The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the civil rights leader and presidential candidate whose work helped reshape Black political power nationally and in cities like Gary, has died at 84.
His death Tuesday prompted tributes across Indiana and the country from elected officials and community leaders who credited him with expanding opportunity and representation for Black Americans.
For Gary, Jackson’s legacy is tied closely to the city’s emergence as a center of Black political organizing in the 1970s and ’80s. His alliance with former Mayor Richard G. Hatcher, one of the nation’s first Black mayors of a major U.S. city, connected Gary to a national civil rights and political movement Jackson helped lead for decades.
A moment in Gary that still echoes
Inside West Side High School in March 1972, the gym was packed wall to wall. Afros filled the bleachers. Microphones crowded the podium. Thousands gathered for the National Black Political Convention, a gathering that helped chart a new course for Black political power.
A 30-year-old Jackson, wearing a green collared shirt and brown vest, gave an electric 20-minute speech.
“Black is our common denominator,” he told the crowd. “Only when we recognize that our common denominator was slavery and that our numerator is in making a difference could we come together.”
He spoke about the gap between legal rights and economic reality.
“We have the right to move in any neighborhood in America and we can’t pay the note,” he said. “We have the right to go to any school in America. We can’t pay the tuition. We got the right to buy any car in America. But we can’t stop it from being repossessed. We are not arguing about our constitutionality. We are raising a basic question: When will we get paid for the work we have already done.”
The crowd rose.
“When we come together, what time is it?” Jackson called out.
“When we respect each other, what time is it?”
“When we get ourselves confident, what time is it?”
The chants thundered back through the gym.
The convention helped cement Gary’s place in Black political history and marked the beginning of a long partnership between Jackson and Hatcher. More than a decade later, Hatcher served as national campaign manager for Jackson’s 1984 presidential run. Hatcher once described Jackson as a visionary who “looks at cloudy skies … [and] sees the sun.”
Jackson, a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., rose to prominence through Operation Breadbasket and later founded the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago. He ran for president in 1984 and 1988, mobilizing millions of voters and helping push the Democratic Party to address issues of racial equity, economic justice and voting rights.
His influence reached cities like Gary, where his message of coalition-building and economic opportunity resonated with residents navigating industrial decline, job loss and political transition. Over the years, Jackson visited Gary for rallies, church events and political organizing.
A personal loss for Gary
State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, Richard Hatcher’s daughter, said Jackson’s death feels like the loss of both a national figure and a family friend.
“We’re losing so many of our civil rights icons from that era,” she told Capital B Gary. “Reverend Jackson is probably one of the few left who were still around and who participated in that movement. We are losing a lot of history.”
She described Jackson and her father as deeply connected politically and personally.
“The way they both described it, it was like they were soul mates in a platonic way,” she said. “They wanted the same thing. They wanted to see the same thing.”
Because Jackson lived in nearby Chicago, the families remained close for decades, visiting each other’s homes and working together politically. Jackson later spoke at Richard Hatcher’s funeral in 2019 but was overcome with emotion and could only speak briefly.
State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., chair of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, said Jackson “dedicated his life to the service of others,” from building the Rainbow Coalition to advocating for democracy and human rights worldwide.
“He was led by his love for his fellow man and the belief that we’re all better off when everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” Harris said. “In the wake of this profound loss, I hope Reverend Jackson’s life and work inspires us all to move through life with a moral compass calibrated toward justice and the resolve to work toward a better world for everyone.”