Did you know that Jesse Louis Jackson inherited the title of the High Prince of the Agni people of Côte d'Ivoire from Michael Jackson, and in August 2009, he was crowned Prince Côte Nana by Amon N'Douffou V, King of Krindjabo, who rules more than a million Agni tribespeople?

Jesse Louis Jackson is an American civil rights activist, politician, and ordained Baptist minister, who is a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. and James Bevel during the civil rights movement, and rose to become one of the most prominent civil rights leaders of the late 20th and early 21st centuries?

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, on October 8, 1941, Jackson began his activism in the 1960s and founded the organizations that later merged to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Expanding his work into international affairs in the 1980s, he became a vocal critic of the Reagan administration and launched a presidential campaign in 1984. 

Initially viewed as a fringe candidate, he finished third for the Democratic nomination behind former vice president Walter Mondale and Senator Gary Hart. He continued his activism and mounted a second presidential bid in 1988, finishing as the runner‑up to Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. Jackson did not seek the presidency again, but in 1990 he was elected as the District of Columbia's shadow senator, serving one term during the Bush and Clinton administrations. 

Although initially critical of President Bill Clinton, he later became a supporter. Jackson hosted Both Sides with Jesse Jackson on CNN from 1992 to 2000. A critic of police brutality, the Republican Party, and conservative policies, he was widely regarded as one of the most influential African‑American activists of his era.

From 1991 to 1997, he served as a shadow delegate and shadow senator for the District of Columbia. He was the father of U.S. Representative Jonathan Jackson and former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr.

Jackson married Jacqueline Lavinia Brown (born 1944) on December 31, 1962, and together they had five children, including Santita (1963), Jesse Jr. (1965) and Jonathan Luther (1966). In January 2001, it was revealed that Jackson had had an affair with a staffer, Karin Stanford, which resulted in the birth of a daughter in May 1999.

Jackson died on February 17, 2026, at the age of 84. His family announced his death on social media. Tributes were published from U.S. President Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, William Barber, former US Presidents Bill Clinton (in a joint statement with wife Hillary), Barack Obama (in a joint statement with wife Michelle), and Joe Biden, Attorney Ben Crump, Chuck Schumer, Martin Luther King III, former US Vice President Kamala Harris, former Ambassador Andrew Young, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, South Carolina US Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, Alveda King, Hakeem Jeffries, Rahm Emanuel, Brandon Johnson, Raphael Warnock, Bernice King and Frank Scott Jr. Also South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn, South Carolina State Representative Wendell Gilliard and Benedict College.

Here are some of his legacies in awards and honors:

Ebony Magazine named Jackson to its "100 most influential black Americans" list in 1971.

In 1979, Jackson received the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged.

In 1988, the NAACP awarded Jackson its President's Award, and the next year, the organization awarded him the Spingarn Medal.

In 1991, Jackson received the American Whig–Cliosophic Society's James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service.

In 1999, Jackson received the Golden Doves for Peace journalistic prize awarded by the Italian Research Institute Archive Disarmo.

In August 2000, Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest honor bestowed on civilians.

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Jackson on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

In 2008, Jackson was presented with an Honorary Fellowship from Edge Hill University.

In an AP-AOL "Black Voices" poll in February 2006, Jackson was voted "the most important black leader".

Jackson inherited the title of the High Prince of the Agni people of Côte d'Ivoire from Michael Jackson. In August 2009, he was crowned Prince Côte Nana by Amon N'Douffou V, King of Krindjabo, who rules more than a million Agni tribespeople.

In 2015, Jackson was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Edinburgh, in recognition of decades of campaigning for civil rights.

In 2021, Jackson was appointed Commander of the Legion of Honor, France's highest order of merit, presented by French president Emmanuel Macron, for his work in civil rights.

In December 2021, Jackson was elected an Honorary Fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge.

In 2022, Jackson received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Benedict College.

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