The Negro Revolution - Why 1963? Summary and Analysis

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s presentation of events and forces behind the Civil Rights Movement in "Why We Can't Wait" focuses on the activities surrounding the 1963 Birmingham lunch-counter sit-in demonstrations. The short historical introduction of two young Negro children trying to cope with the experience of their race in miserable living conditions provides the introduction for King's evaluation of the Negro Revolution. One hundred years after the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation the American Negro still struggles to be free from the shackles of slavery in other forms.

Martin Luther King, Jr. compares the condition of a young Negro boy in Harlem to that of a young Negro girl in Birmingham. They both experience miserable living conditions that follow them. The boy's father is unemployed and his mother is a live-in maid. The...