Simkins ruminates about why efforts to unite African Americans and poor whites politically over time had ultimately failed. According to Simkins, those in positions of power played on fears of racial violence, particularly of a sexual nature, in order to thwart a political uniting of the masses. Her comments are largely based on her work with organizations such as the NAACP and the Southern Negro Youth Conference during the 1940s and 1950s; however, she draws connections to similar political trends at the turn of the twentieth century and at the time of the interview during the mid-1970s, thus indicating important historical continuities.