Lansing, Michigan – Flags across Michigan will dip to half-staff later this week as the state pauses to remember the life and legacy of Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., a towering figure in the nation’s civil rights movement.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered that both the U.S. and Michigan flags be lowered on Thursday, February 26, and Friday, February 27, to honor Jackson’s decades of work for justice, equality, and economic opportunity. The gesture will happen on the day of his funeral, and flags will go back to full staff after sunset on Friday.
Whitmer reflected on Jackson’s lengthy history of serving the public and being a moral leader when she announced the order. She said he was a tireless advocate for working families and communities that are too often forgotten. She also said that his work went beyond the United States and around the world.
The governor also talked about Jackson’s connections to Michigan, especially Detroit, where he often went to stand with labor leaders, work with local authorities, and urge young people to make a difference. Whitmer said she was proud to have worked with him to promote common goals that were based on fairness, dignity, and opportunity for everyone.
Jackson’s career started in Greenville, South Carolina, where he went to Sterling High School. He went to the University of Illinois and then to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, where he studied sociology. He met his future wife, Jacqueline, there. After he graduated, he traveled to Chicago, went to the Chicago Theological Seminary, and became a Baptist preacher in 1968.
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His activism took shape early. Jackson worked with the Congress of Racial Equality and took part in marches and sit-ins, like the famous Selma-to-Montgomery march in 1965. Later, he became a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where he worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Jackson started People United to Save Humanity in 1971, after King’s death. The group’s main goal was to improve the economy in Black areas. His impact lasted through two runs for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988.
The state wants people, businesses, schools, and local governments to pay their respects. Proper protocol calls for flags to be raised to the peak briefly before being lowered to half-staff, and then returned to full staff at the end of the designated period.
Michigan remembers a man whose voice for optimism and justice rang far beyond state borders by lowering flags and renewed reflection.