CHICAGO — Plans to honor the late Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. have grown to encompass multiple cities, with memorial events now scheduled for Washington D.C. and South Carolina in addition to his longtime home base of Chicago, his Rainbow PUSH Coalition revealed Thursday.
The renowned civil rights activist and former presidential hopeful passed away earlier this week at 84 following a prolonged struggle with an uncommon neurological condition that impaired his mobility and speech capabilities.
While Jackson’s body will remain on display at his Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s Chicago offices next week, followed by public memorial and funeral ceremonies, the timing for the Chicago events has been adjusted. Additional formal services have been added to take place between March 1st and 4th in both the nation’s capital and South Carolina, Jackson’s birthplace.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition has not yet released additional specifics about these expanded arrangements.
On Wednesday, Jackson’s grown children assembled outside their family residence in Chicago, explaining that the funeral proceedings would welcome large crowds and be open to all. They pledged to carry forward his lifelong commitment to social justice.
“Although his body is absent from us, his spirit suffuses and infuses us, and it charges us to continue with the work,” said Santita Jackson, his eldest child.
Chicago will host a public memorial celebration at House of Hope, a venue accommodating 10,000 attendees, on March 6th. A private funeral service will follow the subsequent day at Rainbow PUSH headquarters, with live streaming available to the public.
Jackson gained national recognition six decades ago as a mentee of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., participating in the historic voting rights demonstration from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. King later assigned Jackson to establish Operation Breadbasket in Chicago, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference initiative designed to encourage businesses to employ Black workers. Jackson stood alongside King during the civil rights leader’s assassination on April 4, 1968.
