The novel's historical setting is a crucial part of its narrative. The characters in One Crazy Summer experience many personal milestones during the summer of 1968, and these events intersect with important events in 1968, a pivotal year in the history of the United States. All of the following events were transpiring during that year: the rise of the Black Panther Party in the Bay Area; large strides in the civil rights movement; the burgeoning movement for women's liberation; and the ongoing Vietnam War.

Bobby Seale and Huey Newton founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in Oakland, California, in 1968 to counter violations of African Americans’ civil rights by the Oakland Police Department. While the Black Panthers are more well known for openly carrying weapons and having violent encounters with the Oakland Police Department, they also engaged in social programs. Two such programs were their free breakfast programs for children and the education programs they administered through community centers. The prevalence of these programs throughout the novel paints a historically-accurate portrait of the centrality of the Black Panthers' presence in Oakland in the late 1960s.

The civil rights movement is typically associated with the South, but that same movement was thriving in the Bay Area in 1968.