The idea for writing this book came about when I wondered where the subject matter would come from to do my third book. I wanted to write a book that I felt strong compassion for, and I remembered when I was a senior getting a bachelor of science degree in secondary education with a major in history and minor in English at Southern Illinois University at Edwards in 1974, which became my teaching areas to teach on the high school level in the state of Missouri, and part of the graduation from the history department required its students to write a historical paper on any topic they were interested in. With the encouragement of my professor Dr. Herbert Rosenthal, he said I should write it on Stokely Carmichael, leader of the civil rights organization called SNCC, which meant nonviolent student coordinating committee, who made the term "black power" popular because Stokely wanted black people to control their own destiny and build an economic base of power for themselves.