- - Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, 84, hospitalized

Abby Phillip, Laura Sharman, CNNNovember 13, 2025 at 6:37 AM

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Civil Rights activist Jesse Jackson attends the Cannes Lions Festival in June 2017 in France. - Christian Alminana/Getty Images

Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson has been hospitalized, according to a statement obtained by CNN.

Jackson, 84, a protégé of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), the Rainbow PUSH Coalition said Wednesday evening.

“He has been managing this neurodegenerative condition for more than a decade,” the organization said in the statement.

“He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease however, last April, his PSP condition was confirmed. The family appreciates all prayers at this time.”

Further details about his condition have not been released.

PSP is “a rare neurological disorder that affects body movements, walking and balance, and eye movements,” according to the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

The disease typically begins in a person’s 60s and has some symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, it adds. Most people with PSP develop severe disability within three to five years.

Jackson rose to national prominence in the 1960s and has spent more than six decades advocating for racial equality, economic justice and voter rights.

In 1971, he founded Operation PUSH as a way to improve Black communities’ economic conditions across the US.

Jackson later launched the National Rainbow Coalition, in 1984, with the goal of obtaining equal rights for all Americans, according to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Some 12 years later, the two organizations merged to form Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

The organization’s origins stemmed from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket, founded by King, according to the website.

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