For the white race it is almost impossible to comprehend what it took to lift blacks from the state of brutal slavery to their rightful place in society. Indeed, we are still grappling with that problem today. Starting from scratch has new meaning when you look at the beginnings of Booker T. Washington and Emmanuel and Tinny McDuffie, the founders of the Laurinburg Normal and Industrial Institute in 1904. How far they came has to be measured against where they began. Emmanuel McDuffie, the son of "none," became the symbolic father of many. He did not flee to the relative safety of the North after the war but plunged deeper into the divided and often dangerous South. He was determined to build a place where he, his family, and his race could stand and thrive.

This 119-year history of the oldest private black prep school in the United States comes alive through extensive interviews and records now uncovered for the first time. Accounts of Jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie and NBA Hall of Famers Sam Jones and Charlie Scott, among many distinguished graduates and faculty members, paint a vivid picture. Ranked sixth nationwide among high schools in producing the most NBA players, Laurinburg Institute also sent more than 60 players to Division I college basketball teams all across the county. At least 50,000 students built a new world based on the firm foundation of Laurinburg Institute and four generations of the McDuffie family.