By Adesakin Adefemi
Veteran US civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson died peacefully on Tuesday morning, February 17, 2026, his family announced in a statement. He was 84 years old.
Jackson, a Baptist minister, had been a prominent figure in the civil rights movement since the 1960s, marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and helping to raise funds for the cause. “Our father was a servant leader not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the family said, urging supporters to honor his memory by continuing the fight for justice, equality, and love.
The family did not disclose a cause of death, but Jackson revealed in 2017 that he had Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological condition. He was hospitalized for observation in November 2025, according to media reports, in connection with another neurodegenerative issue.
A dynamic orator and skilled mediator, Jackson expanded the political space for African Americans for more than six decades. He was the most prominent Black candidate to seek the US presidency, launching two unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination in the 1980s long before Barack Obama’s historic election in 2009.
Jackson was present at many pivotal moments in the struggle for racial justice. He stood with King in Memphis in 1968 when King was assassinated, wept openly as Obama celebrated his 2008 victory, and supported George Floyd’s family after the 2021 conviction of the former police officer who murdered Floyd.
Born Jesse Louis Burns on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, to a teenage mother and a former professional boxer, he later adopted his stepfather’s surname, Jackson. “I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had a shovel programmed for my hands,” he once reflected.
He excelled in a segregated high school and earned a football scholarship to the University of Illinois before transferring to the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, where he earned a degree in sociology. In 1960 he participated in his first sit‑in in Greenville, and in 1965 he joined the Selma‑to‑Montgomery marches, catching King’s attention.
Throughout his career, Jackson served as a mediator on several international fronts. He advocated for ending apartheid in South Africa and, in the 1990s, acted as President Bill Clinton’s special envoy for Africa. He also undertook missions to free US prisoners in Syria, Iraq, and Serbia.
In 1996, Jackson founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a Chicago‑based nonprofit focused on social justice and political activism, which continues to influence civil rights discourse today.
He is survived by his wife, six children, and a legacy of tireless advocacy for the marginalized. Tributes from political leaders, civil rights organizations, and citizens worldwide have poured in, celebrating his life and urging continued commitment to the values he championed.
