Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Jesse Jackson lies in repose The official memorials for Jesse Jackson began this week. The late civil rights leader is lying in repose at his Rainbow-Push Coalition headquarters in Chicago Thursday and Friday. National Jesse Jackson lies in repose February 26, 20264:31 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered Cheryl Corley Jesse Jackson lies in repose Listen · 3:38 3:38 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5725474/nx-s1-9665637" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript The official memorials for Jesse Jackson began this week. The late civil rights leader is lying in repose at his Rainbow-Push Coalition headquarters in Chicago Thursday and Friday. Sponsor Message
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
All throughout the day, people have been paying their respects to the late Reverend Jesse Jackson at his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago. The civil rights leader was 84 when he died just over a week ago, and today was the beginning of several days of remembrances from Chicago to South Carolina to Washington, D.C., and back to Chicago. NPR's Cheryl Corley has more.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: It's been both a day of public mourning and celebration that began early with an honor guard greeting the hearse that brought Jackson's body to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's building. The pillars are draped in purple bunting. And while Jackson's relatives climbed the stairs to enter the building, a crowd of people waiting to pay their respects watched. Pam Hooks was at the front of the line.
PAM HOOKS: I flew to Chicago yesterday from Florida just to participate and show my respects to Reverend Jackson.
CORLEY: Hooks, a retired teacher, lives in Cocoa, Florida. She said she would fly back home later in the day, but she had to make time to honor Jesse Jackson.
HOOKS: The year that I graduated from high school, which was 1984, is the year that Reverend Jackson ran for president. So that connection was there from the beginning.
CORLEY: Toni Straight stood behind Hooks. The Chicago resident said Jackson often visited her church and had a huge impact when it came to voter registration, to helping the community and to letting people know what they could do themselves to bring about change. And Straight said she simply loved his affirmations.
TONI STRAIGHT: I am somebody. Keep hope alive, and I just had to instill within our kids that, no matter what the situation is, you are somebody, your voice matter.
CORLEY: For Curtis Lawrence, Jackson was history walking. A retired journalist and professor, Lawrence met Jackson early, when he stressed the importance of economic pariry.
CURTIS LAWRENCE: And he was talking about the grocery store boycotts. This was in the '70s. And so all these years, I just had this image of this, you know, huge, larger-than-life figure. And so years later, I'm covering this man, and I tell people, a part of me is also that 12-year-old kid, remembering him, telling everybody that they could be somebody, too.
PAT CRENSHAW: Also he officiated my wedding in 1972, right here.
CORLEY: Pat Crenshaw also worked with Jesse Jackson and those Rainbow/PUSH grocery store boycotts, an effort to put more Black products on the shelves.
So you were very close to him?
CRENSHAW: Yes, yes.
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CORLEY: In the PUSH auditorium, a huge picture of Jackson's face sat on one side of the room. On the other, a screen featured a cavalcade of photos of Jackson's life. In the center an open casket covered by glass. It was positioned just right, in front of the stage where Jackson had stood so often preaching. Jackson's sons and daughters greeted mourners, and there were dignitaries, too, including Congressman Bobby Rush, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and the Reverend Al Sharpton, who says it's ironic that Jackson passed during Black History Month.
AL SHARPTON: On the hundredth anniversary of Black History Month - and it means from now on, every Black History Month, there'll be a Jesse Jackson day.
CORLEY: Sharpton says now in an era when there's so much political contention and a rollback of the civil rights advances that Jackson championed, his life is a good example of how to resist and work to make life better. Cheryl Corley, NPR News, Chicago. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1167:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1167,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();