The Latest: Reaction is pouring in to the death of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson
Feb 17, 2026, 6:25 AM
FILE - Coretta Scott King holds hands while singing with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Christine Farris, the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as they parade on Peachtree Street in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 19, 1987 to honor King's birthday. At left in Mrs. Alveda king Beall and at right is Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File)
Reaction is pouring in after the death of t the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who led the U.S. Civil Rights Movement for decades, died Tuesday. The protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate was 84.
As a young organizer 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.
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.
And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” Jackson intoned.
It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South to become America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.
Santita Jackson confirmed that her father died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family.
The Latest:
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. AP photo editors curated a gallery.
Trump remembered Jackson in a social media post that called him a “good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts.’”
The Republican president also described Jackson as “very gregarious -Someone who truly loved people!”
“He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!” Trump wrote.
