While Martin Luther King Jr. was a well-known figure in the South in his fight for civil rights during the 1960s, there is more than meets the eye to how Illinois added to his legacy during that time.

Following the march from Selma to Montgomery and the infamous Bloody Sunday in 1965, King set his sights on Chicago as the focus of his new campaign to combat housing, economic and educational segregation – called the Chicago Freedom Movement.

Along with a young Jesse Jackson, Dr. King set up offices in different churches across Bronzeville, including the Fellowship Baptist Church, New Friendship Baptist and Stone Temple Baptist. To demonstrate his commitment to the campaign and the issues at stake, Dr. King moved his family into one of the neglected tenements in North Lawndale. Although the house no longer exists, the location is now the site of the Dr. King Legacy Apartments and Fair Housing Exhibit Center.

Dr. King’s campaign in 1965 had demonstrated the hostility that white Chicagoans had for King and his movement, trying to preserve the power structure that had kept whites in power for decades in the City of Broad Shoulders. During a nonviolent march through an all-white neighborhood in August 1966, Dr. King and the marchers encountered racially fueled hostility. Dr. King was struck by a rock amongst the bottles and bricks being thrown at marchers. Dr. King noted that, though he had seen many demonstrations, the hostility shown in Chicago was unlike anything he had ever seen.

Despite the racial tensions and the hostile attitudes brewing in Chicago, Mayor Richard J. Daley bowed to the pressure that the marches were putting on him to do something about the race riots and violence that came with the demonstrations. Daley negotiated with housing boards to create a summit agreement where the Chicago Housing Authority promised to build affordable housing and the Mortgage Bankers Association agreed to make mortgages available to people, regardless of race.

Although Chicago city officials failed to make good on their promise for increased housing equity despite the summit agreement, it is no secret that the actions taken here by Dr. King would lead to the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, which was signed shortly after his assassination. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in Illinois was not only one of hostility and broken promises but also one of empowerment and determination for African Americans across the nation.

The bean is not only a versatile legume that carries rich nutrients and flavor – it’s also rich in history.

The earliest evidence of bean domestication and cultivation appeared in the Americas as early as 7,000 B.C. The first beans to be cultivated were the common bean and the lima bean by the Indigenous peoples of Central and South America. Over time, over 4,000 variations of beans have been cultivated across the Americas, Asia and Africa and the bean has become a consistent staple food for various cultures across continents.

Illinois carries its own fondness of the bean. In 2025, the state designated the soybean as the official Illinois state bean, highlighting the crop’s importance to the state’s agriculture industry. According to the Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois is the No.1 producer of soybeans in the nation and 15% of all U.S. soybeans are produced in this state.

According to the Illinois State Historical Society, Alton resident Dr. Benjamin Franklin Edwards received soybeans as a gift after helping shipwrecked survivors from Japan in 1849, and in 1851, he gave the beans to a friend for them to plant. The garden in Alton where they grew is now recognized as the site where Illinois’ first soybeans were planted over 150 years ago.

In honor of Universal Human Rights Month this December, we honor Diane Judith Nash, a key activist throughout the Civil Rights Movement from Illinois. Nash was one of the founders and most influential organizers in the Civil Rights Movement. Born in Chicago in 1938, Nash attended Howard University before transferring to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. In Nashville, Nash experienced a society fully engulfed in Jim Crow segregation for the first time. She began to take classes from James Lawson on nonviolent resistance. It didn’t take long for Nash to become a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement in Nashville, including becoming leader of the Student Central Committee, which staged sit-ins in segregated diners across downtown Nashville. In 1960, Nashville became the first segregated city in the South to integrate lunch counters.

The 2025 Startup Ecosystem Stars Awards, hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce, recently granted Illinois the Startup Ecosystem Stars Award in recognition of the state’s global leadership in talent, research, investment and innovation. This recognition is familiar for Illinois as the state also received this award in 2024, demonstrating consistent efforts to build and maintain innovative policies and environments.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity earned recognition across five categories: Best-in-Class Startup Programs, Outstanding Investment Boost, Top Talent & Research, Exceptional Industry Support and Pioneering Innovation Policy. Initiatives like the Federal Grant Support Program and the Manufacturing Illinois Chips for Real Opportunity Program promote industrial growth and innovation across industries and help the state reap the benefits of its investments as it welcomes more businesses.
Illinois was one of only 36 entities worldwide to receive the award. Illinois is also the sole recipient to be awarded in all five categories, reaffirming the state’s all-encompassing approach to constructing a robust economy.