The first section of the book, which is composed of the first chapter, is an explanation of why the Birmingham Campaign- referred to as “the negro revolution” by King, presumably because the word “negro” carried a different connotation than it does now. The first chapter, titled The Negro Revolution- Why 1963, is- as stated above-an explanation of why the Birmingham Campaign occurred in the year of 1963, of all times; in the chapter, King explains that the driving forces behind the sudden, in King’s words, lightning-like revolution and the answer to the question of “Why now? Why not wait?” directed at African-Americans fighting for their civil rights lies in the disillusionment felt by African-Americans across the nation when the 1954 Supreme
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King then goes on to explain that one of the greatest powers of nonviolent resistance and action in the Birmingham Campaign was its ability to change the previous perceptions of jails in the eyes of the nation; prior to the events of the Birmingham Campaign, the threat of being arrested and jailed and even the setting of “jail” itself was often used as a device of harassment and intimidation, especially in the case of African-Americans living in the South, by law enforcement, as jails were the perfect environment to control, isolate, and threaten many
King then goes on to explain that one of the greatest powers of nonviolent resistance and action in the Birmingham Campaign was its ability to change the previous perceptions of jails in the eyes of the nation; prior to the events of the Birmingham Campaign, the threat of being arrested and jailed and even the setting of “jail” itself was often used as a device of harassment and intimidation, especially in the case of African-Americans living in the South, by law enforcement, as jails were the perfect environment to control, isolate, and threaten many