Rev. Jesse Jackson’s impact in Chicago — and beyond

Good morning, Chicago. ✶

🔎 Below: Rev. Jesse Jackson, a Chicago institution who left footprints globally in his ardent advocacy for civil rights, has died. He was 84. 

🗞️ Plus: Illinois after-school programs are in limbo after Trump administration cuts, where to buy pączki for Fat Tuesday and more news you need to know.

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⏱️: An 8-minute read

TODAY’S WEATHER 🌥️

Mostly cloudy with a high near 56.

TODAY’S TOP STORY 🔎

Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader and Chicago icon, is dead at 84

By Neil Steinberg

“I may be poor …” began the call-and-response Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. led in various forms before rapt audiences for more than half a century. “But I am … somebody! I may be on welfare. But I am … somebody! I may be in jail. But I am … somebody! I may be uneducated. But I am … somebody. I am Black. Beautiful. Proud. I must be respected. I must be protected. I am … somebody!”

That, in essence, is the message Jackson devoted his life to championing — for Black people in general and himself in particular.

From leading Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s open housing campaign in Chicago in 1964, through his close association with the great civil rights leader during the last three years of King’s life, to the tumultuous 1970s, when Jackson started what became the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, to the 1980s, when he ran the first viable presidential campaign by a Black candidate in the United States, to the 1990s, when he traveled the globe, to free hostages, advise leaders, join picket lines and lend his internationally famous name to often desperate causes. To his later years, when he settled into the role as a revered elder statesman of Black Chicago and an unceasing voice for social justice.

Jackson died at age 84 on Tuesday, his family said in a statement. He had been in declining health for a decade. In 2017 he announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease two years earlier, but last April revealed that it was actually misdiagnosed progressive supranuclear palsy, a condition also affecting bodily movements.

Jackson was in the public eye for six decades, a tireless wielder of social pressure. He was respected and dismissed, inspiring adoration and disdain, a Chicago institution who left footprints on the world stage, an ardent advocate for civil rights whose attempts to wield political power himself were thwarted, and channeled into the power of protest, persuasion and complaint.

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PHOTOS: REV. JACKSON THROUGH THE YEARS 📸

Find the full gallery of Rev. Jesse Jackson through the years here. | Sun-Times file photos

REV. JACKSON’S LEGACY ✶

Rev. Jackson was a symbol of Black politics and Black America

By Natalie Moore

Rev. Jackson embodied an era of civil rights leadership that relied on a big charismatic personality. And that he was. Tall, eloquent and fiery, Jackson whipped up crowds — whether in Black churches the way a Baptist pastor is prone to do or with white rural farmers during one of his two historic runs for U.S. president.

Perhaps the nation’s most recognizable civil rights icon in the past half century, Jackson was a symbol of Black politics and Black America. The images of him — as a young lieutenant to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on a Memphis balcony in 1968, making exhortations of “Keep Hope Alive” in front of racially diverse audiences on the campaign trail in the 1980s, weeping in Grant Park at the election of this nation’s first Black president in 2008 — are seared in our collective memories. A global presence, Jackson spoke out against apartheid, championed Palestinian rights, and negotiated the release of U.S. soldiers in Syria, Iraq and Yugoslavia.

Jackson sought and relished the limelight, on television, magazine covers and protests. But his journey always led him right back to the South Side of Chicago, the home base of different iterations of his coalition, today called Rainbow PUSH in the Kenwood neighborhood.

Jackson’s operation has produced scholarships for youth, pressured Wall Street and other corporations, and demanded more from the tech industry. The result has been corporations investing in minority-owned firms and Black board members on Silicon Valley companies. His civil rights message evolved from demands for desegregation in public spaces and voting rights in the 1960s to those calling for racial economic justice in recent years.

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LET’S HEAR FROM YOU 🗣️

What is your defining memory of Rev. Jesse Jackson?

Respond to this newsletter (please include your first and last name). We may run your answer in a future newsletter or story.

