Carl M. Adams grew up in Alton, Illinois where historically the first five shots of the Civil War killed Abolitionist newspaper publisher Reverend E.P. Lovejoy in 1837. Adams did not think of it at the time, but he lived on the invisible "color-line." He lived in the white "hood" just one block from the black neighborhood. During the 'summer of rioting' following the murder of Martin Luther King in 1968, childhood friends suddenly became enemies. Carl Adams found himself in the social crossfire, which left a life long impression for social justice. In 2003 Carl Adams was presented The R.B. Garrett Humanitarian Award from the African-American Garrett Museum, Inc. in Peoria, Illinois for Historical Research into Nance, the first slave freed by A. Lincoln in 1841.