Civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84, his family confirmed on Tuesday, February 20, 2024. Jackson, a prominent figure in the US civil rights movement, spent over six decades in the public eye as a leader and politician, according to the New York Times. He was known for being the first African-American to transition from activism to major-party presidential politics, as reported by the BBC.
Born into poverty in racially segregated South Carolina, Jackson was an early protégé of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He witnessed King's assassination in Memphis in 1968, as noted by the New York Times. Jackson's profile reached its peak during the 1980s when he ran for president twice as a Democrat. Although he did not secure the party's nomination, he garnered millions of votes in his 1984 and 1988 campaigns, according to the New York Times.
Jackson was a key figure during the US civil rights movement of the 1960s, as stated by the BBC. In 1965, he was pictured with Rosa Parks, whose arrest ten years prior sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, according to Getty Images. In 1971, Jackson formed Operation PUSH, as reported by the BBC.
Richard Fowler, writing for Fox News, recalled a personal encounter with Jackson, stating, "I once ran into Rev. Jesse Jackson. Literally." Fowler, then a high school student, bumped into Jackson at an NAACP dinner, an experience that highlighted the impact of Jackson's voice on American public life.
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