The fascinating and turbulent black America of the 1960s emerges in
these essays, through the lenses of dissent and its contradictions.
Gerald L. Early revisits this volatile time in American history, when
class, culture, and race ignited conflagrations of bitterness and
hatred across the nation.

The lives of three active and influential people are given special
attention: Cecil B. Moore, advocate and agitator in the “racial
tinderbox” of black Philadelphia; Muhammad Ali, promoter of a “colored”
consciousness; and Sammy Davis Jr., survivor of black vaudeville and
liberator of black performers.