Jesse Jackson (second from left) stands alongside Joe Biden (right) in Selma, Alabama, 2023. (Alexander Willis / Raw Story)
Jesse Jackson, the civil rights icon who helped lead the civil rights movement in the 1960s, died Tuesday aged 84, Politico reported.
A colleague of Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson was a key figure in the fight against racial inequality dating back to the 1950s and, until 2023, was the leader of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1971 that advocates for civil rights and social justice.
A member of the Democratic Party, Jackson was close to its progressive wing and had endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in his 2020 bid for the White House. After Sanders’ exit from the race, Jackson backed Joe Biden.
Jackson launched the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in honor of American activist Fred Hampton, a prominent leader of the Black Panther Party who was killed by law enforcement after extensive monitoring by the FBI, which viewed him as a threat.