CHICAGO—A year ago, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was facing one of the toughest stretches in his long political career.

Now, even as the city is experiencing a homicide rate not seen in over a decade and trust remains low among African-Americans, there are emerging signs of progress.

Protests following the court-ordered release of a video last year showing a white police officer shooting a black teenager 16 times in 2014 shut down the city’s Magnificent Mile shopping district on Black Friday and led to calls for him to step down.

The nation’s third-largest city was facing a huge pension liability and crumbling credit ratings.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign team, in stolen personal emails released by WikiLeaks, urged the presidential candidate to distance herself from the mayor, a former chief of staff to President Barack Obama and senior White House adviser during her husband’s presidency.