From the author's preface: "The single aim in telling the story that follows is to interest boys in the life of Booker T. Washington. "This man's life was of such singular and vital importance in the history of his own race and in the history of our country that it ought to be familiar to all the youth of the land, and to the Negro youth especially, since it is the greatest inspiration to the latter to be found in the annals of American history." At the time of original publication in 1922, W. C. Jackson was Vice President of the North Carolina College for Women, Greensboro, and Professor of History.