Civil Rights Icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Dies at 84

Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Baptist minister who marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and twice ran for president, died Tuesday morning. He was 84 years old. The cause of death has not been announced.

Jackson spent more than six decades fighting for civil rights and social justice, becoming one of the most influential voices in American politics—even though he never held elected office.

Jackson grew up in South Carolina and got involved in civil rights work while still in college. He joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization led by King.

He marched from Selma to Montgomery. He was in Memphis on April 4, 1968, when King was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

In 1983, Jackson announced he would run for the Democratic presidential nomination—only the second African American to do so.

Pundits didn't take him seriously, but voters did. Jackson won more than 18% of the vote. Four years later, he ran again and won 11 contests, though he fell short of the nomination both times.

He never became president, but he paved the way for someone who did. In 2008, Jackson was in Chicago when Barack Obama became the first African American elected to the White House.

Jackson faced personal challenges, including when his son, Jesse Jackson Jr., pleaded guilty to wire and mail fraud charges in 2013 and served time in federal prison.

But the setbacks didn't stop him. He never stopped fighting for social justice.