Curley Clark said he first became aware of the Rev. Jesse Jackson when he was a college student in Nashville and bullets were flying near his dorm as the National Guard responded to riots after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Jackson was a close aide of King and had been standing near the civil rights leader on a motel balcony in Memphis when a gunman killed King on April 4, 1968. In the immediate aftershock of the assassination, and for decades afterward, Jackson rose up as one of the nation’s strongest voices for equality.

Jackson was 84 when he died Tuesday in at his home in Chicago. His daughter, Santita Jackson, confirmed that her father, who had a rare neurological disorder, was surrounded by family in his final moments.

After Clark lived in Nashville, he moved to Chicago, attended Chicago State University and lived in the same South Shore community as Jackson. But Clark said that as a young man, he had trouble getting onboard with Jackson’s messages of nonviolent activism. 

“I remember Jesse at the time had started Operation Breadbasket in the South Side, and I was inspired by his mission of trying to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and push for racial equality,” Clark said. “But because of my temper at the time, I couldn’t fully embrace the idea of nonviolence. But I did in later years come to understand the importance of it. You can’t defeat hate with hate. Only love can defeat hate. The teachings of Jesse Jackson helped me learn those principles.”

Clark later moved to Pascagoula, where he joined the NAACP and became politically active. He’s been the president of the Moss Point-Jackson County Branch of the organization for more than 40 years. And he credits Jackson as a “monumental” inspiration for gains the organization has made there, including the ouster of the Jim Crow era system of “at-large” local city council members that had prevented Black people from being elected. 

“(Jackson) inspired me to get involved in the political arena, not as a candidate but as an activist,” said Clark, also a longtime delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Mississippi. “I’m proud to say that because of the inspiration he provided, we were able to make some monumental gains politically for the Black and underserved community in Jackson County, Mississippi.

“I’m very proud to have had the opportunity to be a follower of Jesse Jackson and be able to implement some of the ideals that he put forth,” Clark said. “Jesse Jackson made America a better place.”

Clark is among the Mississippi residents this week who are mourning the death of Jackson — a two-time presidential candidate and one of America’s foremost civil rights leaders.

Jackson frequently visited Mississippi, a state at the center of the Civil Rights Movement, to highlight issues facing poor and underrepresented communities. His advocacy in the United States and abroad included pushes to advance voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care access. 

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson rose from obscurity in the segregated South to become one of the nation’s best-known civil rights activists since King, whom Jackson counted as a confidant. Through his work with other civil rights leaders and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he was a towering figure in the fight for racial equality. 

Jackson ran for president twice, in 1984 and 1988. Although he lost both times, he fared better than any Black politician before Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008. Jackson did well in Mississippi in 1984, although there was a dispute over the delegate count. In 1988, Jackson won Mississippi and 12 other Democratic primaries and caucuses and gave a powerful speech at the party’s national convention that year.

His trips to Mississippi put him in touch with numerous local leaders, and with everyday people. 

State Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson, the longest-serving Black member of the state Senate, first met Jackson at the Mississippi State Capitol in the 1980s when Frazier was serving in the House. 

“He was very open and inclusive,” Frazier said about meeting Jackson for the first time. 

Frazier said people who did not know Jackson would often criticize him for going against the status quo, but, at his core, the civil rights icon wanted to ensure everyone had a voice and a seat at the table. 

“He worked to make sure our country would become the best version of itself,” Frazier said. 

In 1965, Jackson joined the voting rights march King led from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. King also dispatched him to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference effort to pressure companies to hire Black workers.

Frazier supported Jackson when he ran for president and said he was able to win delegates, caucuses and primaries because he had an “amazing ability to organize” and build coalitions.

Jackson presented Frazier with the 2012 Humanitarian of the Year Award in the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, which was a touching moment for the state lawmaker.

“He paved the way for Barack Obama and Black people serving in the Senate and Black governors.” 

Leroy Brooks was elected in 1983 as the first Black supervisor in Lowndes County and is still serving in that office. He said he met Jackson several times and was inspired to pursue a career in politics.

“We are of that generation that is not too far removed from the struggles of the ’60s, so when you got to meet someone like Jesse Jackson and others – it just left a lasting impression of, ‘I want to do that, too,’” Brooks said.

Brooks said he was about 30 years old at the time of their meetings, and “the things he had to say and the way he said them left a lasting impact.” His career fighting for equality and justice motivated an entire generation, Brooks added.

“He could motivate and captivate people with the way he communicated. And, he had a great sense of humor.”

Brooks, of Columbus, said Jackson came to his area several times over the years. Brooks also was around Jackson through their mutual friendship with U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson.

Once, at Mississippi State University, Brooks said he was picked to give an opening speech before Jackson took the stage.

“He was running a little late, and they asked me to speak before he got there,” said Brooks, who remembers that, at the time as a new politician, it was “a little nerve-racking.” 

Longtime former Mississippi state Rep. Ed Blackmon of Canton said he met Jackson twice, including when Jackson was in Mississippi in the 1980s helping with a voter registration drive.

“He was absolutely charismatic,” Blackmon said. “He was a wordsmith … well schooled in public speaking and he could just put it together, could pull people into what he was saying.”

Blackmon said Jackson’s presidential campaigns were inspirational.

“Yes, because he was Black, and he was a serious candidate,” Blackmon said. “He had huge recognition in the Black community, so he was inspiring. He was sharp on all the issues, foreign and domestic, and he won several primaries. 

“And his catch phrase was inspiring: ‘I may be Black. I may be poor, but I am somebody,’” Blackmon said. “That was something resonating across Black America. … He just had a huge impact, here and nationally and even internationally.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Thompson said he and Jackson were “in the fight together” for those whose voices too often went unheard.

“Jesse never backed down,” Thompson said. “He believed in justice, in equality, and in the power of faith to move mountains. And he carried that belief with courage every single day. We marched. We organized. We prayed. We fought for progress we knew our communities deserved. His voice may be quiet now, but his impact will echo for generations.”

Jackson Mayor John Horhn, who’s a former state senator, called Jackson a “giant of the civil rights movement and a lifelong champion for justice, equality, and opportunity.” 

“From organizing communities to opening doors for generations of leaders, his voice and vision helped shape our democracy and strengthen our collective conscience,” Horhn said in a statement. “His life reminds us that ordinary people, standing together, can create extraordinary change.”