Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson leaves hospital after treatment for neurological disorder

The Rev. Jesse Jackson listens to speakers at the Tabernacle Baptist Church during the 60th anniversary of the march to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote, March 9, 2025, in Selma, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been released from a Chicago hospital where he was treated for a rare neurological disorder, his son said Tuesday.

The 84-year-old civil rights leader was discharged Monday from Northwestern Memorial Hospital, his son and family spokesperson Yusef Jackson said.

In 2013, Jackson, who now receives round-the-clock care at home, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The diagnosis was changed last April to progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, a neurodegenerative disorder which can have similar symptoms to Parkinson’s.

Yusef Jackson thanked “the countless friends and supporters who have reached out, visited and prayed for our father,” as well as the medical and security staff at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“We humbly ask for your continued prayers throughout this precious time,” Yusef Jackson said.

A protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the two-time U.S. presidential candidate and internationally known founder of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition was hospitalized Nov. 14.

Visitors included former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, fellow civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton and television court arbitrator Judge Greg Mathis.

After announcing his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017, Jackson continued to work and make public appearances, including at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In 2023, he stepped down as leader of Rainbow/PUSH, which he began as Operation PUSH in 1971, but continued going to the office regularly until a few months ago.

His family says that Jackson uses a wheelchair, struggles to keep his eyes open and is unable to speak. Relatives, including his sons, Illinois U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson and Jesse Jackson Jr., a former Illinois congressman seeking reelection, have been caring for him in shifts.

The Associated Press