Ulysses Lee Gooch's parents were laborers on a large southern farm in the early 1920's, and it was the farmstead owner's family who named him. He later acquired the nickname, "Rip". Early on, Rip and his mother lived with a relative in an area next to the Mississippi River referred to as, "the bottom". Rip's mother died when he was 4 years old. "Not only was I living in the land referred to as 'the bottom', I was in the bottom of my life". This insightful biography is about a young black child who realized the importance of hard work and education, growing to become a successful airplane pilot and Senator.