From March 1966 to September 1967, participation observation field work in the black community of South Central Los Angeles was done to investigate certain ideological and organizational developments after the riot of August 1965. The study focused on "Operation Bootstrap," a small self-help job training organization, which was a relatively direct outgrowth of previously existing protest organizations at the local and national levels. Of central concern was the way in which leadership of the organization articulated an ideology and the manner in which the leaders, their ideology, and those attracted combined to develop a set of "shared understandings" as the organization moved through the process of internal differentiation and stabilization. Widely different individuals and groups were attracted by the themes of occupational self-help, participatory democracy, black dignity, emotional confrontation between blacks and whites, and others. This diversity was reflected in a conflicting diversity of activities. The case study itself shows how protest and protest ideology become part of everyday affairs. (Author/LY)