The three living Democratic presidents attended the funeral of the civil rights leaders on Friday, March 6
Credit: Scott Olson/Getty
The three living Democratic presidents — Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden — attended the funeral of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson at the House of Hope in Chicago, Ill., on Friday, March 6.
While Clinton and Biden were joined by their respective wives, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Dr. Jill Biden, Obama attended solo, without wife Michelle Obama.
The former presidents received a special shout-out as they entered the arena for the memorial service.
"Put your hands together for the three presidents: President Bill Clinton, President Joe Biden, and the Southside's own, President Barack Obama," the speaker announced.
Credit: Scott Olson/Getty
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker also spoke at the memorial, commemorating the life and legacy of the civil rights leader. Jackson died at age 84 on Feb. 17.
In a social media statement at the time, the Baptist minister's loved ones said he died "peacefully" while "surrounded by family."
"Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”
In November 2025, Jackson's civil rights organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, announced that he had been admitted into the hospital and was undergoing observation for his progressive supranuclear palsy, a brain disease that causes an individual to have issues with balance, swallowing, walking and eye movements, according to the Mayo Clinic.
For his lifelong advocacy and civil rights activism, Jackson was awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Clinton in 2000.
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Michelle Obama faced scrutiny last year for skipping several public events traditionally attended by former presidents and first ladies.
After skipping both the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump's second inauguration, the former first lady addressed her absences on an episode of her IMO podcast, saying, “It took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the things that was right for me, that was a hard thing for me to do.”
She added that making her own decisions about which events to attend was part of her new efforts to practice the "art of saying no."
“It's a muscle that you have to build,” she explained. “And I think we suffered, because it's almost like we started training late in life to build that muscle, right? I am just now starting to build it.”
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