Booker T. Washington traces his life from a childhood in bondage, through emancipation, education and a long struggle to better himself and the lot of Black Americans. The author describes the extraordinary efforts involved in founding the Tuskegee University, tells how he succeeded, and highlights the qualities he found invaluable in overcoming adversity.

When President Theodore Roosevelt welcomed the country's most visible Black man, Booker T. Washington, into his circle of counselors in 1901, the two confronted a shocking and violent wave of racist outrage. In the previous decade, Jim Crow laws had legalized discrimination in the South, eroding social and economic gains for former slaves. Lynching was on the rise, and Black Americans faced new barriers to voting. Slavery had been abolished, but if...

Tells the story of Booker T. Washington's childhood following the end of slavery, his struggle to get an education, and his journey at age sixteen to the Hampton Institute.

In New Haven in 1901, 18-year-old Portia Washington sneaks out to see her father--the great Booker T. Washington--greet President Teddy Roosevelt but then falls ill. Coming to her aid is Teddy's daughter, Alice, who brings Portia to her hotel room to recover and, despite some awkward moments, the two bond over their motherlessness. Thus begins a lifelong friendship. Portia eventually spends time in Germany studying music, and returns to Tuskegee to...