Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Chicago on Friday to pay their final respects to civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who lay in repose at the headquarters of his Rainbow/Push Coalition. The public visitation, held under unseasonably mild weather, drew a diverse crowd of admirers, including long-time friends, young students, and international visitors.
Jackson died on 17 February at the age of 84. After the Chicago ceremony, his body was transported to South Carolina, where he will lie in repose at the state capitol in Columbia ahead of funeral services on Monday. Jackson, a native of Greenville, South Carolina, spent most of his life in Chicago, where he founded the Rainbow/Push Coalition to focus on civil rights and political activism.
Among those paying respects was Marva Watts, 85, a retired college professor whose late husband worked closely with Jackson. 'My late husband worked very closely with Reverend Jackson and Rainbow/Push many years earlier,' she said. 'I’m just thinking of God saying “Well done” for both of them.'
Ethan Davis, 17, a high school student, recalled meeting Jackson by chance at Chicago O’Hare Airport in 2017. 'He had a radiating aura off of him,' Davis said. 'I was able to shake his hand. I thanked him for all of his service that he’s done to protect human rights in America.'
Stallholders sold commemorative T-shirts and pan-African flags, while a screen played Jackson’s famous 1988 Democratic convention speech urging Americans to 'keep hope alive!' Kenneth LeDale, a military veteran, said, 'Jesse Jackson has done so much for us as a people. I’m so fortunate to never know the battles that I never had to fight because they did it for me.'
Diallo Ismail, a business owner from Guinea, described Jackson as a 'worldwide icon'. 'He fights for freedom, he fights for everybody. So we’re gonna miss him,' he said. Jackson retired in 2023 after more than six decades in the civil rights movement.
