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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended racial discrimination, prohibited employment discrimination, and enabled people of color to pursue better jobs and education.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., a longtime civil rights leader and former U.S. presidential candidate, has been hospitalized, the Rainbow Push Coalition announced on November 12.
According to the Rainbow Push Coalition, 84-year-old Jackson was hospitalized on November 12 and is currently under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy. Civil rights groups say Jackson has been treated for the rare neurodegenerative disease for more than a decade.
“The family appreciates all prayers at this time,” the group said in a news release.
Jackson was initially diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which he disclosed in a letter to supporters in 2017, according to the Rainbow Push Coalition. However, his diagnosis was confirmed last April as progressive supranuclear palsy.
Jackson previously was hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus in August 2021, and again in November 2021 after falling and hitting his head at Howard University, Reuters reported at the time.
The civil rights leader, who emerged from the civil rights movement fighting for causes ranging from gender equality to economic and social justice, resigned as president of the Rainbow Push Coalition in 2023. The organization evolved from Operation Push, which Jackson founded in 1971.
An ordained Baptist minister, Jackson was a disciple of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and emerged as a prominent voice in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Dr. King gave Jackson a role in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and tasked him with establishing the organization’s presence in Chicago.
More than a decade after Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm ran for the White House in 1972, becoming the first black woman to campaign nationally for the Democratic Party’s nomination, Ms. Jackson became the second black American to seek a major party nomination as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
Contributors: Rachel Barber, Marc Ramirez, Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY
