I've been a great admirer of Booker T. since the 1970s. I found his autobiography very, very inspiring when I was a young woman starting my own business in what was then a very male-dominated sector. His example of diligent excellence and perseverence in spite of the put-downs of mainstream culture really spoke to me. He was born a slave, but eventually became the first black American received for a meeting with a President in the White House.
