The Viola Factor

This book is about the friendship forged between a newly emancipated Booker T. Washington and one of his first teachers, Viola Knapp Ruffner. The story is one of overcoming limitations against incredible odds and encompasses Viola's years from 1812-1903.

The book is based on the research conducted to portray her character during my reenactment of women living in Booker’s times while volunteering at Booker T. Washington National Monument in Hardy, Va.

Viola Knapp Ruffner was a woman who left home early to support her family, bravely traveling alone to teaching positions in the pre-Civil War North and South. Her quest to uphold her mother’s dying wishes leads her through challenges that end in traumas and distort her hopes for contentment and happiness. After the war, she hired a young, emancipated boy, Booker T. Washington, and taught him to read and write. Over time her post-traumatic stress is appeased, societal norms challenged, and a friendship forged that spanned decades. This is her story and the factor she played in this man who became a nineteenth-century leader.