The origin of the term “grapevine” to describe gossip, the “grape-vine telegraph” was the system of person-to-person communication that allowed enslaved people in the American South to gather information about the world outside their particular plantations and towns. It was particularly instrumental during the Civil War as a way for people to find out how the war was progressing. In the opening chapters of the book, Booker T. Washington describes how Black people would always know exactly what was happening from snippets of information gathered from overhearing white people’s conversations. 

Washington is dedicated to the concept of industrial education for Black students throughout his life. He believed that practical skills such as farming, building, and housekeeping were much more in demand than things like Greek language analysis and complex math skills. By learning one or more trades well, the Tuskegee graduates could always remain employable, and would never lose respect for hard work. The Tuskegee system made Washington a controversial figure in some circles, as other Black thinkers often believed it would keep Black people in service to white people, preventing them from reaching the highest levels of society.