{"id":486595,"date":"2026-02-17T22:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486595\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T22:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:06:20","slug":"us-civil-rights-icon-dies-aged-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/486595\/","title":{"rendered":"US civil rights icon dies aged 84"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’s assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84.<\/p>\n

As a young organiser in Chicago, Jackson was called to meet with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before King was killed, and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King’s successor.<\/p>\n

Santita Jackson confirmed that her father, who had a rare neurological disorder, died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic presidential primary candidate Jesse Jackson speaks to a group of his supporters at a rally in 1984. (AP)\"JesseJesse Jackson joins the crowd before the start of the world welterweight championship bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Manny Pacquiao in 2015. (AP)<\/p>\n

Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues, including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care.<\/p>\n

He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow\/PUSH Coalition, he channelled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.<\/p>\n

And when he declared, \u201cI am Somebody,\u201d in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,\u201d Jackson intoned.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic presidential candidate Jesse Jackson gives his wife Jacqueline a warm embrace as he takes time out from his political stumping in Los Angeles, May 18, 1984. (AP)\"PresidentPresident Barack Obama talks with Rev. Jesse Jackson following his farewell address at McCormick Place in 2017. (AP)<\/p>\n

It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South to become America\u2019s best-known civil rights activist since King.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur father was a servant leader \u2014 not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,\u201d the Jackson family said in a statement posted online.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton said his mentor \u201cwas not simply a civil rights leader; he was a movement unto himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work,\u201d Sharpton wrote in a statement, adding that Jackson taught \u201ctrying is as important as triumph. That you do not wait for the dream to come true; you work to make it real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InIn this Feb. 5, 2008 file photo, Rev. Jesse Jackson holds a campaign sign for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Chicago. (AP)<\/p>\n

Despite profound health challenges in his final years, including the disorder that affected his ability to move and speak, Jackson continued protesting against racial injustice into the era of Black Lives Matter.<\/p>\n

In 2024, he appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and at a City Council meeting to show support for a resolution backing a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if we win,\u201d he told marchers in Minneapolis before the officer whose knee kept George Floyd from breathing was convicted of murder, \u201cit\u2019s relief, not victory. They\u2019re still killing our people. Stop the violence, save the children. Keep hope alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-486595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}