According to CBS News, Jesse Jackson passed away peacefully Tuesday morning surrounded by his family after battling progressive supranuclear palsy and previously revealing a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. Born in Greenville, he rose to national prominence in the 1960s as a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. and worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1971, he founded Operation PUSH, later known as the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, to promote civil rights and economic empowerment. A Baptist minister and influential activist, Jackson also made history with his 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns, finishing second in the Democratic race in 1988 and significantly expanding Black political participation nationwide.
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