CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (Chambana Today) — Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., the longtime civil rights leader and former U.S. presidential candidate, has been hospitalized, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition announced Tuesday.
Jackson, 84, was admitted to a hospital on Nov. 12 and is currently under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease that affects movement, balance, and speech. The organization said Jackson has been managing the condition for more than a decade. “The family appreciates all prayers at this time,” the Rainbow PUSH Coalition said in a statement.
Jackson was initially diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017, which he announced in a public letter to supporters. His diagnosis was later confirmed as PSP in April 2024.
The civil rights icon has faced several health challenges in recent years, including hospitalizations in 2021 after contracting COVID-19 and later suffering a fall at Howard University.
Jackson rose to national prominence as a protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., leading voter registration efforts and economic empowerment campaigns through his organization Operation PUSH, founded in 1971. The group later merged into the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, which Jackson led until stepping down in 2023.
Throughout his decades-long career, Jackson championed civil rights, economic equality, and social justice, making historic runs for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.
