Set on June 4-5 in St. Augustine, Chapter 30 reconnects readers with Audrey Nell Edwards and Irwin Brunson, both of whom have just finished turbulent school years. Edwards, who spent nearly six months in jail and reform school for her Woolworth’s sit-in, graduates from Murray High School. Brunson is told by his teacher, Mrs. Barrier, that he will have to repeat fourth grade.

Both then meet Martin Luther King, who has returned from California, where he had heard of credible death threats for him in St. Augustine. King speaks to a rousing crowd at St. Paul AME Church and hails the “heroes of St. Augustine” – people like these young activists and those who have participated in the perilous night marches at the Slave Market. Marshall Bloom, down from Amherst, takes careful notes and writes stories for two Colorado newspapers.

Before leaving town again, King travels out to the beach cottage that had been rented for him. There he points to a bullet hole in the window. A picture snapped of that scene by Associated Press photographer James Kerlin will become an iconic image of the civil rights movement.