CHICAGO, United States (AFP)—Three former US presidents gathered at a public memorial service for civil rights leader Jesse Jackson on Friday, marking the life of a pillar of the struggle for civil rights, after his death at age 84.

Former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden were to address a crowd of hundreds as a stylized, blue-lit image of Jackson was projected on a giant screen behind an altar in a Chicago venue.

Obama smiled and said “I love you back” as he received a rapturous welcome from the gathered mourners before paying tribute to Jackson, saying he “stepped forward again and again and again” when called upon.

“Reverend Jackson’s immense gifts were apparent at an early age, even if his circumstances conspired to try to hold him back,” said Obama who, like Jackson, called Chicago home.

(FILES) WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 27: Rev. Jesse Jackson arrives for a rally on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court February 27, 2013 in Washington, DC. Leaders from Congress joined civil rights icons to rally as the court prepared to hear oral arguments in Shelby County v. Holder, a legal challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP. Veteran US civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson died on February 17, 2026, his family said in a statement. He was 84. (Photo by CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

“He instinctively understood that… individual success meant nothing unless everybody was free.”

Ahead of the speeches, a choir sang as attendees photographed a large panel emblazoned with one of Jackson’s mantras “keep hope alive.”

Among the other speakers due to address the memorial were former vice president Kamala Harris, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Jackson, who died on February 17, was a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr in the 1960s and remained a prominent voice of African Americans on the national stage for more than six decades.

In 1960, he participated in his first sit-in, in Greenville, South Carolina, and then joined Alabama’s Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marches in 1965, where he caught King’s attention.

Jackson, a Baptist minister, later emerged as a mediator and envoy on several notable international fronts.

He became a prominent advocate for ending apartheid in South Africa, and in the 1990s served as presidential special envoy to Africa for Bill Clinton.

Missions to free US prisoners took him to Syria, Iraq and Serbia.

He founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization focused on social justice and political activism, in 1996.

He is survived by his wife and six children.