“Keep Hope Alive”: Remembering the Musical and Political Legacy of Jesse Jackson

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. has died at 84, his family said Tuesday, February 17, 2026, adding that he passed peacefully while surrounded by loved ones. Tributes quickly followed from political leaders and civil rights organizations, many repeating the message he championed for decades: keep hope alive.

Jackson rose to national prominence after working alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., then became one of the most visible civil rights voices in the United States from the late 1960s onward. He later led Operation PUSH and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, focusing on voting rights, economic opportunity, and human rights.

He also entered presidential politics, running for the Democratic nomination in 1984 and 1988 and helping expand Black political participation nationwide.

In the music world, Billboard noted he was credited as a Grammy winner, a rare distinction for a civil rights leader. In recent years, Jackson lived with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurological disorder.