Rev. Jesse Jackson stepping down as head of Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
The Rev. Jesse Jackson is stepping down as president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the civil rights organization whose predecessor he founded more than 50 years ago, according to multiple reports.
The 81-year-old announced the decision in a broadcast to volunteers, WLS-TV reported Friday. It was not immediately clear when he would step down. He is expected to announce his successor at the Rainbow/PUSH convention this weekend, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Jackson founded People United to Serve Humanity, or PUSH, in 1971. In 1984, he founded the Rainbow Coalition. He merged the two groups into the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in 1996.
In 2017, Jackson announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He stepped away from the day-to-day operations of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in 2022, according to the Tribune.
Here are some memorable photos of the Rev. Jesse Jackson through the years.
1966: Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., right, and his aide the Rev. Jesse Jackson are seen in Chicago, Aug. 19, 1966.
1968: In this April 3, 1968, file photo, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy.
1968: A brace of plow mules drawing the farm wagon bearing the mahogany casket of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. along the funeral procession route in Atlanta on April 9, 1968. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in green, and Andrew Young, at the left corner of the casket, are among some of the mourners.
1970: Jesse Jackson of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference speaks at a University of California rally at Greek Theater in Berkeley on May 27, 1970.
1972: The Rev. Jesse Jackson talks to newsmen at the opening of the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana, March 11, 1972.
1974: President Gerald Ford talks with Vernon Jordan, center, executive director of the National Urban League, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, national president of Operation PUSH, during his meeting with civil rights leaders at the White House, Oct. 25, 1974.
1976: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger shakes hands with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Chicago civil rights leader, as they met at the State Department in Washington on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1976.
1979: President Jimmy Carter with the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the White House in Washington on April 4, 1979.
1980: Republican presidential nominee Gov. Ronald Reagan talks with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, director of Operation Push, outside the organization’s headquarters in Chicago on Tuesday, August 5, 1980. Nancy Reagan is at right.
1983: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, chats with tennis star Arthur Ashe at a news conference at the opening of Jackson’s state campaign headquarters in the Brooklyn section of New York, Dec. 17, 1983.
1984: Lt. Robert O. Goodman Jr., second from left, is welcomed home by President Ronald Reagan during a Rose Garden ceremony outside the White House, Jan. 4, 1984, after he was returned from Syrian captivity. Looking on from left: wife Terry Lynn; Goodman’s brother Martin; Secretary of State George Shultz; Goodman’s mother Marilyn (partially obscured); his father Robert Sr.; his brother Tyron (partially obscured); Reagan; the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was instrumental in negotiating his release; Vice President George Bush.
1984: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, and former Sen. George McGovern both gesture during dialogue at the Democratic presidential debate in Manchester, New Hampshire on Thursday, Feb. 23, 1984.
1984: Democratic presidential candidate the Rev. Jesse Jackson sat down with Cuban President Fidel Castro and other high Cuban government official at the National Palace in Havana on Tuesday, June 26, 1984, to discuss "peace options" in the area of Cuban-U.S. relations and Central America.
1987: Mrs. Coretta Scott King holds hands while singing with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Mrs. Christine Farris, the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as they parade on Peachtree Street in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 19, 1987, to honor King’s birthday.
1987: The Rev. Jesse Jackson holds hands with members of his family in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Oct. 10, 1987, where he announced he is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president.
1988: Jesse Jackson is joined by his daughter, Santita, and son Jonathan, far right, and an unidentified youngster at the Los Angeles Hilton Hotel on June 8, 1988, after falling in defeat to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in the California Democratic primary.
1990: Nelson Mandela, accompanied by his wife, Winnie, far left, is greeted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, at Kennedy Airport in New York on June 20, 1990.
1991: The Rev. Jesse Jackson talks with Rosa Parks at the dedication of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., July 5, 1991.
1992: Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, right, greets Santita Jackson, daughter of Jesse Jackson, center, following a song performed by Ms. Jackson at a "Rebuild America" conference held by the Rainbow Coalition in Washington on June 13, 1992.
1999: In this Saturday, May 1, 1999, file photo, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, second from right, holds hands as he leads a prayer with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, second from left, Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs Zivadin Jovanovic, left, and U.S. Rep. Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., right, in Belgrade.
2002: In this Sunday, March 3, 2002, file photo, demonstrators cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march. From left are civil rights attorney Julian McPhillips, in tan hat, Selma mayor James Perkins, civil rights activist Marie Foster, in yellow hat, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Evelyn Lowery, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.
2004: After singing "Georgia on My Mind," Willie Nelson and the Rev. Jesse Jackson embrace during funeral services for Ray Charles at First AME Church in Los Angeles on Friday, June 18, 2004.
2005: In this Oct. 26, 2005, file photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela, left, walks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson after their meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.
2006: The Rev. Jesse Jackson comforts former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, right, during the ground breaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington on Monday, Nov. 13, 2006.
2007: Pop star Michael Jackson, right, smiles as he walks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, left, down the red carpet during the RainbowPUSH Coalition Los Angeles 10th annual awards dinner celebrating Jesse Jackson’s 66th birthday, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007, in Los Angeles.
2008: Jesse Jackson in the crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008.
2010: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, leads a group of marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., Sunday, March 7, 2010.
2012: The Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, leaves Whigham Funeral Home after visiting with the family of Whitney Houston before going to the New Hope Baptist Church for her funeral in Newark, N.J., on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012.
2013: The Rev. Jessie Jackson Sr. waits in a SUV for his son, former Illinois Rep. Jessie Jackson Jr. and his wife Sandra, to leave federal court in Washington on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, after the younger Jackson entered a guilty plea to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.
2015: From left, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Vice President Joe Biden, President Barack Obama, and first lady Michelle Obama, gather after services honoring the life of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, Friday, June 26, 2015, in Charleston, S.C., at the College of Charleston TD Arena.
2017: President Barack Obama talks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson following his farewell address at McCormick Place in Chicago, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. On the left is Jackson’s son, Jonathan Jackson.
2018: The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks during the funeral service for Aretha Franklin at Greater Grace Temple, Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, in Detroit. Franklin died Aug. 16, 2018, of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76.
2020: The Rev. Jesse Jackson pays respect to the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., lying in state on the East Front Steps of the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Washington.
2021: The Rev. Jesse Jackson greets demonstrators during a protest over the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by a police officer during a traffic stop, outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department, Saturday, April 17, 2021, in Brooklyn Center, Minn.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – MARCH 17: Rev. Jesse Jackson leaves an event at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters after announcing his support for Chicago mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson on March 17, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson, a Cook County commissioner, is facing former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a runoff election for the Mayor’s office scheduled for April 4. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
