At 6:30 a.m., Chicagoans began lining up on the South Side, wrapped in fur coats and winter boots as a bulwark against the February cold.
They were there to say goodbye to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who died last week at the age of 84. On Thursday, memorial services in several cities began with Mr. Jackson lying in repose in the sanctuary at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the social justice advocacy organization he founded in his adopted hometown, Chicago.
“He was just a hell of a man,” said Gwendolyn Meeks, 70, a retired government employee, as she stood behind a metal barricade, waiting for her turn to be ushered inside.
As the morning stretched on, so did the line of hundreds of people that began at Rainbow PUSH and snaked down the block. Many people wore pins and memorabilia connected to Mr. Jackson and his work. One man dug a gray “Jesse Jackson ’88” sweatshirt out of a drawer for the occasion, a souvenir from Mr. Jackson’s failed presidential campaign.
Some people clutched bouquets of flowers and left them outside the building, next to candles and tiny American flags that fluttered in the cold wind.
Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago arrived early, entering the sanctuary at Rainbow PUSH, where so many political candidates had come over the decades to seek Mr. Jackson’s support. The Rev. Al Sharpton, a close friend of Mr. Jackson, stopped outside to pose for pictures with mourners. Jesse Jackson Jr., one of Mr. Jackson’s six children, thanked the crowd for standing in line.
“My dad would have loved to see every single one of you,” he said.
Many people in line said they knew Mr. Jackson personally. Very often, it was Rainbow PUSH that connected Mr. Jackson with the public, people who came there to work, volunteer, pray and socialize.
EvAngel Mamadee Yhwhnewbn, 80, met Mr. Jackson more than a half-century ago, she said, and volunteered with Rainbow PUSH for many years.
“This is where the action was,” she said, nodding toward the building’s tall gray pillars. “He was a great man.”
Derrick Harris, 71, a retired grant writer, recalled working at Rainbow PUSH years ago and having wide-ranging conversations with Mr. Jackson, he said.
“Rev was the voice,” Mr. Harris said. “He knew how to explain the issues and frame the conversation. There is a void now.”
Martin King, a former chairman of the board of trustees at Rainbow PUSH, stood on the steps of the building, recalling how he would chat with Mr. Jackson about whatever was animating him that day: sports, politics, the music of Sam Cooke.
Saturday mornings at the building were iconic, he said, always buzzing with activity as people milled in and out for the organization’s freewheeling forums. “You could come out to PUSH, wait in line and talk to him about anything,” he said.
It felt especially meaningful that Mr. Jackson died during Black History Month, said Marcus Jones, 55, who left his overnight shift at a hospital at 4 a.m. and came to Rainbow PUSH, making sure to be first in line.
“I’m so thankful for what he has done,” Mr. Jones said. “I feel like I was a part of his life, and I wanted to be a part of history, too.”
Members of the public filed through a metal detector before they entered the building and were forbidden from taking photos once inside.
Mr. Jackson’s family stood alongside his casket, shaking hands with attendees as they reached the front of the sanctuary. Volunteers were stationed throughout the room, offering tissues to attendees who wept as they entered.
Mr. Jackson’s memorial services will continue on Friday with a second day of lying in repose in Chicago. Next week, he will lie in repose in the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C., followed by a formal service in Washington.
Two more memorial celebrations are scheduled in Chicago at the end of next week.
Rhonda Round, 61, wiped away tears after passing Mr. Jackson’s body. It is hard to imagine Chicago without him, she said, signing the guest book as she left. “He was one of a kind,” she said. “He was ours.”
Julie Bosman is the Chicago bureau chief for The Times, writing and reporting stories from around the Midwest.
The post Chicago Bids Farewell to Jesse Jackson as Memorials Begin appeared first on New York Times.
