No one can deny that Jesse Jackson, who died last week at the age of 84 was a larger than life figure. Whether it was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s gut-wrenching assassination in 1968, Barack Obama’s initial address as president-elect in November 2008, or any other historic moment relating to Black history over the past sixty-plus years, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. was a major force and presence. The fact that the nation lost such a profound, transformative, and consequential leader this month - Black History Month - at a juncture when Black Americans’ contributions to this nation’s history are  continually being obscured and threatened with eradication, only magnifies his passing.

From the time that I was in elementary school growing up in southern Delaware to my coming-of-age years in the early 1980s and well into adulthood, I remember watching and admiring Jackson’s formidable trio of characteristics: moral fearlessness, immense intellect, and ample empathy. His frequent rhetorical language coupled with his deft, catchy and occasional rhythmic and rhyming commentary such as “down with dope, up with hope, keep hope alive” and “I am somebody” coupled with his definitive acknowledgment of the individual trademark call-and-response acknowledgment successfully managed to instill pride, and self-esteem within millions of Black Americans and other largely disenfranchised groups of people.

He was a global humanitarian whose voice for justice and equality echoed across the world. His work across continents was deeply etched in the impervious sense that civil rights, economic rights, and human rights were inseparably intertwined. Whether he was speaking before heads of corporations or acting as a mediator negotiating human rights issues, Jackson fiercely employed his faith and moral conviction as instruments of diplomacy, justice, and freedom.

His landmark organizations Operation PUSH and the Rainbow Coalition successfully managed to create a movement that united diverse factions, such as people experiencing poverty, the working class, labor unions, farmers, students, and religious faith-based communities, throughout the US. His “one inclusive tent” vision brought together Americans from all walks of life under the banner of justice and opportunity. His style and message of leadership provided representation for millions who had long been politically exiled from the nation’s economic and political circles of influence and expanded the democratic process in a manner that continues to affect the nation today.

Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns were significant moments in American political history. They transformed the Democratic Party’s public face as well as the structure of global politics. Both campaigns introduced proportional representation into the Democratic delegate system, an act that dramatically transformed how presidential nominees were chosen and who got the opportunity to have a voice in that process. Devoid of such revolutionary changes, it is highly unlikely that we would have witnessed the historic election of Barack Obama as the first Black president of the United States in November, 2008.

But Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 campaigns did more than elevate presidential politics; they transformed down ballot political contests throughout the nation. His legendary grassroots organizing brought fresh energy, voter participation, and much-needed infrastructure to campaigns for city councils, county commissions, and state legislatures. Due in large part to his efforts, hundreds of Black, Latino, and progressive candidates were elected at various levels of government, successfully transforming local, state, and national politics for future decades.

His trademark fearlessness was tested in the international arena as well. Throughout his ministry, Jackson led heroic missions to rescue and secure the freedom of American soldiers, civilians, and missionaries held hostage by ruthless dictators and regimes hostile to America. Occasionally, he worked in tandem with the US State Department and related government agencies; other times he acted as an independent force, deftly guided by his own inner instincts. Time after time, he returned home to American shores with newly freed captives, living testaments to the power of his global charisma among many international leaders. His influence extended to strengthening the Congressional Black Caucus, bolstering its influence and stability as a political force.

Jackson’s visionary commitment to justice was not only political but was also deeply rooted in common sense. He was among the early national leaders to draw attention to communities suffering from environmental neglect, inadequate sanitary sewer systems, or basic infrastructure. As he saw it, poverty, pollution, and policy were moral failures, not merely political ones. His relentless advocacy for clean water, fair housing, and equitable development was part of his larger Utopic vision of justice that connected with all aspects of human dignity.

Like many African Americans, Jackson felt utterly betrayed by much of the Democratic Party’s abandonment of socially progressive issues, democratic socialist economics, and capitulation to Reagan’s unchecked far-right neocon policies, which openly set out to undo the social and legislative gains of the Civil Rights Movement. With a bloc of two million new voters, however, Jackson, who earned a reputation as Washington, DC’s “shadow senator,” also knew that Black communities held the margin of victory for Democratic primaries in their hands. He knew that that power could not be given away to White Democratic candidates who often made an about-face into center-right politics in their general races.

