Based in Cook County, the district includes much of the South Side of Chicago and continues southwest to Joliet.

The district is currently represented by Jonathan Jackson who was elected to succeed longtime incumbent Bobby Rush in 2022.

The 1st district takes in the communities of Homer Glen, Braidwood, Wilmington, Manhattan, Frankfort, Channahon, New Lenox, Lockport Heights, Bonnie Brae, Mokena, Arbury Hills, Frankfort Square, Wilton Center, Andres, Symerton, Ritchie, Rest Haven, Custer Park, Lakewood Shores, Lorenzo; eastern Braceville; eastern Godley; eastern Minooka; western Elwood; Lockport east of the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal; most of Braidwood; part of Diamond; part of Coal City; and part of Joliet.

The departure of the steel industry, along with other manufacturing jobs from the South Side in recent decades, has created economic difficulties which the area is still trying to overcome.

But black middle-class Chicago neighborhoods, such as Avalon Park and Chatham, have remained more stable, along with the more upscale Hyde Park-Kenwood area.

U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, is less than 1,000 feet (300 m) west of the district's northwestern border.

Other area cultural and entertainment attractions include the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago's Washington Park, and First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park; several square miles of Cook County Forest Preserves can be found on three sides of Oak Forest, and Oak Forest's Chicago Gaelic Park [1] is home to Irish Fest, held annually on Memorial Day weekend.

Business and industrial presences in the district include Panduit Corporation [2], an electrical manufacturer in Tinley Park; Parco Foods [3], a cookie manufacturer in Blue Island; and Midwest Suburban Publishing, publisher of the SouthtownStar, in Tinley Park.

Only twice since 1966 has a Republican candidate for Congress received over 20% of the vote,[20] and the Democratic nominee has topped 80% in every presidential race during that time.

His successor Ralph Metcalfe initially continued that stance but publicly broke with Daley over an incident of police brutality in 1972, establishing a rift that persists.

[21][22] Stewart served only one term and lost the 1980 Democratic primary to reform candidate Harold Washington.

Rush was a co-founder of the Illinois Black Panthers in 1968, establishing a program for free breakfasts for poor children and a clinic for sickle cell anemia screenings.

[24] He served as a Chicago alderman from 1983 until his election to Congress in 1993, and he was an ally of Mayor Washington in the Council Wars of the 1980s.

Despite the support of fellow congressmen Jesse Jackson Jr. and Danny Davis, he was backed by only three out of 50 aldermen and lost the election by a margin of 72–28%.

Beginning in the mid-19th century, the Irish were the first to establish their physical and political control of the area within the city's South Side.

They were confined by discrimination to the South Side of Chicago and gradually replaced ethnic whites who moved out to suburbs.

The district's white population (almost 30% of its residents) is concentrated in the suburban areas and in a few Chicago neighborhoods such as Hyde Park.

Existing buildings attest to its history, as the former Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv temple (its second location) has been the headquarters of Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH/Rainbow Coalition since 1971 [4].

The area also includes a notable presence of Black Muslims and is the home of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in Kenwood.