Jackson weathered a spate of controversies but remained America's preeminent civil rights figure for decades. Jackson founded the Chicago-based civil rights groups Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition and served as Democratic President Bill Clinton's special envoy to Africa in the 1990s. Jackson became a lieutenant to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and sometimes traveled with him. In 1984, Jackson founded the National Rainbow Coalition, whose broader civil rights mission also included women's rights and gay rights, and the two organizations merged in 1996. Jackson also had a daughter out of wedlock in 1999 with a woman who worked at his civil rights groups, which became a scandal.

Source: The Telegraph February 17, 2026 10:07 UTC