Jesse Jackson, a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. who became one of America’s most prominent civil rights leaders and a two-time presidential candidate, has died at 84. Jackson died Tuesday at his home in Chicago, surrounded by family, his daughter Santita Jackson confirmed. He had been battling a rare neurological disorder that affected his movement and speech. For more than five decades, Jackson was a leading voice for racial and economic justice in the United States and abroad. Rising from the segregated South, he became the country’s best-known civil rights activist after King’s assassination in 1968. As a young organiser in Chicago, Jackson worked closely with King and was present in Memphis when King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel. After King’s death, Jackson positioned himself as a successor and carried forward the push for voting rights, jobs, education and health care for marginalised communities. Jackson pressured major corporations to hire and promote Black Americans and invest in underserved communities. He used boycotts, negotiations and public campaigns to push companies toward more inclusive policies. Born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson was a standout student-athlete before fully committing to civil rights activism in the 1960s. He was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1968. Jackson is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, and his children.
