Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., a longtime civil rights leader and former U.S. presidential candidate, has been hospitalized, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition announced Nov. 12.
Jackson, 84, was admitted to a hospital on Nov. 12 and is under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. The civil rights organization said Jackson has been managing the rare neurodegenerative disease for more than a decade.
"The family appreciates all prayers at this time," the organization said in a news release.
Jackson was initially diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which he announced in a letter to his supporters in 2017, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. But his diagnosis was confirmed to be progressive supranuclear palsy last April.
Jackson had previously been hospitalized in August 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19 and again in November 2021 after falling and hitting his head at Howard University, Reuters reported at the time.
The civil rights leader, who emerged from the Civil Rights Movement to fight for causes ranging from gender equality to economic and social justice, stepped down as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 2023. The organization had evolved from Operation PUSH, which Jackson founded in 1971.
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