Former US President Barack Obama has shared his tribute to Jesse Jackson.

In a statement shared on X he says he and Michelle Obama were sadden to hear of Jackson's death and said the pair would "always be grateful for Jesse's lifetime of service".

"We stood on his shoulders," Obama says.

We'll bring you Obama's full statement shortly

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

Image source, Getty Images

In March 1999 - just over a month into Nato's bombing campaign on Yugoslavia - three US Army soldiers were captured while on patrol, the beginning of a 33-day long ordeal.

Instrumental in their release was Jesse Jackson, who, with the war still raging, flew to Belgrade to lead efforts to negotiate for their release.

One of the soldiers was Andrew Ramirez, then a Sergeant with the Army's First Infantry Division.

In an interview with the BBC, Ramirez recalled being suddenly surprised to hear of Jackson's involvement. During his time in captivity, he had only a limited understanding of what was happening in the outside world.

"They [the Yugoslavs] walked us, handcuffed, into a room. I saw CNN cameras and other agencies," he recalled. "I turned and I see Reverend Jesse Jackson."

"I later joked with him and told him I thought it was crazy," he added. "They even got Reverend Jackson captive!"

Ramirez and the two other soldiers later traveled out of Yugoslavia with Jackson - an experience he remembers fondly.

"He was very confident. He told me were were going home and that our families were rooting for us," he says. "He just wanted to make sure we were taken care of."

The two later maintained a relationship over the years.

"I'm very heartbroken," Ramirez adds. "He did something for us. He didn't have to do that... I truly believe he saw a group of people in need."

Image source, Reuters/File photo

Bill and Hillary Clinton have also shared a tribute to Jesse Jackson in the last few minutes.

The couple say they are "deeply saddened" by his death as they outline they have been friends for "almost fifty years" since meeting in 1977.

"From his early days working with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr; to his founding of the organizations now united as Rainbow/PUSH; to his efforts to free innocents and promote fair elections around the globe, Reverend Jackson championed human dignity and helped create opportunities for countless people to live better lives," the statement reads.

They add that Jackson "never stopped working for a better America with brighter tomorrows" citing his campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.

"Hillary and I loved him very much. Our hearts and prayers go out to Jackie, their children and grandchildren, and all the people across America and around the world who were inspired by his service to humanity," they say.

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
Reporting from Washington, DC

Image source, Getty Images

Jesse Jackson was one of the most recognisable figures in US politics.

As journalist David Masciotra spent extended time with him while writing a biography of Jackson, he says he saw many sides of the civil rights icon.

"I walked with him through airports and sat with him in restaurants, and wherever he went, people would recognise him and want their photos or autograph," Masciotra, author of "I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters," recalls.

"I never once saw him treat anyone rudely or tell anyone to go away. He was very generous and very warm and hospitable."

Masciotra says Jackson was also funny, recalling being surprised by his jovial nature during their first time meeting.

"I was meeting this great man, this accomplished leader, so I felt that everything would be formal and professional, but he was very quick with a joke and eager to laugh," he tells me.

"Although he took what he did profoundly seriously, I never got the sense that he took himself too seriously."

Emmanuel Macron has joined world leaders sharing tributes to Jesse Jackson, calling him a tireless promoter for civil rights.

He says Jackson worked to defend peace, justice and fraternity, in a post on X.

The French president awarded Jackson a Légion d’Honneur in 2021 for his work in the civil rights movement and campaigning for peace and justice.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

I've just got off the phone with former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich - a man whose own history intertwined with Jesse Jackson's on numerous occasions.

While the pair originally met early on through Illinois Democratic circles and through Jackson's son - a Congressman - Blagojevich and Jackson are perhaps best known for the travels to Yugoslavia in 1999, where they negotiated the release of three US soldiers captured during the Kosovo War.

"I feel like I lost a friend...he will always have a special place in my heart," Blagojevich tells me. "His legacy is there with Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglass."

The last time he saw Jackson, he recalls, was the summer before last.

