Following World War II, the U.S. experienced a financial boom in which millions enjoyed the benefits of national economic growth. But these opportunities were not available to everyone and by 1968, 35 million people lived below the poverty line.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed discrimination and a lack of access to opportunities would spark unrest in urban centers. As King predicted, uprisings occurred in nearly 150 cities during the “Long Hot Summer” of 1967.

In response to the “Long Hot Summer” of 1967, President Johnson established the 11-member National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. The President asked the commission to answer three questions.

From the East Coast and Appalachians to regions in the West, poverty plagued America’s promise of equal opportunity.