Divine will, restless heart tells the story of one man's commitment to better his race of people and give them equal standing in America by educating and providing them with the same types of opportunities to whites. In doing so, the book not only illuminates his struggle to turn his fellow fereedmen into " intelligent men and women", his role as an early civil rights advocate through the creation of his institute and his dream of " one common country, for one common people" but provides and in-depth look into the life and work of one man's triumph to success during a period in American history of extreme racial strife and upheavel and how he overcame insurmountable odds - yet to succomb to a tragic ending on the eve of his success.