"Address of Booker T. Washington, Principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama, Delivered at the Opening of the Cotton States and International Exposition, at Atlanta, Ga."
In his speech (later known as the "Atlanta Compromise") Washington argues that progress and racial harmony in the South depend on the industry, patience, and practicality of African Americans: "The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is t...
| Format: | Electronic |
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Alabama Department of Archives and History
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| Online Access: | http://cdm17217.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/voices/id/6602 |
| Summary: | In his speech (later known as the "Atlanta Compromise") Washington argues that progress and racial harmony in the South depend on the industry, patience, and practicality of African Americans: "The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing...The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in the opera house." In return white men should encourage their development, as there would be no threat to the segregated society: "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." Also included are commendatory letters from President Grover Cleveland and the editor of The Atlanta Constitution. |
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