Jesse Jackson with Martin Luther King jnr in 1966. Photograph: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group
Tue Feb 17 2026 - 21:26 • 1 MIN READ
US civil rights leader Rev Jesse Jackson, a Baptist minister raised in the segregated South who became a close associate of Martin Luther King jnr and twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, has died at age 84, his family said in a statement on Tuesday. – Reuters
Jesse Jackson (centre) marches with the writer and activist Amiri Baraka (left) and William A Jones (right) during a boycott of the A&P supermarket chain, December 16th, 1970. Photograph: Neal Boenzi/The New York Times
Jesse Jackson points as he speaks from a lectern at the headquarters of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), in Chicago, on July 17th, 1981. Photograph: Antonio Dickey/Getty Images
Jesse Jackson greets well-wishers at a voter registration drive kickoff event outside the Brooklyn Museum, September 3rd, 1984. Photograph: Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times
Jesse Jackson embraces his wife, Jacqueline - whom he was married to from 1962 until his death - in 1984. Photograph: Lennox McLendon,/AP
Jesse Jackson with his daughter, Santita, and son Jonathan (far right) in 1988 after falling in defeat to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis in the California Democratic primary. Photograph: John Duricka/AP
Jesse Jackson speaks with then senator, Barrack Obama after a Congressional Black Caucus ceremony, January 4th, 2005. Photograph: Tom Williams/Getty Images
Model Naomi Campbell (second left) looks on as Jesse Jackson touches a statue of Nelson Mandela as it is unveiled at Parliament Square, London, August 29th, 2007. Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/PA Wire
Jesse Jackson cries as he and a crowd in Grant Park in Chicago celebrate that Barack Obama was projected to become US president, an office that Jackson sought twice, November 4th, 2008. Photograph: Damon Winter/The New York Times
Jesse Jackson, pictured with Sorcha O'Dwyer, and other students from Scoil Oilibhéir, Blanchardstown/Clonsilla, at the Equality & Rights Alliance conference in Dublin Castle, February 14th, 2011. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Jesse Jackson in Trinity College, Dublin, addressing the College Historical Society, March 22nd, 2011. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA Wire
