Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Trailblazer and Political Powerhouse, Dies at 84

The voice that once thundered “I am somebody” has fallen silent.

Jesse Louis Jackson rose from the segregated streets of Greenville, South Carolina to become one of the most recognizable civil rights leaders in modern history. A protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., a two-time presidential candidate, an ordained Baptist minister, a global negotiator, and the founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, Jackson spent more than six decades pushing America toward its promises.

Here are 84 amazing facts about Jesse Jackson.

1. He was born Jesse Louis Burns before taking his stepfather’s surname.
2. His biological father was a former professional boxer.
3. His ancestry included Cherokee, Irish, enslaved African Americans, and a Confederate sheriff.
4. He grew up under Jim Crow segregation in South Carolina.
5. He was elected class president at Sterling High School.
6. He lettered in baseball, football, and basketball.
7. He rejected a minor-league baseball contract to attend college.
8. He initially attended the University of Illinois on a football scholarship.
9. He transferred to North Carolina A&T, an HBCU.
10. He played quarterback at A&T.
11. He became student body president there.
12. He earned a B.S. in sociology in 1964.
13. He attended Chicago Theological Seminary.
14. He left seminary three classes short of his degree to join the civil rights movement full time.
15. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1968.
16. He later received a Master of Divinity in 2000 based on prior credits and life work.
17. He participated in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.
18. He worked directly with Martin Luther King Jr..
19. He helped establish the SCLC’s Chicago office.
20. He led Operation Breadbasket’s Chicago branch.
21. He used consumer boycotts to pressure companies to hire Black workers.
22. He organized the 1971 Black Expo in Chicago.
23. He split from the SCLC after a leadership clash with Ralph Abernathy.
24. He founded Operation PUSH on Christmas Day 1971.
25. PUSH stood for People United to Save Humanity.
26. He later created the Rainbow Coalition.
27. He merged Rainbow Coalition and PUSH in the 1990s.
28. Ebony named him one of the 100 most influential Black Americans in 1971.
29. He ran for U.S. president in 1984.
30. He finished third in the Democratic primaries behind Walter Mondale and Gary Hart.
31. He ran again in 1988.
32. He finished second to Michael Dukakis.
33. His campaigns expanded Black voter registration nationwide.
34. He was elected shadow senator for Washington, D.C. in 1990.
35. He served as a shadow delegate and shadow senator from 1991 to 1997.
36. He hosted Both Sides with Jesse Jackson on CNN from 1992 to 2000.
37. He received the NAACP President’s Award in 1988.
38. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1989.
39. Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.
40. He received France’s Legion of Honor in 2021 from Emmanuel Macron.
41. He negotiated the release of U.S. pilot Robert Goodman from Syria.
42. Ronald Reagan welcomed him to the White House after that mission.
43. He secured the release of Americans from Cuba after meeting Fidel Castro.
44. He traveled to Iraq before the Gulf War to meet Saddam Hussein.
45. He negotiated the release of U.S. POWs during the Kosovo War.
46. He traveled to Kenya as a special envoy for democracy.
47. He addressed over a million protesters in Hyde Park against the Iraq War.
48. He visited Northern Ireland to support the peace process.
49. He met Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
50. He inherited a ceremonial title among the Agni people of Côte d’Ivoire.
51. He was crowned Prince Côte Nana in 2009.
52. He married Jacqueline Lavinia Brown in 1962.
53. They had five children together.
54. His son Jonathan Jackson became a U.S. Representative.
55. His son Jesse Jackson Jr. also served in Congress.
56. He was made a Prince Hall Freemason.
57. He maintained friendships with Ted Kennedy.
58. He also had a longstanding relationship with Aretha Franklin.
59. He publicly apologized for past remarks that hurt the Jewish community.
60. He later supported Jewish political leaders including Joe Lieberman.
61. He endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in 2020.
62. He received the Jefferson Award for public service.
63. He was included on Molefi Kete Asante’s list of 100 Greatest African Americans.
64. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh.
65. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge.
66. He received an honorary degree from Benedict College.
67. He served as a speaker for the International Peace Foundation.
68. He campaigned for minority voter turnout in the United Kingdom.
69. He survived viral gastroenteritis in 2008.
70. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.
71. He was hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2021.
72. He was later diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
73. He continued to advocate publicly even as his mobility declined.
74. He used a wheelchair in his later years.
75. He withdrew life-support medications in November 2025.
76. He was visited by Bill and Hillary Clinton during his final hospitalization.
77. He was praised as a gifted orator across decades.
78. He popularized the affirmation “I am somebody.”
79. He was frequently called a civil rights icon.
80. His campaigns are credited with paving the way for Barack Obama.
81. He was awarded the Golden Doves for Peace Prize in Italy.
82. He was appointed Commander of the Legion of Honor.
83. He was widely regarded as one of the most influential African-American activists of his era.
84. He died on February 17, 2026, at the age of 84.

Jesse Jackson lived in public for more than half a century. He marched. He preached. He ran. He negotiated. He thundered from pulpits and podiums. He made enemies and he made history.

From Selma to presidential ballots to global diplomacy, he spent a lifetime insisting that America be bigger than its fears.

And for 84 years, he refused to whisper.