United States civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson has died aged 84.
Jackson “died peacefully” on Tuesday morning, a statement from his family said, reports Al Jazeera.
The statement praised his lifelong dedication, noting that “His unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shake a global movement for freedom and dignity.”
The family also reflected on his character and mission, saying: “Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world.”
The eloquent Baptist minister was raised in the segregated US South. He became a close associate of Martin Luther King and twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 2017, Jackson revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
For more than half a century, he remained a leading advocate for Black Americans and other marginalised communities, with his activism rooted in the unrest and momentum of the civil rights era of the 1960s.
