Former US presidents to attend Jesse Jackson memorial

Former US presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton ⁠are expected to join thousands of mourners at a public memorial service for Jesse Jackson in Chicago that will honour the civil-rights activist and Democratic political leader.

Reverend Jackson, who died last month at the age of 84, was a leading advocate for voting rights and desegregation.

The memorial at the House of Hope, a 10,000-seat venue on Chicago's South Side, is expected to be the largest service honouring Jackson's life and legacy.

President Donald Trump will not attend due to his schedule and ongoing events, a White House official said.

"Rev Jackson will be remembered for his oratory prowess, but in Chicago ‌we knew him as a brilliant ⁠strategist, master negotiator and organising savant," said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is slated to speak at the service.

In addition to the former presidents, former first ladies Jill Biden and Hillary Clinton, who also served as US secretary of state, are expected to attend the service, according to organisers.

Singers Jennifer Hudson, BeBe Winans and Pastor Marvin Winans are set to perform.

The presence of Democratic ‌dignitaries can be seen as a protest against increasing pressure on diversity and civil rights initiatives from Mr Trump's administration, some academics said.

The Trump administration has curbed diversity programmes and policies and ⁠targeted museum and educational content on slavery that it deems "anti-American."

It has also supported restoring monuments honouring the ‌Confederate South, such as memorials to leaders who fought to preserve slavery in the American ⁠Civil War.

"It's fair to ‌interpret the attention that this event is getting as speaking back to the people who are complaining about diversity," said Jane Dailey, an American history professor at the University of Chicago.

Memorial events began in Chicago last week, drawing elected officials, advocates ⁠and community members. Rev Jackson's body also lay in state in South Carolina, where he was born.

An inspirational speaker and longtime ⁠Chicagoan, Rev Jackson helped lead the nation's civil rights movement after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Rev Jackson spent more than half a century working to dismantle segregationist systems and broaden political participation for Black Americans and other marginalised communities.

His two presidential campaigns mobilised millions of new voters under the banner of the "Rainbow Coalition," pushing the Democratic Party to address issues affecting working-class Americans, farmers and communities of colour.

"He pried open windows for other people in ‌his insistence on opening the political process to more and more people," Prof Dailey said.