He's Coming to Start Riots

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called Willie Ricks a "fiery" advocate of Black Power during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He was everywhere. Stirring up crowds. Stirring up trouble. A close associate of Stokely Carmichael, Ricks was one of the movement's most militant, fearless, charismatic and effective organizers: the brains and brawn behind countless sit-ins, marches, demonstrations and boycotts throughout the South. He has described his life as a series of "beatings, bombings, shootings, fights and assassinations." This is his story - and the story of others like him who played a critical role in advancing the notion of Black Power and, in the process, touching off a firestorm of fear-mongering in white America and a revolution in the way that African Americans perceived themselves and their struggle.