Civil Rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson has been hospitalized in Chicago.
Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition said in a statement that the 84-year-old was admitted to the hospital Wednesday and is “under observation for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). He has been managing this neurodegenerative condition for more than a decade.”
Jackson was initially diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but last April, he was confirmed to have PSP.
“The family appreciates all prayers at this time,” the reverend’s organization said.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a Chicago-based organization for social change, was formed in 1996. The organization emerged from two groups Jackson founded, People United to Serve Humanity in 1971 and the Rainbow Coalition in 1984.
Jackson stepped down as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 2023.
The reverend is seen as a protégé of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He rose to national prominence in the 1960s after deferring his studies at Chicago Theological Seminary to work full-time in the Civil Rights Movement alongside King.
Former President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor, in 2000. He has also received more than 40 honorary doctoral degrees for his work in civil rights and nonviolent social change.
The reverend unsuccessfully ran for president in 1984 and 1988. His two campaigns registered a combined total of more than three million new voters.
He was a shadow senator for Washington, D.C. in the 1990s, where he advocated for statehood for the nation’s capital.
Jackson’s diagnosis, PSP, is rare, affecting about 20,000 Americans over the age of 60, according to UCSF Health. The condition causes dementia and problems with balance.
PSP patients are typically middle-aged or elderly, and men are more often affected than women.
The condition can sometimes be mistaken for Parkinson’s disease, another brain disorder with similar symptoms.
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