| | Editor's Preface | p. vii |
| | Early Years | p. 1 |
| | Morehouse College | p. 13 |
| | Crozer Seminary | p. 17 |
| | Boston University | p. 30 |
| | Coretta | p. 34 |
| | Dexter Avenue Baptist Church | p. 40 |
| | Montgomery Movement Begins | p. 50 |
| | The Violence of Desperate Men | p. 63 |
| | Desegregation at Last | p. 83 |
| | The Expanding Struggle | p. 100 |
| | Birth of a New Nation | p. 111 |
| | Brush with Death | p. 117 |
| | Pilgrimage to Nonviolence | p. 121 |
| | The Sit-In Movement | p. 135 |
| | Atlanta Arrest and Presidential Politics | p. 142 |
| | The Albany Movement | p. 151 |
| | The Birmingham Campaign | p. 170 |
| | Letter from Birmingham Jail | p. 187 |
| | Freedom Now! | p. 205 |
| | March on Washington | p. 218 |
| | Death of Illusions | p. 229 |
| | St. Augustine | p. 239 |
| | The Mississippi Challenge | p. 246 |
| | The Nobel Peace Prize | p. 255 |
| | Malcolm X | p. 265 |
| | Selma | p. 270 |
| | Watts | p. 290 |
| | Chicago Campaign | p. 297 |
| | Black Power | p. 314 |
| | Beyond Vietnam | p. 333 |
| | The Poor People's Campaign | p. 346 |
| | Unfulfilled Dreams | p. 356 |
| | Editor's Acknowledgments | p. 367 |
| | Source Notes | p. 371 |
| | Index | p. 391 |