Atlanta Exposition Address Analysis

In 1895, Booker T. WAshington gave the “Atlanta Compromise” speech at the at the Atlanta Cotton Exhibition , he urged African Americans to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and material prosperity. One of his most famous quotes was “ In all things social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” He believed in education in the crafts, industrial and farming skills and the cultivation of the virtues of patience, enterprise and thrift. He stated, this would win the respect of whites and lead to African Americans being fully accepted as citizens and integrated into all strata of society. He was willing to trade politics and voting rights for economic rights.

Booker T. Washington is by far one of the brightest and strongest minds from his time. During his Atlanta Exposition address he displays his intellect masterfully. From Mr. Washington’s use of language he was able to seamlessly piece together a speech that we still analyse to this day. Mr. Washington use of rhetoric explains and enlightens the circumstances of freed African Americans trying to fit into communities in the south. From mistreatment and racism still present in the newly freed people.

Washington and was invited by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, during segregation. The story goes that Booker T. Washington for a meeting then President Roosevelt hesitated to invite him to dinner and ashamed of hesitating he “hastened to send the invitation out before he could change his mind” (Davis). This occurred during segregation therefore, it became a national sensation since in the south inviting someone to dine meant accepting them into the family as a friend or a potential husband for their daughter. As simple as the act of dining in the White House this was one accomplishment for the African American community since it was one step closer to equality. The reader now knows that Booker T. Washington was someone who understood the importance of education but did not see shame in labor and was the first African American to dine in the White House .He

He says that "It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities" (Washington). Because of Washington's acceptance of inferiority of his race, at the time, economically, he again appeals to the white audience in front of his speech, at the African American expo. He almost apologizes for how low the blacks are starting by saying "Gentlemen of the Exposition, as we present to you our humble effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect overmuch" (Washington). This puts the pressure of equality on the black community, and takes pressure off the white community.

Understanding Washington’s background ties into the thesis because the person analyzing “The Atlanta Exposition” can understand what experiences he has gone through leading up to the speech to help the reader understand the stance and views he stated during the speech. Washington was born roughly around April 5, 1856 in Hale’s Ford,

Washington. He was an educated African American, born in slavery, and saw as the leader of the black folk. His main agenda was to promote the policy of submission since black folk could only survive in it. They wanted political power, civil liberties, higher education, accumulation of wealth, and consolidation of the south, and for their values and beliefs, Washington publicly shamed them. Th black folk further internalized the propaganda that slavery was justified, they neglected their own education, and their future depended mainly on their own efforts.

The Impact of Booker T. Washington Booker T. Washington was a man with highs standards a great work ethic and he was one of the most respected African Americans of his time. Born to a slave on a plantation in Hale’s Ford, Virginia, Booker T. knew from a young age the importance of a good education. Booker T is mostly known for his part in founding the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 along with George Washington Carver and Lewis Adams. Booker T. Washington was undoubtedly one of the most respected African Americans of his time. His values and beliefs established an imperative relationship with spiritual and political leaders of his time.

Booker T. Washington gave a couple proposals during this speech in Atlanta. Instead, he argued, most Southern blacks should pursue

Regardless, they were able to aid in ending discrimination and received equal standing in education, labor, acquiring of land, etc.. If it had only been Du Bois fighting for equality, then he would have achieved the fight for equality sooner. On the contrary, Du Bois only provided one view to how African Americans were being treated; Washington had a friendlier approach. This may be due to his fear of being lynched or placing African Americans in a harsher situation than they already were. Washington seemed more methodical—he was thinking about African Americans having the full rights of the 14th and 15th amendments. At the same, he was also concerned about the consequences of his speech, and if it angered the whites more than it relieved the situation they were all facing.

Other than the few minor “cheap shots” made about Johnson, there was one statement that Blight makes that gives an indication of the black plight after the Civil War; “He was not only not anti-slavery, he was an open racist.” Johnson believed America should be a white man’s country forever, even though originally it was controlled by another

Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Prior to the riot, African Americans had listened to Washington’s advice. Washington believed that African Americans should be sublevel to whites and focus all their time working diligently and progressing in blue-collar society. This would allow whites to feel supreme, but also allow African Americans to make something of themselves and provide for their families. Washington wanted blacks to be educationally ready for the argument of equality.

Repetition is found all throughout Washington 's speech. He repeats the phrase "cast down your buckets where you are" to strengthen his allegory. The more it is said, the more it is clear that he is not just talking to the African Americans, he is also talking to the "those of the white race". He is implying that the Whites could look to the African Americans for the prosperity of the South, instead of looking to "those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits" (Line 74-75). He is telling both sides to notice what is around them and use what they have.

E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington debated whether to confront or appease racist attitudes in the United States. As segregation regimes took hold in the South in the 1890s with the tacit approval of the rest of the country, many African Americans found a champion in Booker T. Washington and adopted his self-help autobiography, Up from Slavery (1901), as their guide book to improve fortunes. Washington portrayed his own life in such a way as to suggest that even the most disadvantaged of black people could attain dignity and prosperity in the South by providing themselves valuable, productive members of society deserving of fair and equal treatment before the law. A classic American success story, Up from Slavery solidified Washington’s reputation as the most eminent African American of the new century. Yet Washington’s primacy was soon challenged.

Booker T. Washington was born on April 5, 1856 and passed away on November 14, 1915. He was a well known educator and civil rights activist. In the year 1895, Booker T. Washington openly set forth his reasoning on race relations in a discourse at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, known as the "Atlanta Exposition Address of 1895. " In his dialog, Washington conveyed that African Americans ought to acknowledge the dissatisfaction and social isolation the length of whites permit them financial advancement, instructive open door and equity in the courts. In the North, this started a chance for activism for other African Americans.

“The South grew, but it did not develop,” is the way one historian described the South during the beginning of the nineteenth century because it failed to move from an agrarian to an industrial economy. This was primarily due to the fact that the South’s agricultural economy was skyrocketing, which caused little incentive for ambitious capitalists to look elsewhere for profit. Slavery played a major role in the prosperity of the South’s economy, as well as impacting it politically and socially. However, despite the common assumption that the majority of whites in the South were slave owners, in actuality only a small minority of southern whites did in fact own slaves. With a population of just above 8 million, the number of slaveholders was only 383,637.