Rev Jesse Jackson hospitalized amid health battle with neurodegenerative disease

Longtime civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson was hospitalized Wednesday, his organization announced in a statement.

Jackson, 84, was admitted to the hospital and under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure.

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a progressive organization Jackson formed in 1996 by merging two groups he founded earlier, said he has been managing his PSP condition for more than a decade.

"He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; however, last April, his PSP condition was confirmed. The family appreciates all prayers at this time," the organization said.

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Martin Luther King III, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Rep. Jonathan Jackson cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 60th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday," March 9, 2025, in Selma, Alabama. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty)

Jackson announced his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2017.

"After a battery of tests, my physicians identified the issue as Parkinson's disease, a disease that bested my father," he said at the time. "Recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful, and I have been slow to grasp the gravity of it."

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Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. delivers a speech during a presidential campaign stop with Rep. Maxine Waters and supporters at the Los Angeles Hilton Hotel, June 6, 1984. (Bob Riha Jr./Getty)

The longtime political activist and Baptist minister who worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has faced several health challenges in recent years, including gallbladder surgery and hospitalization due to COVID-19.

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Jackson announced his retirement as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 2023, naming Rev. Frederick Douglass Haynes III as the organization’s new leader.