The Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson, the towering civil rights leader whose moral vision and fiery oratory reshaped the Democratic Party and America,\u00a0has died, his son said. He was 84.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson, a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., had been\u00a0hospitalized\u00a0in recent months and was under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy. He died Tuesday morning, surrounded by his family, according to a\u00a0statement\u00a0from his nonprofit social justice organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHis unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless \u2013 from his Presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilizing millions to register to vote \u2013 leaving an indelible mark on history,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson was what one pundit called \u201can American original.\u201d He was born to an unwed teenage mom in Greenville, South Carolina, during the Jim Crow era but rose to become a civil rights icon and a groundbreaking politician who mounted two electrifying runs for the presidency in the 1980s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson\u2019s dual bids for the Democratic presidential nomination inspired Black America and stunned political observers who marveled at his\u00a0ability\u00a0to\u00a0draw\u00a0White voters. He was a Black crossover figure long before Barack Obama hit the national stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson first rose to national prominence in the 1960s as a close aide to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. After King\u2019s assassination in 1968, Jackson became one of the most transformative civil rights leaders in America \u2014 to the chagrin of some of King\u2019s aides, who thought he was too brash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But his\u00a0Rainbow Coalition,\u00a0a bold alliance of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans and LGBTQ people, helped pave the way for a more progressive Democratic Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow \u2013 red, yellow, brown, Black and White \u2013 and we\u2019re all precious in God\u2019s sight,\u201d Jackson once\u00a0said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of Jackson\u2019s signature phrases was \u201cKeep hope alive.\u201d He repeated it so often that some began to parody it, but it never seemed to lose meaning for him. He was a force for social justice over three eras: the Jim Crow period, the civil rights era and the post-civil rights era that culminated with the election of Obama and the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through his eloquence and singular drive, Jackson didn\u2019t just keep hope alive for himself. His dream of a vibrant, multiracial America still inspires millions of Americans today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson\u2019s vision remade the Democratic Party. He was the first presidential candidate to make support for gay rights a major part of his campaign platform, and he made a concerted effort to challenge the Democratic Party\u2019s prioritization of White, moderate, middle-class voters, says\u00a0David Masciotra, author of \u201cI Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA Democratic party that now represents a multicultural America and has someone like Kamala Harris as the (former) Vice President and Obama as the former President began in many ways with those Jackson campaigns,\u201d Masciotra says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obama may have never made it to the White House without Jackson\u2019s pioneering presidential runs. Jackson successfully fought to\u00a0change\u00a0the awarding of delegates during the Democratic primaries from a winner-take-all system that benefitted frontrunners to a proportional system that helped other candidates even if they didn\u2019t win a state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those\u00a0changes helped\u00a0Obama mount a come-from-behind victory over frontrunner Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primaries, Masciotra says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson was once asked if it hurt that he didn\u2019t become the nation\u2019s first Black president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, it doesn\u2019t,\u201d he told a\u00a0Guardian\u00a0columnist, \u201cbecause I was a trailblazer, I was a pathfinder. I had to deal with doubt and cynicism and fears about a Black person running. There were Black scholars writing papers about why I was wasting my time. Even Blacks said a Black couldn\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson smashed the perception that a Black person couldn\u2019t be a viable presidential candidate. Some pundits predicted he would be outclassed by his more experienced political opponents during the presidential debates. They grudgingly recognized his charisma, but many never gave him credit for his analytical ability and political savvy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt turned out he not only held his own; he often won those debates,\u201d Masciotra says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Political observers shouldn\u2019t have been surprised. Jackson was one of the most gifted communicators in American history. Even as a child, he had a preternatural facility with words and metaphors. Like King, he\u00a0injected\u00a0the rhyming, cadences and poetic imagery of Black church preaching into American political life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJesse was an unusual kind of fella, even when he was just learning to talk,\u201d\u00a0Noah Robinson, Jackson\u2019s father,\u00a0told\u00a0The New York Times in 1984. \u201cHe would say, \u2018I\u2019m going to lead people through the rivers of the water.\u2019\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson\u2019s signature line, \u201cI Am Somebody,\u201d which he often chanted during speeches, was aimed as much at himself as it was to his audience. Marshall Frady, who wrote \u201cJesse: The Life and Pilgrimage of Jesse Jackson,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Jackson was prodigiously gifted but was plagued by \u201cchasmic insecurities despite all he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of those insecurities sprang from his childhood. Jackson was born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina \u2014 a double outcast because of his race and the circumstances of his birth. He was born in the Jim Crow South to Helen Burns, then an unmarried 16-year-old, and her married-next-door neighbor, Noah Robinson. Burns married a year later, and her husband, Charles Jackson, adopted her son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biographers invariably describe Jackson as feeling\u00a0lonely\u00a0and different as a child. He was\u00a0teased\u00a0by classmates for being \u201ca\u00a0nobody\u00a0who had no daddy.\u201d Frady described Jackson as an \u201caggrieved and brooding little boy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Jackson told a New York Times reporter that he had a \u201cfather surplus.\u201d He said his biological and adoptive fathers were friends, and that he inherited his strong ego and \u201csense of dignity\u201d from his biological father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n