Kelley opens with a reflection on his own experience and history as a Black radical activist and the reasons why he decided to write Freedom Dreams. For much of his life, the goals of a revolutionary socialist movement seemed obvious to him, but that at the time of writing Freedom Dreams he felt “somewhat alienated from the same old protest politics” (x). Prompted to prepare a lecture about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he found himself wondering “What happened to the dream of liberation that brought many of us to radical movements in the first place? […] And what happened to hope and love in our politics?” (x). These questions, and the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., inspired Kelley to understand how love, hope, and freedom can be useful tools for liberation from oppression.

Kelley describes how, at the moment he was completing the manuscript of Freedom Dreams, the 9/11 attacks occurred, prompting the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan (and later Iraq). Kelley expresses concern about the violence of and following 9/11, and encourages the reader to take note of the exhortations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Black radicals as an alternative to jingoistic patriotism that was common in the United States following 9/11.