NAACP President Derrick Johnson poses for a photo on Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, in Los Angeles. The NAACP, the nation’s oldest civil rights organization, will soon celebrate its 113th birthday, which its leaderships said comes as it undergoes a restructuring to reflect a membership and leadership that is trending younger. (AP Photo / Richard Vogel)

The nation’s oldest civil rights organization’s birthday next month comes as it undergoes a restructuring to reflect a membership and leadership that is trending younger, to people in their mid-30s. As a result, it is adding endeavors like producing TV streaming content for CBS.

(PBS / Florentine Films)

Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day coincided with the first celebration of Muhammad Ali Day in Illinois on what would have been the champion boxer and civil rights activist's 80th birthday.

(WTTW)

More than 150 names of people killed during the civil rights movement are on display in a special exhibit at the DuSable Museum. Their lives were cut short due to race-related killings more than 50 years ago, but the lessons learned from their deaths live on.

(WTTW News)

Steve Schapiro started out as a freelance photographer in the early 1960s and was on hand for many of the decade's historic moments, whether the 1963 March on Washington or Robert F. Kennedy's presidential run in 1968. The Chicago resident's work appeared in Time, Rolling Stone, Life and other publications.

General Iron’s metal-shredding operation in Lincoln Park. (WTTW News)
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The parent company of a now-shuttered metal recycler on the North Side will pay a fine as part of an agreement to resolve charges that the firm’s operation violated the Clean Air Act, Environmental Protection Agency officials announced Wednesday.

Jerry Harkness played for Loyola basketball from 1960-1963. (WTTW News)

Jerry Harkness was inspired by Jackie Robinson to take up the game of basketball. He ended up becoming a civil rights trailblazer in his own right.

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Reverend Jesse Jackson raise their hands after Jackson was awarded with the Legion d’Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honor) medal during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday, July 19, 2021. (Ludovic Marin / Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday made American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson a commander of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award, for helping “change the destiny of the United States” and with it, the world. 

Congressman John Lewis is seen in his Atlanta office with two of his favorite items from his collection of memorabilia from his younger days as a civil rights activist in the 1960s. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday both marked the one-year anniversary of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ death by urging Congress to honor the legacy of the civil rights icon by enacting laws to protect voting rights.

Democratic Texas State Rep. Chris Turner, left, from Grand Prairie, speaks during a news conference with other Texas Democrats, Wednesday, July 14, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The Texas voting bills that prompted state Democrats’ flight to Washington this week include a raft of tweaks and changes to the state’s election code. Some are dramatic, others highly technical, and a couple could make life easier for voters.

President Joe Biden delivers a speech on voting rights at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden declared preserving voting rights an urgent national “test of our time” on Tuesday but offered few concrete proposals to meet it. Texas Democrats took their own dramatic action to stymie Republican efforts to tighten ballot restrictions in their state.

Marc Morial, center, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, talks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 8, 2021, following a meeting with President Joe Biden and leadership of top civil rights organizations. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh)

President Joe Biden met with civil rights leaders Thursday in the West Wing, while Vice President Kamala Harris announced $25 million in new spending by the Democratic National Committee on actions to protect voting access ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

An aerial shot of the newly constructed Southside Recycling, 11600 S. Burley Ave. (Courtesy of Reserve Management Group)
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The city is conducting additional environmental studies after the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said the proposal raises “significant civil rights concerns.”

In this Dec. 7, 2019 photo provided by Brad Hamilton, Jessica Stern, head of Outright International, speaks during the OutSummit in New York. (Brad Hamilton / OutRight Action International via AP)

Jessica Stern, soon to become the State Department’s special diplomatic envoy for LGBTQ rights, sees a mix of promising news and worrisome developments almost everywhere she looks, both at home and abroad.

An aerial shot of the newly constructed Southside Recycling, 11600 S. Burley Ave. (Courtesy of Reserve Management Group)
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A federal judge will not force the city to permit Reserve Management Group, the parent company of General Iron, to operate a metal shredding and recycling operation on Chicago’s Southeast Side.

In this Sunday, June 11, 2017 file photo, Equality March for Unity and Pride participants march past the White House in Washington. (AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster)

The federal government will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care, the Biden administration declared Monday, reversing a Trump-era policy that narrowed rights at the intersection of changing social mores and sensitive medical decisions. 

FILE - In this April 26, 2021, file photo Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington. (Mandel Ngan / Pool via AP)
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The Justice Department is sending a strong message about its priorities these days. In just over the past two weeks, it has opened investigations of police in Louisville, Kentucky and Minneapolis.