MORE NEWS YOU NEED 🗞️

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• Sex dungeon halted: The city has shut down a business operating as a “sex dungeon” in an attempt to determine where it fits in the city’s licensing code and whether allowing it to resume operations would have a negative impact on the community.
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• New artworks: Chicago is set to acquire nearly 100 prestigious artworks, courtesy of new additions at Intuit Art Museum and Driehaus Museum, including famed outsider artist William Hawkins and early 20th-century realist George Bellows.

EDUCATION 🍎

Illinois after-school programs and parent services are in limbo as lawsuits challenge Trump cuts

Reporting by Emmanuel Camarillo

Cuts challenged: In December, the Trump administration decided to discontinue the Full Service Community Schools grant, which provides schools across Illinois with funding for extra support like food pantries and after-school programs. Two lawsuits challenging the decision are making their way through the courts.

In limbo: In one instance, the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council runs the Community Schools program for 500 students at Curie High School. The grant provided funds for programming ranging from ACT prep, mentoring, tutoring and classes for parents, to popular student clubs such as gardening and the Black Student Union. BPNC lost its funding when the grant was discontinued, but has reportedly shifted its resources to keep providing some services and staff — a temporary solution.

Who’s the boss?: In related news, six elected Chicago Board of Education members say the process to find a new district leader has stalled, but the board president says they’re on track to pick someone by the start of the 2026-27 school year.

READ MORE

ELECTIONS ☑️

Longtime incumbent Preckwinkle faces challenge in Cook County Board president primary

Reporting by Kristen Schorsch and Mariah Woelfel

New challenge: Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), one of the more conservative Democrats on the City Council, bills himself as an independent voice. Now, he wants a new gig: Running Cook County government. He’s looking to unseat longtime County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who doubles as the powerful leader of the Cook County Democratic Party, in the general primary March 17.

Key context: Preckwinkle oversees one of the biggest counties in the U.S., including the jail, the vast court system and the large public health system that treats patients no matter their ability to pay. The county employs more than 20,000 people and has a roughly $10 billion annual budget that must be approved by a 17-member board of separately elected commissioners. The board president also oversees the Forest Preserves of Cook County.

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FOOD 🍽️

Where to buy pączki in the Chicago area

Reporting by Dorothy Hernandez

For all who celebrate: Pączki Day — also known as Fat Tuesday — is the final day of indulgence before the Lenten season begins. Pronounced PAWNCH-key, these are not doughnuts. The richer dough is deep fried and stuffed with cream, custard or traditional fillings of rose hip jam or prune.

Explore our map: We’ve compiled a list of 20 spots across Chicago offering the Polish pastries.

FIND OUR MAP HERE

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CHICAGO MINI CROSSWORD 🌭

Today’s clue: 7A Polish treats celebrated across the city today as part of a pre-Lent tradition.

PLAY NOW

BRIGHT ONE 🔆

Record temperatures send Chicagoans outdoors

Reporting by Nader Issa

The start of this week is giving Chicago a short reprieve from a snowy and cold winter that saw a 20-day stretch of subfreezing temperatures — the longest in almost two decades — and several snowstorms.

After a couple of sunny and mild days over the weekend, Monday hit a high of 65, making it the warmest Feb. 16 in the city’s recorded history, according to National Weather Service data. The previous record had stood since 1921 at 58 degrees.

In Humboldt Park on Monday, Nathan Adams, 7, was climbing a tree stump as his dad Eric looked on. They had biked to the park and planned to have lunch afterward. 

“Trying to get him off the screens,” the father said of Nathan. “Just trying to enjoy the park. This park is a great park. And I want him to kind of grow up in this park so he knows the ins and outs.”

Nathan, of course, wasn’t buying it. “Can we play video games, dad?” he asked.

“I think not, my friend,” his father replied.

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Written and curated by: Matt Moore
Editor: Eydie Cubarrubia

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