Rev. Jesse Jackson, 84, is hospitalized in Chicago with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a neurodegenerative disease.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, 84, is hospitalized in Chicago for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), a neurodegenerative disease confirmed last April after a prior Parkinson’s diagnosis. The civil rights leader, founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is under observation as his family requests prayers. Jackson, a key figure in the civil rights movement and ally of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ran for president in 1984 and 1988, advocated for racial justice, voting rights, and global causes like ending apartheid and supporting Palestinian rights, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. Though he stepped down as head of Rainbow PUSH in 2023 and has been less public, his influence endures through decades of activism.