In 1960 and 1961, Rawick slowly joined Facing Reality, a Detroit-based leftist group headed by C. L. R. James. He was exposed to the group by taking socialist study classes. Rawick agreed with the group's view on the class nature of the Soviet Union more than the view of rule by a bureaucratic caste that the Independent Socialist League held. Facing Reality aided in the development of Rawick's views of radical labor and the Black freedom movement. Travels Beginning in 1963 and spanning all the way to 1968, Rawick traveled frequently to London to work with C. L. R. James. On a visit in 1964, James asked Rawick to give a lecture on American history to guests at his home. After Rawick finished, James asked him if he knew anything about the slaves' own reactions of being enslaved. Rawick quickly realized he did not know much about how the slaves' felt, but recalled that there was a collection of interviews done by ex-slaves in the late 1930s. This interaction led to Rawick's monumental work, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. Rawick made all of the interviews done by ex-slaves available to students and scholars. Rawick was exposed to many different viewpoints while visiting James in London. Many African, African American, and West Indian intellectuals would frequent James's estate, with some examples being George Lamming, Aime Cesaire, and Kwame Ture. Rawick began to study race and slavery more seriously after conversing with many Black intellectuals. Rawick was able to see first hand how the group would collaborate and work together while in London. In 1967, Rawick went on a speaking tour in Germany and Italy. His main talking points were on Black revolt and the capitalist restructuring of the 1930s. He spoke in many cities, including Berlin, Milan, Frankfurt, and Florence. Rawick spoke to thousands of students in universities at every city he visited. Published works The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography The most enduring achievement of his career was his editorship of the 41-volume set of oral histories of former slaves, titled The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography. This collection began publication in 1972. The interviews which this set contains were taken under the auspices of the Works Projects Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. Rawick's methodology of taking testimony from former slaves seriously and using it in his writing revolutionized the study of slavery in the 1970s. He thought