Jesse Jackson, US civil rights leader, dies aged 84

“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement.

American civil rights campaigner Rev Jesse Jackson trying hurling during his visit to Irish Language School, Meanscoil Feirste in West Belfast in 2004. File picture: Alan Lewis

Tue, 17 Feb, 2026 - 10:15

Melissa Hellmann and Martin Pengelly

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. He was 84.

“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement.