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. Using ethos to motivate the African American people to never stop working hard no matter that they face. Starting with the fact that African Americans would only help America reach even higher feats he white man would still oppressed them,“the …show more content…
Washington in his second Paragraph speaks about how the African American peoples story is changing in a dramatic way. Booker T. Washington has great use of logos to get the African American peoples to never stop working. Mr. Washington enlightens African Americans that the transition is going to be rough but they will be successful, “our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom” (Paragraph 2). The transition will not be easy, nor will all the people freed will have success but any success will be the success of the African Americans as whole. What does that mean? As claimed by Booker T. Washington, “keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful” (Paragraph 2). The African American people will and over time work to get to the top, and that they will prove to the white man that they do belong whether success of the field or in the new world they have finally allowed to be successful in. In this paragraph Mr. Washington uses a emotional point and turned it into motivation for Africans to work hard and try their best no matter what lay ahead. “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” (Paragraph
This work by Booker T. Washington, “The Atlanta Exposition Address”, or also known as “The Atlanta Compromise”, was a speech given in 1895 at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta that had a lasting impact not only to the crowd listening, but to the nation as a whole. Booker T. Washington was admired and appreciated by many black Americans. Although, everyone in the African American Community admired his overall achievements leading up to his speech in Atlanta, some of his ideas and thoughts became very controversial within the black community and possibly encouraged the Jim Crow era by proposing the ideology of separate but equal. “The Atlanta Exposition Address,” was significant in shaping history because it; sparked a split and debate within the African American community over the ideas Booker T. Washington proposed in the address, and simultaneously affected the nation as a whole with future laws passed off the basis of Washington’s ideology. To understand the context of where Booker T. Washington’s stance is in the address, people must first understand Washington’s background and his audience during the speech.
Signs of Progress Among the Negroes, by Booker T, Washington. The Century Magazine, January 1900. New York City, New York. 11 pages. Reviewed by Jozlyn Clark Booker T. Washington (April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author and leader of the African American community.
The book, Up From Slavery, created by Booker Taliaferro Washington, (almost completely) affected (a lot) me while reading it. This man won (by force) different methods to prevent crime for the term of his life. He got the opportunity to be possibly the most absolutely clear black pioneer of his time. He believed that African Americans could get value by upgrading their money-related situation through preparing instead of by asking for (fair in amount, related to something else/properly sized compared to something else) rights. Washington's life story was caused/brought about/reminded in the middle of the mid to late 1800's into the mid 1900's, in the time of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Washington believed that by working hard and becoming successful in business and industry, African Americans would eventually earn the respect and acceptance of white Americans. Washington stated in his speech, "In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress." Throughout the speech, he also emphasized the importance of education and self-improvement for the African American community. Stating, "No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the
According to Booker T. Washington, for African Americans to eventually attain racial equality, they must be content with beginning out on the margins and gaining the respect required to be treated equally in society. African People overlooking the fact that the bulk of them make a living from what they can produce with their hands is, according to Washington, the biggest risk while transitioning from slavery to freedom. Washington makes this claim to bolster his main point, which is that if you can't gain the respect required for equality, jumping too early won't help. Washington continues, "No
After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, African Americans were still being treated unjustly and needed direction. While many of them were enslaved and all of them were segregated, they yearned for a way to achieve equality. Booker T. Washington is the most influential African American leader during the civil rights era. Born in 1856 to a white man and a slave cook, he had equality flowing through his veins, but his leadership and status took time to develop. Upon slavery’s end, his family moved to West Virginia where he became a salt packer and coal miner.
Though, Washington wasn’t the toughest out of the pack, but Booker T. Washington was always a smart young man growing up. As a slave he did not receive any type of formal schooling. In fact, the closest in which Washington had reached to a schoolhouse was walking his mistress to school while carrying her books. Washington was intrigued by the idea of many boys and girls gathered together engaging in academic activities. Washington’s master was not once cruel towards him, but he was knowledgable to the fact that there was a better life to live and he was determined to live it one day.
During the course of Booker T. Washington's rigorous lifetime, the ultimate goal of being the change in the education system of all slaves and pursuing aid for the time of hardships that blacks faced in that time of society was what he longed for. This process wasn't easy as along the journey starting from a slave and the change to becoming a freeman was finding ways to not only honor his people but to prove the impact and hard work they can put in to become successful individuals on their own. Booker T. Washington paved the way for African American people, as an instructor and a childhood through slavery that through resilience, they will achieve. From his tragic childhood, born into slavery on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia, was
And finally, Washington believed that the future state of the African American people is dependent on their own efforts at things like economic prosperity when in reality, the only way for the african american people to get ahead is
In his speech, Washington places a strong emphasis on economic progress as a means to achieve equality. He argues that African Americans should focus on acquiring practical skills through vocational education and industrial training. This, he
The African – American 's Assimilation into White America America is often considered the land of opportunities, a place where people can have a fresh start, a clean slate. America is a land that is made up of immigrants. Over the centuries America has been a place where people dream to live in, however the American dream wasn 't as perfect as believed; there were issues of race inferiority, slavery and social inequality amongst other problems. When a person arrives into a new society he has a difficult task ahead of him- to assimilate into that new society- which includes the economical, cultural, political and social aspects. In the following paper I will discuss how the African American, who came as slaves to America, has fought over the centuries to achieve equality in a white society that discriminated them.
Dr. W.E.B Du Bois uses this essay to sway the audience of the insufficiency of the statements that Mr. Booker T. Washington has made about African Americans being submissive of rights and the creation of wealth. Mr. Washington believes that the black race should give up and give into what the society norms were at that time sequentially just to have a certain right. Dr. Du Bois refused to believe that the black race should give up one right to get another right. Especially, when the white South had all rights without expecting to give up anything to have those rights.
The speech identifies the struggles African Americans faced due to discrimination, hence allowing readers insight into African American lives. The speech is inspirational and powerful due to the speaker exhibiting to the audience his anger regarding
However Booker T. Washington believed in having a more skillful education, consisting of learning how to trade, mastering agriculture skills and more things one would need to get a job. However, W.E.B DuBois also put many efforts to achieve equal rights towards African Americans which Booker T Washington put on hold. Booker T Washington’s plan was to make it so that “Blacks would [have to] accept segregation and discrimination but their eventual acquisition of wealth and culture would gradually win for them the respect and acceptance of whites”. This vision that Booker T Washington had “practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro race”. W.E.B commented on this process saying it was an attempt, “to educate black boys and girls simply as servants and underlings.”
Washington believed in working simple labor jobs and starting from the bottom and progressing up in order to gain the respect necessary to achieve racial equality, Du Bois believed in not submitting to lesser occupations and demanding racial equality. Washington says that the key to prosperity is through learning to dignify common labor. Whereas Du Bois states that “Becoming a gospel of work and money to such an extent as apparently almost completely overshadow the higher aims of life.” “Common Labor” is viewed by Washington as the only way to make progress toward a higher quality life, however, Du Bois views “common labor” as a social setback. Washington’s views can be summed up, almost completely, in the following quote “It is at the bottom of life we must begin, not the top.”