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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."

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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.

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Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
Reporting from Washington, DC

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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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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."

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A long political career followed Jesse Jackson's activism.

He travelled to Syria in 1983 to plead for the release of a captured American pilot, Lt Robert Goodman. His mission was successful, and greatly boosted his national profile.

In 1991 he visited Iraq on the eve of the Gulf War to plead with Saddam Hussein to release Western hostages.

Jackson ran twice for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 1984 and 1988. He didn't win but he did get just under seven million votes at his second attempt.

Deciding against running for president a third time, he became a public supporter of Bill Clinton, who then made Jackson his special envoy for democracy and human rights in Africa in 1997.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000 by Clinton, the highest civilian honour in America.

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Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr, has posted a photograph, external of her father alongside Jesse Jackson with the caption “both now ancestors.”

In a second post on X, King says describes Jackson as a "gifted negotiator and a courageous bridge‑builder, serving humanity by bringing calm into tense rooms and creating pathways where none existed".

Jackson was a protégé of King and was with his mentor at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when King was assassinated in 1968.

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After George Floyd was killed on 25 May 2020, Jesse Jackson travelled to Minneapolis to take part in demonstrations and press for criminal charges.

Floyd's murder by police officer Derek Chauvin - captured on a bystander's phone camera - led to nationwide protests against racism and police brutality and sparked global outrage.

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Asked what was going through his mind as he lay a wreath for Floyd at the site of his killing, Jackson told Vanity Fair in 2020: "It was in some sense the worst of the civil rights killings all over again."

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Diane Abbott, the first black woman elected to the UK Parliament, says Jesse Jackson was a "huge influence" on her.

"I first met him in 1987 when I'd first been elected. We kept in touch down the years," she tells BBC News.

"He was so principled. He never stopped for fighting for and caring about ordinary black people," she says, adding that he was "a link to the Martin Luther King era".

"He was a fantastic speaker, he was also charismatic. He was the sort of man you'd be walking down the street with him and people who didn't know who he was would turn and stare because he had such presence and such charisma."

Abbott, who sits as the independent MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, says his legacy "will be a whole generation of black politicians".

As a civil rights activist, Jackson was an influential figure in American politics.

Here he is pictured rubbing shoulders with a number of US presidents - both Republican and Democrat - from Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama.

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Nomia Iqbal
News correspondent

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If Barack Obama shattered the glass ceiling when he became America’s first black president, Jesse Jackson created the cracks.

Jackson himself had run to secure the presidential nomination more than 20 years before Obama, but had failed to win over Democrats.

There were lots of reasons for that, particularly the different political eras the men ran in.

But their styles were notably different: Jackson was rhetorically fiery and entirely shaped by protest and the civil rights movement. Obama was post civil rights, and adopted a much cooler strategy, endeavouring to work within the system not rail against it.

Jackson denied he held any resentment, but had to apologise during Obama’s campaign in 2008 when a hot mic caught him making crude comments. He had also accused Obama of talking down to black people.

Jackson was hugely supportive in the end, and was famously seen in tears in Grant Park, Chicago, on the night Obama won.

He went on to describe Obama’s win as the culmination of a 60-year race by black people for full political inclusion.

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Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton, who worked closely with Jackson during the civil rights movement, describes him as his mentor and says he has just "prayed with his family by phone".

Jackson was a "consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world", Sharpton says in a statement on X.

"He shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits," Sharpton says.

"He told us we were somebody and made us believe. I will always cherish him taking me under his wing, and I will forever try to do my part to keep hope alive.

"A giant has gone home. Sending prayers, so many prayers, love, and heartfelt condolences to the Jackson family and to every person around the world whose life he touched and who loved him."