The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights campaigner who was prominent for more than 50 years and who ran strongly for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, has died. A fixture in the civil rights movement and Democratic politics since the 1960s, Jackson was once close to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Even Blacks said a Black couldn’t win.”Twenty years after his second run for president, the first Black president, Barack Obama, saluted Jackson for making his victory possible. 9:54 Jesse Jackson: titan of US civil rights movement leaves legacy of hope - The LatestIn 1964, Jackson enrolled at the Chicago Theological Seminary, as he continued to be involved in the civil rights movement. Impressed by Jackson’s leadership at Selma, King offered him a position with the civil rights group that he co-founded, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Source: The Guardian February 17, 2026 23:18 UTC