The Rev. Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. was a key figure in the late-20th-century civil rights movement, a builder of coalitions, a translator of moral imperative into electoral force and a strategist who understood the utility of organized power. Born in 1941 in South Carolina, Jackson rose to national prominence as a minister and organizer alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He founded Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) and the Rainbow Coalition as organizing frameworks rooted in economic justice, political participation and global human rights. Jackson ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1984 and 1988 and proposed a durable political alignment of Black voters, Latino communities, labor unions, poor white people, LGBTQ people and farmers. His influence extended beyond domestic politics, including negotiating the release of U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Robert Goodman from Syria and advocating against apartheid in Cuba.