"He was heroically and courageously facing the terrible Parkinson's disease," he recalled. "He needed assistance from an aide to even get out of his chair. But it was amazing to see someone so strong and forceful deal with that kind of burden."

Blagojevich, who served as governor between 2003 and 2009, was in 2011 convicted in a federal corruption scandal and sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.

In 2020, President Donald Trump commuted his sentence, and fully pardoned him last year. Blagojevich credits Jackson with helping convince Trump to commute that sentence.

"I called him literally the moment I was released from prison, where I'd spend 2,896 days - one month short of eight years," he says. "It was ironic. In 1999 the two us went across the ocean and, he, with a little help from me, freed US soldiers."

"Who would have thought that one day he would be doing the same thing, but playing a role in freeing me," Blagojevich adds.

Jackson's granddaughter, Donatella Jackson, says her "heart aches" following the news of his death.

Paying tribute to Jackson on Instagram, the 25-year-old says she is "thankful for the unconditional love, the endless support and the steadfastness with which you doted me".

"Constantly stepping up as the leader I needed when many could not meet the moment, as you have done for so many others."

She adds that "it is a blessing to carry your name forward, to be a reminder of a love that has endured".

Image source, Getty Images

Former US president Joe Biden is the latest to pay tribute to Jesse Jackson, saying the civil rights leader was "unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our nation".

He says Jackson led the US "through tumult and triumph" with a sense of optimism and "a relentless insistence on what is right and just".

"Reverend Jackson believed in his bones the promise of America: that we are all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives," Biden says in a post on X.

"While we've never fully lived up to that promise, he dedicated his life to ensuring we never fully walked away from it either."

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, we're seeing tributes pour in for US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who has died aged 84.

US President Donald Trump said Jackson was a "force of nature like few others before him". He added that it was his pleasure to "help Jesse along the way".

Fellow civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton, who worked closely with Jackson, said he was a "consequential and transformative leader".

Diane Abbott, the first black woman elected to the UK Parliament, said Jackson "never stopped fighting for and caring about ordinary black people".

Former US vice-president Kamala Harris, who said Jackson "widened the path for generations to follow in his footsteps and lead".

"Reverend Jackson was a selfless leader, mentor, and friend to me and so many others," Harris said in a social media post.

We've also heard from Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, who posted a photograph of her father alongside Jackson with the caption "both now ancestors".

Meanwhile New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the civil rights leader "preached justice without apology" in a tribute posted on X.

Jesse Jackson had a long political career, and a life full of meeting influential people.

Here's a look at his life through the people he met, from politicians to royals.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
Reporting from Washington, DC

Image source, Porter Gifford/Liaison via Getty images

Jesse Jackson's twice historic run for the US presidency transformed the modern Democratic Party, says David Masciotra, author of "I Am Somebody: Why Jesse Jackson Matters."

Although Jackson didn't win the Democratic Party's nomination in 1984 and 1988, his "Rainbow Coalition" spoke to a wide range of marginalised groups.

His campaigns "were historically and groundbreaking in that they altered the demography and ideology of the Democratic Party," Masciotra tells me.

"He registered millions of voters for the first time, many of them, black, Latino, Native American [and] Asian... He was the first candidate for the presidency to make support for gay rights a major part of his platform as well as support for women's leadership pledging to select a woman running mate if he were to get the nomination."

Today, black voters overwhelmingly back Democrats in elections and in 2021, Kamala Harris became the first woman vice president with Pete Buttigieg also becoming the first openly gay US cabinet secretary.

"All of that was ahead of its time, but eventually altered the Democratic Party in significant ways both in terms of personnel and politics," Masciotra says.

Jesse Jackson was a key voice of the US civil rights movement of the 1960s, and went on to be a prominent US political figure.

In the clip below, we've pulled together some of the key moments in his life and work.

Image source, Getty Images

In Jesse Jackson's 1988 speech at the Democratic National Convention, he used his platform to shed light on his early years and his relatability.

