Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman.
The influential and at times controversial American leader, Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson, has died.
NPR's Cheryl Corley reports Jackson built a national profile around civil rights and political activism.
Jesse Jackson's career spanned decades.
In the 1960s, he was active in the civil rights movement and was an aide to Martin Luther King Jr.
Later, he founded his Rainbow Push Coalition.
In the 1980s, Jackson ran for president twice.
His soaring speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention electrified the audience.
America will get better and better.
Keep hope alive.
Keep hope alive.
Howard University professor Clarence Lucene said Jackson also had a global footprint
as he spotlighted and mediated disputes during his travels.
He was kind of a political Muhammad Ali.
During an NPR interview in 2016, Jackson said while other civil rights activists died young martyrs,
he was blessed to be a long-distance runner.
Cheryl Corley, NPR News.
There are two sets of high-profile talks today in Geneva,
and the Trump administration is part of both.
This morning,