JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It was a jubilant celebration today for the late civil rights leader the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Thousands gathered in Chicago for a public funeral for Jackson who died last month.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: We're going to ask everybody to stand up on your feet, and let's celebrate his life. Y'all ready? Listen. (Singing) Oh, happy day.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing) Oh, happy day.
SUMMERS: It was a final goodbye for a man who had traveled the country and the world fighting discrimination, calling for economic equality for African Americans and the poor, and advocating for democracy. Joining me to talk about the memorial service are NPR's Cheryl Corley in Chicago as well as religion correspondent Jason DeRose. Hi to both of you.
JASON DEROSE, BYLINE: Hello.
CHERYL CORLEY, BYLINE: Hello.
SUMMERS: So, Cheryl, there have been several ceremonies held to honor Jesse Jackson since his death, but tell us more about this public funeral.
CORLEY: Well, at times, it was solemn. There were moments of emotion as people described their interaction with Jesse Jackson. But, you know, it was such a celebration, an exquisite collection of speakers that were like a living diagram of Jesse Jackson's life, each with a highlight about him, including his son, Yusef Jackson, who's now the CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, who said that his father's influence was so vast that no honorary service could encompass it. The speakers tried to do that, as they talked about Jackson opening doors of boardrooms, his boycotts, his marches and how he influenced their lives and how he changed the landscape of the country in so many ways.
SUMMERS: And I understand, Cheryl, that three former presidents attended the Jackson memorial, and these are all presidents that had different relationships with him. What did they have to say?
CORLEY: Well, President Biden - Joe Biden talked about marching with Jackson to commemorate the 58th anniversary, the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, when Black voting rights activists were beaten by state troopers. And Biden said what he admired most about Jesse Jackson was his passion.
President Bill Clinton had a close relationship with Jackson. Jackson served as an informal key adviser to him, and Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000 for his work. And he said that he came to truly love Jesse Jackson.
President Barack Obama actually spoke first, and he talked about Jesse Jackson's runs for the presidency in 1984 and 1988, and what kind of impression they made on him as a young person.
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BARACK OBAMA: And it was because of that path that he had laid...
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
OBAMA: ...Because of his courage...
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Come on. Come on.
OBAMA: ...His audacity...
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
OBAMA: ...That two decades later...
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah.
OBAMA: ...A young Black senator from Chicago's South Side would even be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidential nomination.
SUMMERS: Jason, I want to bring you in here. In addition to the many politicians who spoke at Jackson's memorial, I know that there were also a number of religious leaders. What did they have to say?
DEROSE: Well, there was a mix of Chicago-area religious leaders like Father Michael Pfleger from St. Sabina's Catholic Church, and there were prayers and readings from leaders from other faith communities all around the U.S. And national leaders spoke, like the Reverend Al Sharpton, who talked about the urgency of this current political moment in the U.S., as well as Rabbi Steven Jacobs from the Progressive Faith Foundation.
You know, Rabbi Jacobs talked about his work with Jackson to free hostages, and he made a point of refuting charges that Jesse Jackson was antisemitic, talking about his own work with Jackson on behalf of Jews around the world. And Rabbi Jacobs had a particularly moving vision of Jackson arriving in heaven.
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STEVEN JACOBS: God will welcome him with this greeting - oh, my God, you're Jesse Jackson.
(LAUGHTER)
JACOBS: You are somebody.
(CHEERING)
JACOBS: You are somebody. Come work with me. Come work with me. I need you. The world needs you.
DEROSE: And, Juana, that idea that the world needs people of faith and goodwill to work in it now more than ever - that really pervaded the whole memorial service.
SUMMERS: One thing, Jason, that you sometimes hear about Jackson is that he was more of a political figure than a religious figure. What do you make of that?
DEROSE: You know, I think those comments sometimes come from folks who don't understand the connection between churches and politics in Black communities. I'm reminded that Jesse Jackson was a student at Chicago Theological Seminary in the 1960s when he actually left school just a few classes shy of graduation to go join Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movements. And then after decades working in both religious and political fields, the faculty at that seminary granted him that degree, Master of Divinity, in the year 2000 because they said those decades counted for those missing three classes.
SUMMERS: Cheryl, last thing, there's one final celebration planned for Jackson. Tell us about it.
CORLEY: Well, there will be a private funeral tomorrow at the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition with a musical tribute with Stevie Wonder, and then the man who called himself a long-distance runner in the fight for civil rights will be laid to rest.
SUMMERS: NPR correspondents Cheryl Corley and Jason DeRose. Thanks to both of you.
DEROSE: You're welcome.
CORLEY: Welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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