Civil Rights Icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Passes Away

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a revolutionary figure in the civil rights movement who fought alongside Martin Luther King Jr., facilitated global hostage releases, and challenged corporations for their lack of diversity and failure to uphold voting rights, has died. He was 84 years old.

"It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.," said a statement from the organization. "He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family."

Jackson was admitted to the hospital on November 12 after a prolonged battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition similar to Parkinson's. Later that month, he was discharged from the hospital. Among the most prominent Black activists in the world, Jackson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Despite the illness that affected his voice and mobility, Jackson remained a steadfast advocate for civil rights, even getting arrested twice in 2021 in protest of the Senate filibuster rule. That same year, he and his wife Jacqueline were hospitalized due to complications from COVID-19 at a hospital in Chicago.

Photo Source: Blackpast.org