The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after King, has died at 84

"National News Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the U.S and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. CHICAGO (AP) - The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84."

"Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society."

"And when he declared, "I am Somebody," in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. "I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody," Jackson intoned. It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South to become America's best-known civil rights activist since King."

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson died at 84 in Chicago, surrounded by family. He was a protege of Martin Luther King Jr. and a two-time presidential candidate who led civil rights efforts for decades after King's assassination. He began as an organizer in Chicago and met King at the Lorraine Motel shortly before King's killing. He led the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, pressing corporate executives to increase Black representation and waging diplomatic efforts with world leaders. He advocated for the poor and underrepresented on voting rights, job opportunities, education, and health care. He often recited the poem "I am Somebody" to promote dignity. His family described him as a servant leader.

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