PHOTOS: Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson found stage and home in Atlanta

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The Rev. Jesse Jackson died after a lengthy illness. The icon fought for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and ran for president. He was 84.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH coalition in Chicago on Aug. 16, 2024. Jackson, whose impassioned oratory and populist vision of a “rainbow coalition” of the poor and forgotten made him the nation’s most influential Black figure in the years between the civil rights crusades of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the election of Barack Obama, died on Feb. 17, 2026. He was 84. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times)

Jackson (left) was an aide to civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Here, they are seen in Chicago, Aug. 19, 1966. (Larry Stoddard/AP)

Jackson (left) talks with King in 1966. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

In this April 3, 1968 file photo, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same spot. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy. (Charles Kelly/AP)

Jackson stands on the balcony at the Lorraine Motel where King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., 50 years later. Jackson was at the motel when King, who was staying in Room 306, was struck down by a sniper's bullet. The former motel, along with the rooming house from which the shot was fired, are now part of the National Civil Rights Museum. (Associated Press)

Jesse Jackson, of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks at a University of California rally on May 27, 1970, at The Greek Theater in Berkeley, Calif. (Sal Veder/Associated Press)

Jackson speaks to reporters at the Operation PUSH Soul Picnic at the 142nd Street Armory in New York, March 26, 1972. Left to right are: Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X; Jackson; Tom Todd, vice president of PUSH; Aretha Franklin; Miriam Makeba and Louis Stokes, rear right. PUSH stands for People United to Save Humanity. (Jim Wells/AP)

Jackson (right) confers with Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, at the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Ind. in 1972. (AP file)

President Gerald Ford talks with Vernon Jordan (center), executive director of the National Urban League and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, national president of operation "PUSH", during his meeting with civil rights leaders at the White House in 1974. (AP FILE)

Baseball great Hank Aaron, who retired from playing in 1977, became active in the Black political scene in Atlanta. Here he celebrates Young's mayoral victory in 1981 with Jesse Jackson (center) and Reginald Eaves, who would later become Atlanta's first Black public safety commissioner and a Fulton County commissioner. (Louie Favorite/AJC)

Jackson addresses the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco on July 17, 1984. (Jim Wilson/The New York Times)

Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace (right) meets with presidential hopeful Jackson at the Governor's Mansion in Montgomery on July 21, 1987. Wallace, the one-time firebrand segregationist who was paralyzed by a would-be assassin's bullet as he campaigned for the presidency in 1972, died Sunday, Sept. 13, 1998. (Dave Martin/AP)

Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson with his wife, Jacqueline, salutes the cheering crowd at Operation Push in Chicago, Wednesday, March 10, 1988. Jackson brought his campaign home in a bid for votes in the Illinois primary on March 15. (Fred Jewell/AP)

Jackson and civil rights icon Rosa Parks raise their hands triumphantly during a speech. (Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)

Jesse Jackson does a thumbs-up and former President Jimmy Carter applauds during Michael Dukakis' acceptance speech on July 20, 1988. (AJC FILE)

Civil rights figures lead marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the recreation of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march in Selma, Ala., on March 4, 1990. From left are Hosea Williams of Atlanta, Georgia Congressman John Lewis, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Evelyn Lowery, SCLC President Joseph Lowery and Coretta Scott King (glasses). (Jamie Sturtevant/AP)

Rev. Jesse Jackson hugs his son Jesse Jackson Jr. after being introduced to speak to delegates at the United Center Tuesday, Aug. 27, 1996, in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. (Ron Edmonds/AP)

President Bill Clinton (center) leads thousands of marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., Sunday, March 5, 2000. The celebration is the 35th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when Alabama state troopers beat marchers when they attempted to cross the bridge in a march to Montgomery seeking voting rights. From left: the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, Clinton, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and his wife Lillian Lewis. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Jackson smiles as Clayton County police officer Josh Oberst helps Clavon Greene (center) register to vote at Mundy Mills High School in Jonesboro on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2003. Jackson spoke during a assembly at the high school and helped register students to vote. (Johnny Crawford/AJC)

Jackson stands in his footprint during the inaugural unveiling of the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr., National Historic site in Atlanta, April 14, 2004. (Joey Ivansco/AJC).

Jackson (right) helps an unidentified man unload a box of relief supplies for Hurricane Katrina victims on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2005, at a distribution center in Jackson, Miss. Jackson was visiting Mississippi to deliver supplies and offer assistance. The truckload of supplies, were from the mayor of Atlanta. (Greg Campbell/AP)

Jesse Jackson marches with U.S. House of Rep., Nancy Pelosi (right) and singer Harry Belafonte (left) at the beginning of the "Keep the Vote Alive' march in 2005. (Joey Ivansco/AJC)

Jackson, top center, and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., leaning on shovel, become emotional as Amb. Andrew Young (top right) speaks about the significance of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during the breaking ground for the Martin Luther King Memorial on the National Mall in Washington Monday Nov. 13, 2006. Consoling Rep. Lewis are former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman (center) and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger (second from left). At lower right is Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister Christine King Farris. (Lauren Victoria Burke/AP)

Then-Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. (left) and the Rev. Jesse Jackson are seen at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Awards Breakfast in Chicago on Jan. 15, 2007. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

The Rev. Jesse Jackson is overcome with emotion as he joins supporters of Sen. Barack Obama in Chicago's Grant Park as they cheer the news that their candidate won the presidential election on Tuesday night, Nov. 4, 2008. Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive. (Damon Winter/The New York Times)

Jackson waves as he steps to the podium during the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 27, 2016. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Rev. Jesse Jackson, is congratulated by President Ronald Johnson May 22, 2017, after he received an honorary degree. He also spoke. Clark Atlanta University's Panther Stadium was the site of their 28th annual Commencement. Businessman William Pickard gave the commencement address. (Bob Andres/AJC)

Jackson visits the balcony outside room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, where he was when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, on April 3, 2018 in Memphis, Tenn. The motel is now part of the complex of the National Civil Rights Museum, which is commemorating the 50th anniversary of King's assassination on April 4, 1968. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Rev. Jesse Jackson (center) and the Rev. Al Sharpton, (left) make an appearance on stage on the first night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

Jackson is pushed in a wheelchair as he marches with Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep Maxim Waters D-California, Martin Luther King III, and NAACP President Derick Johnson as they walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 60th anniversary of the march, on Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. Jackson had progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a neurodegenerative condition similar to Parkinson. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

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Credit: NYT

The Rev. Jesse Jackson at the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH coalition in Chicago on Aug. 16, 2024. Jackson, whose impassioned oratory and populist vision of a “rainbow coalition” of the poor and forgotten made him the nation’s most influential Black figure in the years between the civil rights crusades of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the election of Barack Obama, died on Feb. 17, 2026. He was 84. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times)

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