Tinderbox takes place during the East St. Louis Riots of 1917. The Potts Family, black migrant workers from the South, arrive along with 470 other blacks in February 1917 at the height of management-labor conflict and increased racial tensions in industrial East St. Louis. The play leads up to the May 27 conflicts leading up to the deadly July 2 attacks by white rioters on blacks, the wanton destruction of property in the black section of East St. Louis, and the senseless massacre of hundreds of Blacks. The mob violence escalates, threatens the South End section of East St. Louis where they live, and the Potts are forced to defend themselves from imminent danger.