Individuals and groups had worked for decades to alleviate racial problems in the urban North, but in the mid-1960s leaders focused national attention on ghettos, poverty, hunger, and other hardships that gripped northern blacks. By 1966, no domestic problem seemed more complex, or more dangerous to the social fabric of the nation than the confrontation between black and white in America's cities. Chicago, with its ghetto and rigid segregation, came to exemplify the urban racial conflict of the 1960s.

During the summer of 1965, Dr. King and the SCLC moved to Chicago to protest slums and segregated public schools. Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley enjoyed great political power despite these growing issues to the point that some African Americans asked the SCLC to go home. Dissension and resentment continued to grow.

In the summer of 1966, three days of rioting occurred in Chicago when the city turned off hydrants in poor black neighborhoods to maintain water pressure. Later that summer, the Freedom Movement led by SCLC's James Bevel ended in violence as marchers were pelted with bricks and bottles thrown by angry whites and Italians. Mayor Daley met with Dr. King in an effort to stop the violence. Many criticized King for agreeing to promises that the city never fulfilled. Increasingly, King was also being criticized for taking part in Vietnam protests. He countered that poverty, racial injustice, and the war were linked to human rights abroad.

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Richard Daley