The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson died on Tuesday. He was 84.

Here’s what to know about the Chicago-based Baptist minister, political figure and two-time presidential candidate whose soaring oratory made him a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement and national politics for more than six decades.

‘A political force of nature’

After the fire department’s fire prevention parade, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, led a group of people down State Street demanding jobs for the poor on Oct. 7, 1974, in Chicago. The group had a brief confrontation with the police. (William Kelly/Chicago Tribune)

Raised in South Carolina under Jim Crow segregation laws, Jackson became a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. until the Black leader’s 1968 assassination, and he participated with King in the famed 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches.

In Chicago, Jackson led King’s civil rights group and later established activist and social justice organizations that eventually evolved into the Kenwood-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. The organization became a driving force for social justice and civil rights, especially during the 1980s, as Jackson built a reputation both as a peripatetic champion of the economically and politically downtrodden and as an expert power player who organized boycotts against major companies he felt weren’t hiring minorities or investing in minority communities.

Known for his rhetorical flourishes and his short, catchy and sometimes-rhythmic and rhyming phrases — ideal as sound bites — Jackson sought to instill self-confidence in Black people with his trademark call-and-response celebration of the self that started with “I am somebody.” Another signature line was his anti-drug refrain, “Down with dope, up with hope.” Read more here.

One of the ‘last great leaders’

Carolyn Dunbar, of University Park, is hugged by Ziff Sistrunk as she lays flowers in memory of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., outside Rainbow PUSH headquarters in Chicago on Feb. 17, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Solving problems great and small is how the Rev. Jesse Jackson will be remembered in Chicago and to the world, his friends and neighbors said.

Tributes from across the city and country poured in Tuesday, from across all walks of life. He was remembered for his commitment to civil rights and “generous” personality. His family, meanwhile, called Jackson in a news release a “servant leader” who championed the oppressed, voiceless and overlooked around the world. Read more here.

Minister, civil rights advocate, politician and social justice proponent

Rev. Jesse Jackson embraces one of the jail inmates as he greets them after holiday festivities on Dec. 25, 1989, at 26th and California streets in Chicago. (Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune)

“His legacy is a profound leadership that aided in moving America forward and aided in addressing the question of racism and discrimination,” said U.S. Rep Maxine Waters about Jackson’s legacy.

“It was Jesse Jackson’s leadership, along with other greats that really created change, and the movement toward opening up America to all.”

As the world mourns his passing, here’s a look at Jackson’s remarkable life. Read more here.

Editorial: The Rev. Jesse Jackson was a formidable Chicago activist and achiever

‘A giant of the civil rights movement’

Rev. Jesse Jackson is recognized with family members and Rev. Al Sharpton on Aug. 19, 2024, during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson ordered public buildings across the city and state to fly flags at half-staff in honor of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died at 84 after rising from an upstart Chicago organizer to a national leader of the Civil Rights Movement.

Their announcements joined messages from political leaders across Illinois who were mourning Jackson’s death and nodding to the decades-long movement he championed after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his mentor.

Johnson, an ally of the Jacksons, wrote a fulsome tribute that nodded to Jackson’s ascent in Chicago, from building up the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization to founding the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Read more here.

President Trump praises late Rev. Jesse Jackson as ‘good man’ as he claims he disliked Barack Obama

A titan of civil rights remembered.

An advanced look at tomorrow’s front page, featuring the Rev. Jesse Jackson. pic.twitter.com/xVjnTCOqxM

— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) February 18, 2026

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/rev-jesse-jackson-what-to-know/