Jesse Jackson, towering icon of civil rights, dies following lengthy illness
In a decades-long effort, Jesse Jackson stood alongside MLK, pushed for voting rights, shamed corporations and negotiated with world leaders.
USA TODAY
Updated Feb. 17, 2026, 8:52 a.m. ET
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a towering civil rights icon who battled alongside Martin Luther King Jr., negotiated global hostage releases, and shamed corporations for their lack of corporate diversity and failure to support voting rights, has died. He was 84.Jackson was hospitalized on Nov. 12 following a lengthy fight with progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition similar to Parkinson’s disease. He was released from the hospital later that month. Jackson was a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, a Democratic presidential candidate and one of the world’s best-known Black activists.
