Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights icon, dies at 84

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the world’s best-known Black activists who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr., died at the age of 84.

The icon of the Civil Rights Movement and beyond was remembered by politicians and prominent activists after it was announced he died “peacefully” on Tuesday morning after a long journey with a progressive neurological disease. Jackson was a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate and a mentor to many civil rights leaders. Tributes to the charismatic movement-builder rolled in from across the political spectrum. Jackson was “a good man” and a “force of nature,” President Donald Trump said on social media. Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in a statement that “we stood on his shoulders.”

Jackson, who lived with progressive supranuclear palsy, continued to advocate for civil rights despite his illness. He was arrested twice in 2021 over his objection to the Senate filibuster rule and appeared but didn’t speak at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama released a statement celebrating Rev. Jesse Jackson’s “lifetime of service” and described the immense impact the civil rights leader had on their lives. Jackson and Barack Obama didn’t always have a close relationship. Jackson, a two-time presidential hopeful himself, publicly supported the former president. But during the 2008 campaign, Jackson made some critical comments about Obama that he later apologized for, saying he thought he was off the record.