Charles White interacted with Freedomways journal more than any other publication. His work appeared on the covers of the journal on many occasions. It was the leading African-American theoretical, political and cultural journal of the 1960s–1980s, having been published between 1961 and 1985. Freedomways (which by 1970 represented itself as “A Quarterly Review of the  Freedom Movement”, the word 'Negro' having by now been dropped from its masthead) remained unsurpassed in its embrace of, and attention to, African, African American and African Diasporic subjects. Each issue of Freedomways amounted to a treasure trove of texts and features, written by a distinguished range of scholars, academics, artists and writers.

This particular issue Vol. 18, No. 1 Winter 1978 (First Quarter) carried on its cover a work by Charles White, dating from 1961. Awaken from the Unknowing was a drawing of a young African American woman, studying, her copious papers spread across the table at which she reads and learns. The work was charcoal and Wolff crayon on paperboard, its dimensions being 31 x 56 inches/78.7 x 142.2 cm. 

There were no further references to White beyond a cover credit of "Cover Art by Charles White", though the inside cover carried a full page advert for a limited edition folio of six Charles White reproductions, published by Freedomways.