Chapter 8, Chicago and the 'War on Slums', 1965-1966 Summary and Analysis

Racial tensions in Chicago had been going on for many years before Martin Luther King Jr. became interested in the situation. The main source of trouble was the extensive segregation of the schools. Demonstrations had taken place the year before in the form of a boycott of the schools organized by Coordinating Committee of Community Organizations (CCCO). However, the CCCO had failed to follow through with this success. In April, the SNCC became interested in the Chicago situation, and Bevel planned another boycott there, but the CCCO wanted to organize a mass rally or march with King in the lead. However, when the boycott was halted due to a state injunction, the CCCO staged a march that ended in more than two hundred arrests.

In July, King...