Michael Chien

APUSH
Mr. Johnson
8 February 2015
The Challenge of Inequality: The Atlanta Compromise
The struggle for civil rights by African Americans was one marked by decades of pain,
courage, but most importantly, compromise. However, the most successful civil rights activists
compromised only in tact, never in ideology. Booker T. Washingtons Atlanta Compromise
speech is the best example of how compromise led to a South in which racial tensions were not
alleviated. By examining Washingtons audience, language, and background, the historical
significance of this document can be clarified.
The subject of race relations became more contentious among Southerners after the Civil
War. In the period of Reconstruction (1865-1877), African Americans gained increased freedoms
and rights, but were still subject to inferior treatment due to social stigma. While former
Confederate states were reincorporated back into the Union, legislation allowed black citizenry
(14th Amendment) to be established, as well as black male suffrage (15th Amendment). Despite
these improvements in civil rights, social progress was limited. With the creation of groups such
as the Ku Klux Klan, there was still a definitive sense of inequality in the South. Thus,
Washingtons speech was groundbreaking in the upfront way in which it tried to tackle divisive
issues between African Americans and whites.
Overall, Washingtons role as a communicator to whites was fulfilled quite well. This
speech was given at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition, and the audience was
predominantly whites, who were wealthy and elite. Being in the presence of these white men,

Washington carefully constructed his words for his audience. Washingtons language is
conciliatory in nature, as demonstrated when he tells his audience as we present to you our
humble effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect overmuch.1 Not only does
this lower white expectations for African American workers, but it perpetuates the sense of
superiority in white Southerners. Furthermore, Washington also gives his audience a sense of
superiority by using phrases that imply that African Americans are indebted to whites. When
Washington says that in no way have the value and manhood of the American Negro been more
fittingly and generously recognized than by the managers of this magnificent Exposition at every
stage of its progress2, he gives whites the impression that they are to be thanked for accurately
gauging African American efforts when the opposite is true.
Washingtons use of literary devices, such as the simile, clearly demonstrated AfricanAmerican inferiority. This appeased the whites at the convention and convinced them that the
African-American population was more of a tool for economic advancement than a partner.
When Washington proclaimed 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 progress3 he used a simile to affirm
the brutal reality of segregation that would come in the following year, marked by the mantra
separate but equal. Although Jim Crow laws had been established in 1890, beginning the
condition of inferior standards for African Americans, its legal affirmation came in 1896 during
the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. The case established that state laws requiring public
segregation were legal, as long as they had equal facilities.

1 "Booker T. Washington Delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech," History Matters, accessed January 18,
2015.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.

Washington also used a famous allegory that served as a metaphor for the social
relationship between African Americans and whites. This speech was also famous for the phrase
cast down your bucket where you are4, which had different meaning for whites and African
Americans. Originally, the story spoke of sailors who, not noticing the freshwater around them,
had to be instructed to cast down their bucket. In this context, Washington instructed whites to
cast down their bucket among African American workers, who were dependable and trustworthy.
This was in response to the influx of new immigrants that were being employed. After a call to
African Americans to reinvigorate themselves with diligence and hard work, all he asked of
white landowners was that they give African Americans a chance in the competitive economy, as
well as due process of law and education. In addition to the fact that the 14th Amendment
protected citizens with due process of law, Southern whites had not shown inclination to
providing education to African Americans. In fact, much of the reason African Americans moved
north after the Civil War was to pursue education for themselves and their children. Education
could hardly be counted upon, but that was a fundamental flaw that Washington overlooked.
Despite the fact that there was no previous precedent set to show how Washingtons plea might
work, he continued to push forward his compromise.
Finally, Washingtons religious background played a large part in his Atlanta
Compromise speech. A cultural tenet of slavery was religion; many slaves attributed their
survival and success after freedom to their faith in God. Thus, Washington referenced religion in
his speech multiple times. It accounts for Washingtons trust in Gods deliverance and explains
his ignorance of harsh Southerner attitudes. His faith is prevalent in his conclusion:
To work out the great and intricate problem which God has laid at the doors of the
South, you shall have at all times the patient, sympathetic help of my race...yet far
above and beyond material benefits will be that higher good, that, let us pray God, will
4 Ibid.

come, in a blotting out of sectional differences and racial animosities and suspicions, in a
determination to administer absolute justice, in a willing obedience among all classes to
the mandates of law. This, coupled with our material prosperity, will bring into our
beloved South a new heaven and a new earth.5
Washingtons ultimate goal was attaining equality for African Americans. In his address,
he requested that whites respect the good work African Americans did by rewarding them with
education. Unfortunately, Washingtons portrayal of African Americans as inherently inferior
harmed his ability to request education for them. It should come as no surprise that African
Americans still received worse education that whites decades into the 20th century. As Jim Crow
laws became more and more common, African American children often did not have textbooks,
classrooms, or even the same school year that white children had. This was due to the fact that
children still had to help plant and harvest crops.6 Washingtons background played a large role
in his view on civil rights. Of the major black civil rights activists, he was notable because of his
birth as a slave. His early life was fundamental in shaping his beliefs and explains why his stance
on equality for African Americans and whites is so conciliatory. Washingtons seemingly
unsubstantiated faith in whites comes from his background as a slave as well.
Examining Washingtons own recollections, it becomes evident that he thought his
method was successful. He received multiple letters from white leaders in society who were
excited at the prospect of the unequal America that he proposed. This praise culminated in a
letter from President Grover Cleveland, who stated, [Washingtons] words cannot fail to
delight."7 As President, Cleveland opposed black suffrage.8 While it may be true that his

