Black American pastor Jesse Jackson, ardent defender of the rights of African-Americans and traveling companion of Martin Luther King, died at the age of 84, his family announced Tuesday. He also played the role of international mediator in various conflicts.

Published on: 02/17/2026 - 11:07 Modified on: 02/17/2026 - 2:54 p.m.

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Jesse Jackson, one of the figures of the struggle for civil rights in the United States, has died. This former traveling companion of Martin Luther King expanded the place of African Americans on the American political scene through two ill-fated presidential campaigns that helped pave the way for the election of the first black president of the United States.

The 84-year-old black pastor died “peacefully” on Tuesday, February 17, surrounded by his family after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease, his family announced on Instagram.

“His unwavering commitment to justice, equality and human rights helped galvanize a global movement for freedom and dignity,” the pastor’s family said. “A tireless architect of change, he gave a voice to the voiceless (...), leaving an indelible mark on History.”

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Born in an America still marked by segregation, Reverend Jackson participated in some of the most significant episodes in the fight for racial equality in the United States.

He was in Memphis with Martin Luther King in 1968 when the civil rights giant was assassinated. He stood in tears, silent, among the crowd celebrating Barack Obama's victory in 2008. He was alongside the family of George Floyd in 2021, after a historic verdict finding a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, guilty of the murder of the African-American.

“My electorate is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the discredited, the despised,” said the Baptist pastor during the 1984 Democratic convention.

Controversial support for Michael Jackson

Rev. Jackson rose to prominence in the 1960s working under President Martin Luther King for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a nonviolent civil rights organization, before launching his own movements, Operation Push and the National Rainbow Coalition.

His career was also shaken by controversies, such as in 1984 when he used an anti-Semitic term to talk about New York, or when he staunchly supported his friend Michael Jackson during his trial for sexual abuse of a minor in 2005.

It was with his two presidential campaigns, in 1984 and 1988, that Jesse Jackson gained notoriety, broadening the Democratic political platform to the struggles of African-Americans.

In 1988, he made an impact with a speech on the “common core,” urging Americans to come together. “The left wing, the right wing (...), you need two wings to fly.”

Attacking Ronald Reagan's record, Jesse Jackson denounced the inequalities of a system called "Robin Hood in reverse" favoring the richest and abandoning the poor.

On the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965

He himself came from afar. Jesse Louis Burns was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, to a teenage mother and a former professional boxer. His mother remarried, and Jesse took his stepfather's last name, Charles Jackson.

His childhood was that of a black boy in the segregated South. “It was not a silver spoon that I had in my mouth, but rather a shovel in my hands,” he said.

An excellent student in his segregated high school, he won a scholarship thanks to his skills as an American football player and studied at university at a time when the civil rights movement was taking off in the United States.

Jesse Jackson was not yet 20 years old when he participated in his first sit-in, and was one of those who, in 1965, marched between Selma and Montgomery, in the Deep South, to defend access to the vote for African-Americans.

President Clinton's envoy to Africa

The pastor then established himself as mediator and special envoy in several major international conflicts. A fervent activist in the fight against apartheid in South Africa, he served as President Bill Clinton's emissary for Africa in the 1990s, going to Nigeria and several other countries.

He also went to Syria in 1983 to successfully negotiate the release of a captive US Navy pilot, then in 1999 to Belgrade, where after a meeting with Slobodan Milosevic, he contributed to the release of three American prisoners of war.

He left for Iraq in 1990 shortly before the Gulf War to ask Saddam Hussein for the release of dozens of American hostages.

In 2005, however, he caused a stir by appearing close to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

In 2017, Jesse Jackson announced that he was battling Parkinson's disease and began to limit his public appearances. But he wants to be with the family of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, in April 2021, for the verdict. This brought "relief" but "the fight for equality is a long fight in this country", he recalled.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump paid tribute to his memory, referring to a “force of nature” on his Truth Social network.

“He was a good person, with a lot of personality, determination, who had street smarts” and “really loved people,” the American president wrote. “We will miss Jesse!”

With AFP

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