Baldwin describes his views on several historical events and figures: Francisco Franco, McCarthyism, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Baldwin recounts the Harlem that shaped his early consciousness and the later murders of his friends Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, along with his stay in Europe and in Hollywood and his return to the American South to confront a violent America.

The threat of 100,000 marchers in Washington, DC, pushed President Franklin D. Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, which mandated the formation of the Fair Employment Practice Committee to investigate racial discrimination charges against defense firms.

[1] In the book, Baldwin discusses his whereabouts during the murders of two of the movement's most influential titanic figures—Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

He discusses his involvement, philosophies the meaning of the movement, its key players, what impact as a whole it had on all Americans and, ultimately, how it changed his attitude about the possibility of America ever achieving racial harmony.

In 1959, King visited Gandhi's birthplace, the trip deepening his understanding of nonviolent resistance and his commitment to America's struggle for civil rights.

In an address that was played on the radio, King reflected on his experience and how it changed him: "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.