The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a towering figure in the U.S. civil rights movement and a two-time presidential contender who reshaped Democratic politics in the 1980s, has died at the age of 84, his family announced on Tuesday.

“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said, adding that public commemorations will be held in Chicago.

Born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson rose to prominence as a young activist during the civil rights era. He became a close ally and protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., marching with him in Selma and later serving as a key leader in King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Jackson was with King in Memphis in April 1968 when the civil rights leader was assassinated.

After breaking away from the SCLC, Jackson founded Operation PUSH, later merging it with the National Rainbow Coalition to form the influential Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which expanded Black political and economic empowerment nationwide.
Jackson became a national political force in the 1980s, mounting historic Democratic presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988 that energized millions of voters and popularized the idea of a multiracial “Rainbow Coalition.” Though he never secured the party’s nomination, his campaigns broke barriers and paved the way for future Black candidates, including Barack Obama.

Beyond electoral politics, Jackson was an international advocate for human rights, negotiating the release of American hostages abroad and hosting a CNN talk show, Both Sides with Jesse Jackson. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.

Despite personal controversies and later struggles with Parkinson’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy, Jackson remained active in social justice causes, frequently appearing at protests against police brutality well into his later years.

Rev. Jesse Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, and six children.