5 Booker T. Washington Delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech," History Matters, accessed January 18,
2015.
6 Brooker, Russell. "The Education of Black Children in the Jim Crow South." America's Black Holocaust
Museum. Accessed February 02, 2015.
7 "Equal and Exact Justice to Both Races: Booker T. Washington on the Reaction to His Atlanta Compromise
Speech" History Matters, accessed January 19, 2015.
8 "Domestic Affairs." American President: Grover Cleveland. Accessed January 19, 2015.

statements won over plantation owners, Washington also evoked the ire of many African
Americans who wanted equal treatment, not just equal wages.9
Booker T. Washingtons Atlanta Compromise speech marked the beginning of an era of
oppression, mistreatment, and discrimination for the African-American people. The irony in this
situation was that Washingtons speech originally intended to mark the end of a dark period in
American history. By inhibiting the progress of African-American civil rights, Washington
unintentionally played a role in the inception of a new era of discrimination - one that
circumvented government regulations in order to perpetuate prejudice against African
Americans. Jim Crow laws were enacted in 1890, five years before Washingtons speech. These
laws were notable because they rehashed Black Codes from decades earlier. In fact, Washington
himself approved of segregation. In essence, Washington ensured that African Americans made
no social progress. Although claiming to meet the standard separate but equal, Jim Crow laws
led to inferior conditions for African Americans. Southerners resented African Americans, who
represented the Confederacys Civil War defeat.
In contrast to Washingtons lax strategy, leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois were extremely
idealistic. Du Bois, with other leaders like Fredrick L. McGhee and Jesse Max Barber, started the
Niagara Movement. This eventually became the basis for the NAACP, an African-American
advocacy group that is influential to this day. However, Du Boiss strategy focused on education.
Because he felt his education had prepared him to make a difference in American society, he
proposed a method that harnessed the finest black students (The Talented Tenth), who would
then change the political, social, and economic dynamic of the country. Although this was a more
radical stance, it proved to be more beneficial. What truly stopped segregation, Jim Crow laws,
9 "Equal and Exact Justice to Both Races: Booker T. Washington on the Reaction to His Atlanta Compromise
Speech" History Matters, accessed January 19, 2015.

and prejudice was the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, which spawned from the creation of
groups like the NAACP.
Du Bois was vocal in his opposition to Washingtons proposition. He alleged that the
Atlanta Compromise created a distinct status of civil inferiority for the Negro10, and that
without insisting on civil rights, political power, and higher education for African American
youth, progress could not be made. However, he also slandered Washington, portraying him as
harming the African American cause. Some have argued that the Atlanta Compromise was a
more practical method of reform, more suited to the social dynamic at the time. However, the
actuality was that it perpetuated these standards, rather than taking the problem on at its roots.
In my community, I have seen the challenge of inequality strike those of different
backgrounds. Some attempt to bargain with poverty, the way Washington attempted to. However,
it is the people who get an education who are best suited to succeed. I have seen close friends be
the first in their family to go to college, and eventually lead a better life. Not only have they
made a better life for themselves, but they have inspired others in the younger generation to
pursue that path as well. Unfortunately, education is no longer the ultimate equalizer for those in
poverty, third-world countries, or with broken families. Research continues to show that children
from low-income households are more likely to struggle in school due to factors such as nutrition
and effort. This trend is undermining the tenets of equality that the United States prides itself on.
What America faces today is not a society divided based on the color of their skin, but a society
divided by the number on ones paycheck. The terms class warfare and socioeconomic
disadvantage continue to be thrown around in the media but to no avail. With the rich getting
richer and the poor getting poorer, there seems to be no end to this trend. As the gap between the
10 "W.E.B. DuBois Critiques Booker T. Washington," History Matters, accessed January 19, 2015.

wealthy and poverty-stricken grows, the chance of closing that gap lessens as well. Thus, class
inequality is a problem that society needs to solve before it is too late. Should this trend continue,
we could see a divided state, much like the one Washington strived to solve in the 1890s.
At the end of the day, inequality, discrimination, and prejudice will continue to proliferate
through society. However, it is a matter of minimizing the effects of these issues on the general
populace. Throughout history, those who dared to reform society without compromise have
propagated radical change; this trend is affirmed by Washingtons failures with the Atlanta
Compromise.