Jesse Jackson Passes Away

By Brionna Gillis

Famed Civil Rights leader and Politician, Rev. Jesse Jackson, has passed away at the age of 86. 

In a statement released by his family, Jesse Jackson was revealed to have passed away last Tuesday after being hospitalized in November 2025 following a diagnosis with a degenerative condition called progressive supranuclear palsy. Jackson revealed in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He called it a “physical challenge,” but refused to let it interfere with his civil rights advocacy, per CBS news. 

“I was really sad to hear about his passing because he was such a foundational civil rights scholar. I actually referenced him in some of my senior thesis, so it was really wild to see someone you think so highly of pass away,” said Phaedra Hyche, a fourth-year political science major with a minor in history. 

Courtesy of History.com

Jackson was known for activism and political influence, spending his life dedicated to pursuing civil rights for disenfranchised groups both in the United States and abroad. As a young man amidst the growing civil rights movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jackson became involved in local activism. 

He would go on to be the leader of a student-led movement that pushed to desegregate a local public library, and later, a member of Martin Luther King Jr.’s circle, marching alongside him. Jackson was also with King when he was assassinated in 1968. 

Outside of the US, Jackson stood as a major political figure, championing the release of foreign nationals held in Kuwait in the lead up to the gold war, becoming a “shadow senator” to lobby for Washington, D.C., and working as a special envoy under Bill Clinton. 

Many have honored Jackson’s work and legacy that he has cultivated over the decades. People have even shared how Jackson’s work has been an influence on their lives. 

“I would say that he influenced my mother’s life which in turn influenced my life. My mom is a huge advocate in San Francisco. She’s been leading San Francisco marches with women’s rights and black movement rights since I could walk and she’s worked on Capitol Hill before and so I grew up leading marches in San Francisco,” said Camila Ramirez, the head secretary of the NAACP chapter at Hampton University and a third-year in Master’s architecture program. 

“So I think Jesse Jackson was a literal example and inspiration to our parents’ generation to teach us to be better.”