The Rev. Jesse Jackson talks with reporters at the South Carolina Statehouse on July 8, 2015, after the House approved a Senate bill to remove the Confederate battle flag from Statehouse grounds. The vote followed more than 13 hours of debate. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a two-time presidential candidate and civil rights icon who died Feb. 17, is being honored Monday in his home state.
A tribute began with a mile-long procession of his casket on a horse-drawn wagon, or caisson, from Leevy’s Funeral Home to the Statehouse.
His closed casket, draped with an American flag, was brought into the Statehouse at 9:50 a.m.
The Greenville native’s stop in Columbia is part of a nationwide opportunity for people to say goodbye to the 84-year-old who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. before beginning his own political movement, which helped launch the modern Democratic Party.
Celebrations of his life are also scheduled in Chicago and Washington, D.C.
The ceremonies in South Carolina carry special significance, as Jackson is one of only a dozen or so people to lie in honor in the Statehouse and likely the first who was not an elected official.
A handful of mourners began lining up outside the Statehouse around 8:30 a.m., hours before the doors opened to the public.
Ahead of a private ceremony, several legislators, including Democratic Reps. Jermaine Johnson, Annie McDaniel and Gilda Cobb-Hunter, mingled on the Statehouse’s second floor.
Flowers, American and Palmetto flags, and photographs of the reverend’s face flanked the place where his casket would stand.
On top of the Statehouse, the flags fly at half-mast in his honor.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
