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

"Our father was a servant leader not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world, the Jackson family said in a statement posted online. We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. Fellow civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton called his mentor a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world."

"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."

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson died at age 84 at home surrounded by family. He rose from obscurity in the segregated South to become a prominent civil rights activist and two-time presidential candidate. He met with Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel shortly before King's assassination and later positioned himself as a successor in the movement. Jackson campaigned for the poor and underrepresented on voting rights, job opportunities, education, and health care, and won diplomatic victories with world leaders. Through Rainbow/PUSH, he pressed corporations for Black pride, self-determination, and greater equity. His repeated recitation of "I am Somebody" emphasized dignity across races.

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