Some of the most prominent figures in the country came together in Chicago on Friday to celebrate the life of the late civil rights hero Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died at age 84 on Feb. 17. The attendees included three former presidents, various community leaders, social justice champions and award-winning artists.
Who attended Rev. Jesse Jackson’s funeral?
Former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden attended Jesse Jackson’s memorial service at the House of Hope on the South Side of Chicago.
Obama took the stage, where he remembered Jackson as a champion of those who needed him most.
“A man who, when the poor and the dispossessed, needed a champion and a country, needed healing, stepped forward again, and again, and again, and said ‘Send me,’” the former president said about Jackson, per CBS News.
Obama reminded the crowd that Jackson served as a symbol of democratic values.
“He was talking about everyone who was left out. Everyone who was forgotten. Everyone who was unseen. Everyone who was unheard. And in that sense, he was expressing the very essence of what our democracy should be,” Obama said. “The ideals at the very heart of the American experiment. … We’re all part of the American family. We’re all endowed with the same inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Barack Obama on the late Rev. Jesse Jackson: “He was talking about everyone who was left out. Everyone who was forgotten. Everyone who was unseen. Everyone who was unheard. And in that sense, he was expressing the very essence of what our democracy should be. The ideals at the… pic.twitter.com/C8KCrVcr6J
— FactPost (@factpostnews) March 6, 2026
Biden echoed similar sentiments when he took the stage after Obama.
“He knew who we were at our best, and he simply refused to let us off the hook as a party, as a nation, or as individuals,” Biden said.
As Block Club Chicago reported, Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also attended Friday’s ceremony. Several faith leaders from Chicago and across the country also attended the event.
Former President Biden honored Reverend Jesse Jackson at his memorial service: “He knew who we were at our best, and he simply refused to let us off the hook as a party, as a nation, or as individuals.” pic.twitter.com/tiyK8oipBw
— ABC News (@ABC) March 6, 2026
Rev. Jesse Jackson spent his entire life championing social justice
Jackson’s youngest son, Yusef Jackson, said at Friday’s ceremony that his father overcame “the limitations of his circumstances” while growing up in the Jim Crow South, according to Block Club Chicago.
“He would often say, ‘Yusef, Martin [Luther King] died at age 39 — he was taken from us far too soon. Malcolm [X] died at 39.’ He never thought he would live this long,” Yusef said about his father. “His legacy stands firmly on the side of justice. It will stand the test of time.”
Jackson became active in the Civil Rights Movement when he was attending the Chicago Theological Seminary in the 1960s. Working alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He soon started to get nationwide recognition for his social justice efforts.
Jackson ran for U.S. president in 1984 and 1988. Although he came up short both times, he inspired Obama and many more young Black leaders to believe that anything’s possible.
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