African American scholar and activist Vincent Harding remembers Martin Luther King Jr. Harding is the publisher of King’s book-length works, and the two were friends. He notes that King was always engaged with the turbulent history of his time and the Black community of activists in the South. As a gifted leader, King was always questioning the future of African Americans but also of the whole country and the world.

After the significant successes of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, King realized the freedom movement had to confront a new tumultuous reality. His preoccupation with the future of the movement led to this book. Concerned with the violence during the 1965 Watts riots, he shifted his attention toward the Black urban communities of the North, focusing on the economic issues that plagued Black youth, the exploited, and the poor in general. King also addressed the issue of the “white backlash” as the cause of unrest, while always supporting nonviolence. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference addressed unemployment, education, and housing, especially among the Black community. Informed by his experiences in the urban North, he continued to envision the future of the freedom struggle.