Barack Obama's Inauguration

In the book, Obama's Inauguration serves as a counter event for Lewis's work in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The inauguration takes place on January 20, 2009, in Washington, D.C., and events that happen during the inauguration and immediately after serve as catalysts for Lewis's memories of the Civil Rights Movement.

The 16th Street Church

This is the church in Birmingham, Alabama, that is bombed at the opening of this book. The bombing is meant to be an attack on blacks because of recent protests, but the church is having a youth rally on the day of the attack and the bomb kills four little girls, wounding several other children.

The Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committe/SNCC

Lewis and several others are involved in this group during the 1960s. The committee seeks to change social, business, and political actions and attitudes, especially attitudes regarding race...