Jesse Jackson, throughout the years, in and around KC. Photos, from left to right: Fred Blocher, Robert R. McElroy, Lincoln University via Getty Images
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights leader who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and later ran for president twice, died yesterday at 84, his family said.
The big picture: Jackson helped carry the civil rights movement into national politics, pushing corporations and presidential candidates to confront racial and economic inequality.
Jackson founded Operation PUSH, now the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and ran for president in the 1980s as the first Black candidate to run a nationwide campaign in a major party primary.
What they're saying: "Rev. Jesse Jackson stood at the forefront of the struggle for justice, equality, and human dignity," U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II said in a statement. "In Kansas City, and across this nation, we felt the impact."
