He wrote several influential papers about Socialism and African Americans, ministered in churches in the Midwestern United States and California, and served as the sole Black delegate to the Socialist Party of America conventions in 1904 and 1908.

[2] In the 1900 Presidential campaigns, Woodbey supported the Democratic and Populist candidate William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska.

During this period Woodbey became familiar with the ideas of Eugene Debs, a labor organizer and future five-time Socialist candidate for president.

He never took the Socialist Party to task on the question of race, even after his own nomination for vice presidential candidate was met with only one vote[citation needed].

Woodbey believed the Socialist Party could help solve racial problems in the United States because of its emphasis on economic changes to the system.

[4] Woodbey also noted the emergence of class stratification among the black community, and expressed skepticism regarding relying on upper-class black leadership in the fight against racism, noting that whilst many believed "the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few Negroes will solve this problem... a few white men have all the wealth and the rest of their brothers are getting poorer every day".

Like Eugene Debs, he was also notable for his opposition to the anti-immigrant sentiments that were commonplace in the American labor movement and the Socialist Party at the time.

Woodbey uses a visit to his mother after a 17-year absence to structure the pamphlet and give it a more approachable tone that an everyday person could understand.

However he also makes it clear that one does not have to be Christian to be socialist or vis versa, because people of all creeds can at the very least agree that humans rely on the Earth for survival.

In a socialist society, all people would work together, all owning equally land, machines, tools, and roads so that none would need to pay for what their labor produced.

He argues that with equal ownership and concern for society's production, men would no longer be swayed to illegal acts for monetary gain.

He also envisions a severe drop in all criminal activity, and a schooling system that prepares men and women for their positions in specific industries.

[6] Woodbey died in Los Angeles, California on August 27, 1937, at the home of his son William, survived by his third wife and three children.

Slater took the mantle of Socialism from Woodbey and continued to teach and preach his message as a disciple of the Socialist movement.