- Feb 5, 2002
- 187,667
- 69,670
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
In a decades-long effort, Jesse Jackson stood alongside MLK, pushed for voting rights, shamed corporations and negotiated with world leaders.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a towering civil rights icon who battled alongside Martin Luther King Jr., negotiated global hostage releases, and shamed corporations for their lack of corporate diversity and failure to support voting rights, has died. He was 84.
Jackson was hospitalized on Nov. 12 following a lengthy battle with the neuromuscular disease progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition similar to Parkinson's disease. He was later released from the hospital later that month. Jackson was a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, a Democratic presidential candidate and one of the world's best-known Black activists.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr.," said a statement from the organization on Instagram. "He died peacefully on Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family."
Continued below.
Jesse Jackson, towering icon of civil rights, dies following lengthy illness
In a decades-long effort, Jesse Jackson stood alongside MLK, pushed for voting rights, shamed corporations and negotiated with world leaders.
www.usatoday.com