Jesse Jackson

Jesse Jackson was a civil rights leader, Baptist minister and two-time presidential candidate known for his work in the American civil rights movement and his founding of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Jackson was raised by his mother in Greenville, South Carolina. He attended the University of Illinois on a football scholarship before transferring to North Carolina A&T State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1964. He later attended the Chicago Theological Seminary, earning a master of divinity degree in 2000.

Jackson rose to national prominence in the 1960s as a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. and a leader within the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. After King’s assassination in 1968, Jackson continued his activism, founding Operation PUSH in 1971 to promote economic empowerment and social justice. He went on to expand his profile in politics, running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, becoming one of the first Black candidates to build a prolific national campaign.

In 1991, Jackson founded the Rainbow Coalition, later merging it with Operation PUSH to form the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. He received numerous honors for his activism, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000.

Jackson married Jacqueline Brown in 1962. They share five children: Santita (born in 1963), Jesse Jr. (born in 1965), Jonathan (born in 1966), Yusef (born in 1970) and Jacqueline (born in 1975). He also has a daughter, Ashley (born in 1999), from a previous extramarital relationship.

Jackson died on February 17, 2026, at age 84.