinction for a civil rights leader.
The celebrations will culminate back in Chicago with “The People’s Celebration” on Friday, March 6, at the House of Hope, a 10,000-seat arena on the city’s South Side. This public memorial is intended to be a broad gathering of “Democrats, Republicans, liberals, and conservatives,” as his son Jesse Jackson Jr. put it, to reflect the wide spectrum of American life his father touched. The final “homegoing” service will take place on Saturday, March 7, at the Rainbow PUSH headquarters before he is laid to rest.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and other dignitaries have hailed Jackson as a “freedom fighter and faithful shepherd,” noting that his transition marks the end of an era for the American civil rights movement. While a request for him to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol rotunda was reportedly denied, the outpouring of international tributes underscores a legacy that his children have vowed will continue through the work of the next generation.
