Politics
Funeral Services Set for Civil Rights Icon Jesse Jackson
The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks with WTTW News in February 2020. (WTTW News)
The Rev. Jesse Jackson will lie in state for two days next week before he is laid to rest following services at his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago.
Rainbow/PUSH announced that the Civil Rights icon, who passed away this week at the age of 84, will be laying in state at the coalition’s office — located at 930 E. 50th Street — on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Doors for those ceremonies will open each day at 10 a.m.
Formal services will then take place in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., March 1-4.
They will be followed on March 6 by a “People’s Celebration” back in Chicago held at the House of Hope, 752 E. 114th St., beginning at 9 a.m.
Private homegoing services will then be held March 7 back at Rainbow/PUSH. Registration information for the public services will be made available in the forthcoming days.
Members of the Jackson family, at times fighting back tears, spoke about the impact their father has had on them during an event outside their home Wednesday. They highlighted his fight against injustice and inequality throughout his life, especially in his advocacy for voter rights, education and ending poverty.
For years Jackson dealt with progressive supranuclear palsy, a life-threatening neurological disorder, which required more caregiver support as the disease began to more severely affect his speech and mobility, according to Yusef Jackson.
"Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” said the Jackson family in a statement. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”
Additional information on Jackson's funeral services can be found here.
Note: This story was updated with changes to schedule.
Eunice Alpasan contributed to this report.