By the latter 1980s, Jackson embraced issues of economic populism to dispel the notion that he was a candidate solely serving the concerns of Black voters. His efforts were successful in garnering the support of the Alabama state legislature, whose membership included former National Guardsmen who stared him down as a protester, with a speech railing against “Honda and Toyota, Suzuki and Yamaha, Sony and Panasonic, being unloaded at the docks and replacing Buick and Chrysler in the American market.” It was during this period that he managed to secure the votes of Midwestern farmers with his knowledge of agricultural economics. In 1988, the Democratic Party’s power brokers watched with a degree of disbelief as he won the state of Michigan and made major inroads with Americans of all political stripes.

During this era, he was adamant about doubling the federal education budget, endorsed an earlier version of what we now call the Medicare for All Act, and proposed the development of a national infrastructure bank, tax hikes on the wealthy, and a freeze on military industrial spending. He was highly critical of the Reagan administration’s wars in Central America and its close relationship with then apartheid South Africa. He campaigned on Native American reservations and reached out to LGBTQIA+ voters. In his electrifying speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, Jackson said that “our flag is red, white, and blue, but our nation is a rainbow - red, yellow, brown, black, and white - and we’re all precious in God’s sight,” adding that “We must leave racial battle grounds and come to economic common ground and moral higher ground. America, our time has come.” In the mid-1990s, Jackson launched the Wall Street Project to prod corporate America and Wall Street to open doors to minority businesses and executives. A 1997 Wall Street Journal article  highlighted his success in getting the New York Stock Exchange to reverse a twelve-year policy of refusing to shut down for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Indeed, Jesse Jackson was tackling issues decades ago that leaders in both major political parties are currently addressing.

Like many people, of course, Jackson had character traits that could rankle others, and there were some who did not appreciate his work. He had a testy relationship with the Black Panthers due to his adamant belief in reformist politics as opposed to revolutionary tactics that the Panthers preferred. He embraced an anti-abortion rights stance after Roe v. Wade, which proved controversial for many on the political left. Additionally, he was a regular thorn in the White establishment’s side, sometimes attracting the label of being opportunistic or someone whose efforts resulted in cronyism or corruption. Such charged criticisms waned over time.

It was no secret that Jackson’s unfettered ambition and drive impressed and occasionally annoyed Dr. King, but they enraged other civil rights leaders. His brazen antics following King’s assassination in 1968 would lead to a permanent split between him and King’s family. Jackson, who was standing below the balcony where King was shot, appeared on television the next day wearing a shirt stained with King’s blood. Other SCLC leaders were appalled, and Coretta Scott King along with many of the old guard Atlanta civil rights establishment never forgave him. In a 2008 interview with CNN, Jackson defended his actions in the wake of King’s death as those of a traumatized young man: “If I made mistakes in those hours, they were the mistakes of grief, not ambition.”

During 1984, Jackson punctured a hole in his presidential campaign when he made a private antisemitic remark to a Black Washington Post reporter, which was later included in a Post story. Though he eventually apologized - and went on to finish second behind Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis in the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination - in certain quarters his brash comment was never forgotten or forgiven.

In 1999, Jackson fathered a child with a woman other than his wife - he had an extramarital affair with a Rainbow PUSH Coalition employee - news that was released publicly in 2001. The press duly covered the revelations, which led CNN to cancel “Both Sides.” Jackson endured searing pain when his son, Jesse Jackson Jr., a former congressman, pled guilty in 2013 to misspending $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use and being sentenced to thirty months in prison. In 2017, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a neurological disorder in which mobility and speech decline over time.

To me, it was heartwarming to see Jackson onstage at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the city that had been his signature home, paying homage to the first-ever nomination of a Black woman by a major party. He was wheelchair-bound, and his disease by this point had confiscated the greatest of his gifts - the ability to converse. Nonetheless, his presence alone personified dedication, determination, and legacy.

Jesse Jackson has now departed this earth. He was a dynamic figure whose courageous and unyielding efforts made life for Generation Xers like me and fellow Black and other non-White Americans (and many White women, for that matter) a lot easier and helped us attain greater success than we might ordinarily have done. Thus, we are forever indebted to him. Rest in peace, Jesse.