"I wasn't always on television, writers weren't always outside my door," he told delegates.

"When I was born late one afternoon October 8 in Greenville, South Carolina, no writers asked my mother her name - nobody chose to write down our address."

He said he was born to a teenage mother who herself was born to a teenage mother - Helen Burns was 16 at the time she had Jesse and, unmarried, was expelled from her local Baptist church after she became pregnant.

"I understand - I know abandonment and people being mean to you," he continued.

"I'm a working person's person [...] I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth."

His speech ended with the refrain "keep hope alive" and would be echoed decades later in the "hope and change" slogan of Obama's successful 2008 presidential campaign.

You can read our full obituary.

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Former vice-president Kamala Harris has paid tribute to Jackson, calling him "one of America's greatest patriots".

Harris, who ran on the Democrat ticket for the White House in 2024 says in a post on X that Jackson's own campaigns for the nomination "electrified millions of Americans and showed them what could be possible".

She says that he "gave a voice to people who were removed from power and politics".

"He let us know our voices mattered. He instilled in us that we were somebody. And he widened the path for generations to follow in his footsteps and lead," she adds.

Harris recalls driving with a bumper sticker which read "Jesse Jackson for President" as a student, and says "you would not believe how people from every walk of life would give me a thumbs up or honk of support."

"Reverend Jackson was a selfless leader, mentor, and friend to me and so many others," Harris adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has recalled how Jesse Jackson was "one of the first people to call" him following the 2011 riots that started in Lammy's constituency of Tottenham.

He says Jackson was a "pillar of the civil rights movement" and a "dear friend" of his predecessor, the former Tottenham MP Bernie Grant.

"It was a privilege to share such precious time with him in Chicago and London over the years," Lammy writes on X.

"May his legacy live on."

Image source, Getty Images

US President Donald Trump has described Jesse Jackson as a "force of nature like few others before him" in a tribute following the civil rights leader's death.

In a statement posted on Truth Social, Trump described Jackson as a good man with "lots of personality, grit and street smarts".

He says it was his pleasure to "help Jesse along the way", and says this is despite - he claims - that he is consistently called a racist by the "scoundrels and lunatics" on the "radical left".

"He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!" he adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Leader of the House Democrats Hakeem Jeffries says Jackson "was a legendary voice for the voiceless," in a tribute to the late civil rights leader posted on X.

"For decades, while laboring in the vineyards of the community, he inspired us to keep hope alive in the struggle for liberty and justice for all," Jeffries writes.

"We are thankful for the incredible service of Rev. Jesse Jackson to the nation and his profound sacrifice as the people's champion."

Image source, Getty Images

Jackson bore witness to several decisive moments in US history - including Barack Obama's election as the country's first black president.

He was seen in tears on the night Obama won the contest in Grant Park, Chicago, in November 2008.

"I thought about the moment. The movement," he told Vanity Fair, external in 2020.

"I wish they could have been there. Dr. King and Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer.

"People who’d paid the supreme price. If God had let them live just 15 seconds more to see the fruits of their labor.

"I was blessed to be there to represent them as best I tried to."

If you're just joining us, US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson died "peacefully" on Tuesday morning aged 84, his family has confirmed.

He was a huge figure in the civil rights movement and later US politics, campaigning twice for the Democratic presidential nomination.

You can see some his most notable moments in photos in this earlier post.

Jackson built a career around working to politically organise and improve the lives of African-Americans, and became a national force during his two White House campaigns, our North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher writes.

Tributes have been shared around the world since the announcement of his death, including from Martin Luther King Jr's daughter Bernice King, and mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani.

We'll continue to bring you the latest.

Image source, EPA

Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani has paid tribute to Jesse Jackson.

Mamdani says the civil rights leader "never stopped demanding that America live up to its promise".

"He marched, he ran, he organized and he preached justice without apology," Mamdani writes in a post on X.

"May we honor him not just in words, but in struggle."

Image source, Getty Images