US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson dies aged 84

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84, his family say in a statement.

"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 says.

In the 1960s, Jackson fought for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King Jr, whose daughter has paid tribute to Jackson as a "gifted negotiator".

A protege of King's, Jackson built a career around working to politically organise and improve the lives of African-Americans, and became a national force during his two White House campaigns, writes the BBC's Anthony Zurcher.

US President Donald Trump also remembered Jackson, calling him a "force of nature" with "lots of personality, grit and street smarts.

He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2017 and was hospitalised for observation last November after being diagnosed with a degenerative condition.

A long political career followed Jesse Jackson's activism.

He travelled to Syria in 1983 to plead for the release of a captured American pilot, Lt Robert Goodman. His mission was successful, and greatly boosted his national profile.

In 1991, he visited Iraq on the eve of the Gulf War to plead with Saddam Hussein to release Western hostages.

Jackson ran twice for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 1984 and 1988. He didn't win but he did get just under seven million votes at his second attempt.

Deciding against running for president a third time, he became a public supporter of Bill Clinton, who then made Jackson his special envoy for democracy and human rights in Africa in 1997.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000 by Clinton, the highest civilian honour in America.