Rev. Jesse Jackson was the bridge from the civil rights era to America’s first Black president, carrying the 60s’ energy into modern politics.
Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. died on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, aged 84. His Rainbow PUSH Coalition confirmed he passed peacefully at his Chicago home surrounded by family.
He’d been living with Parkinson’s since 2017 and had battled a rare neurological condition called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) for years.
A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson was there in Memphis when King died – a moment that shaped him forever.
But he wasn’t content to follow in someone else’s footsteps. By the 80s, he was running his own presidential campaigns, registering millions of voters, and showing that a Black candidate could seriously shake up national politics.
His Rainbow Coalition was was a movement – multiracial, multi-class, and unapologetically ambitious. And he could rally a crowd with the best of them: “I Am Somebody” became more than a slogan, it was a call to anyone who’d ever been overlooked.
Tributes came fast. President Joe Biden called him “determined and tenacious.” Barack Obama called him a “pathfinder” for his own presidency. And long-time mentee Al Sharpton called him “transformative.”
Flags flew at half-staff across Illinois, ordered by Governor JB Pritzker.
He leaves behind his wife Jacqueline and six kids.
Rev. Jesse Jackson was that living bridge – from marches in the South to the White House – proof that change doesn’t just happen, it’s built by people willing to step up and push.
