The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a prominent civil rights leader and distinguished alumnus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, passed away Monday, Feb. 17, at 84 following a battle with progressive supranuclear palsy. He had been hospitalized since November.
Jackson attended A&T in the early 1960s, where he studied sociology and became actively involved in student leadership and civil rights organizing. During his time in Aggieland, he participated in local protests and demonstrations that helped shape his lifelong commitment to social justice.
Jackson quickly emerged as a campus leader, serving as student government president while also playing quarterback for the football team.
Over the years, A&T recognized Jackson’s global impact and enduring connection to the university. He was awarded an honorary doctorate and frequently returned to campus as a keynote speaker, encouraging students to pursue leadership, civic engagement and economic empowerment. Jackson often credited his time at the nation’s largest historically Black university for helping sharpen his political consciousness and commitment to service.
A&T Chancellor James R. Martin II remembered Jackson in a statement posted on the university’s website.
“Aggie Nation mourns the loss of our friend and international force for equality and justice, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.,” Martin said. “The indelible mark he left on our university and indeed, on all of us, is deeply felt this morning. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Jackson family and to all who knew him and benefited from his life’s work.”
Jackson, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate and longtime advocate for civil rights, spent more than five decades at the forefront of the movement.
In 1971, he founded Operation PUSH People United to Save Humanity in Chicago, advocating for Black economic empowerment and self-determination. In 1984, he established the National Rainbow Coalition, organizations that later merged to form the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
Jackson made history in 1984 and 1988 as the first Black candidate to mount competitive campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination, winning four primaries and caucuses in 1984 and 11 contests in 1988, earning 6.9 million votes.
His son, U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, an A&T alumnus, told CBS News that Jackson’s final days were spent surrounded by family.
“Just holding his hand, loving on him, talking to him, giving all of our expressions, being with my mom,” he said. “My family was around his bedside. It was very intimate and personal.”
Jackson’s legacy will be remembered as one rooted in faith, activism and Black political empowerment a journey that began in Aggieland and reshaped the national conversation on equality.
In his 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention, Jackson said:
“No one should look down on you, but sometimes mean people do. The only justification we have for looking down on someone is that we’re going to stop and pick them up.”
