Jackson’s lying in state marks the beginning of public tributes to his life and activism across South Carolina, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., honoring his decades as a figure in the American civil rights movement.

The body of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., a civil rights leader who died last week, will lie in state Monday at the South Carolina Statehouse, Gov. Henry McMaster announced. Jackson, 84, died Feb. 17 after battling a rare neurological disorder that impaired his movement and speech.

Memorial Services Across the Nation

Jackson’s lying in state marks the beginning of public tributes to his life across South Carolina, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. His body will lie in repose this week at the Chicago headquarters of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the civil rights organization he founded. A public service is scheduled for March 6 at House of Hope, a 10,000-seat Chicago church. Private homegoing services will be held March 7 at Rainbow PUSH Coalition and will be livestreamed.

From Greenville Roots

Jackson was born in 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, where his civil rights activism took root. As a student at Sterling High School, where he was quarterback, he led seven classmates into a whites-only public library in Greenville in 1960. The group sat and read books and magazines until they were arrested. A portion of Haynie Street, his birthplace neighborhood, will be named in his honor.

Work with Rev. King and National Campaigns

Jackson’s work with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose protégé he became, elevated him to national prominence. He participated in King’s voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and later ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.

Decades of Advocacy at Home

Throughout his life, Jackson returned to South Carolina to advance civil rights causes. In 2003, he advocated for Greenville County to establish a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to match the federal observance. In 2015, following a racist shooting that killed nine Black worshipers at a Charleston church, he pushed for removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, an effort that succeeded.