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Hello, welcome to NewsHour. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service

Studios in central London. I'm Tim Franks. One of the most influential voices of the American civil rights movement, Reverend Jesse Jackson, has died at the age of 84.

Growing up in a segregated South Carolina, he became involved in activism as a protégé of Martin Luther King,

later witnessing his mentor's assassination in Memphis in 1968.

Jackson went on to enter mainstream politics,

using his skills as a Baptist minister to inspire large crowds through his passionate speeches.

In 1988, he famously urged voters to keep hope alive.

While he was unsuccessful in his attempts to become US president, he is credited

with paving the way for African-American politicians, such as Barack Obama, who has praised

Jesse Jackson today as a true giant. We'll have a tribute in a few minutes from a man who called

him friend and an inspiration for more than 60 years. Let's begin, though, with the voice of the man himself.

Speaking to the BBC in 2009, he reflected on his experience of segregation at a young age

growing up in poverty in a profoundly racist South Carolina.

I remember on one occasion, I was going to the bus with my mom going downtown, and she paid both tokens.

She went straight to the back, and I sat up front.

And there were three white kids, a cross for me playing.

I can see them in my mind's eye now.

And the bus driver said until there's some order I'm not moving this bus.

There must be some order on this bus.

We really was talking about me sitting there.

And my mother came and got me and I didn't want to leave her.

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