1. What is the overall sentiment of Washington's "Cast down your bucket where you are,"…
Soon after the end of slavery, it became obvious that even though everyone was technically free, not everyone was equal. This realization among those who had been slighted gave rise to many strong leaders among them, all more than willing to share their opinions on how to end segregation and racism, promote camaraderie between the various races, and make the importance of equal rights to all known. Among these great leaders that arose are Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, two influential leaders that presented their sometimes opposing ideas on how to promote equality and freedom in such a way that they were able to present their ideas to a multitude of people across the United States. Despite the different tones presented by Booker T.…
Booker T. Washington was a former slave who rose to become one of the most influential African-Americans intellectuals of the 19th century. Washington believed that African Americans had to educate themselves to live in American society and building a strong economic base was more critical than planning an uproar for equal rights. He was among the most prominent black educator, power broker, and institution builder of his time. Washington offered the doctrine of accommodation to Jim Crow, acquiescing in social and political inequality for blacks while training them for economic self- determination in the industrial arts known as the Atlantic Exposition Address. He encouraged Africa-Americans to be self- reliant and urged them to establish…
Booker T Washington strategy and program was to influence black and white people that the certain way for black people to advance was by learning skills and establishing a will to do labor . Booker T. Washington made his mark with the notorious “Atlanta Compromise” speech, in which he plead black Southerners to “Put down their bucket where they were” and provide space for white Southerners in hope of earning equality through humility and industry. Washington program brought well-known attention to his views of how African Americans could best fit into society at that time. Washington believed that it was pointless, at the time, for blacks to worry about their place in society. He felt it was better to focus on becoming economically independent…
In 1900 more than two-thirds of 10 million African Americans lived in the South; most were sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Rural or urban, Southern blacks faced poverty, discrimination, and limited employment opportunities. At the end of the 19th century, Southern legislatures passed Jim Crow laws that separated blacks and whites in public places. Because blacks were deprived of the right to vote by the grandfather clause, poll taxes, or other means, their political participation was limited. As African Americans tried to combat racism and avoid racial conflict, they clashed over strategies of accommodation and resistance. Booker T. Washington, head of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, urged blacks to be industrious and frugal, to learn manual skills, to become farmers and artisans, to work their way up economically, and to win the respect of whites. When blacks proved their economic value, Washington argued, racism would decline. An agile politician, with appeal to both whites and blacks, Washington urged African Americans to adjust to the status quo. In 1895, in a speech that critics labeled the Atlanta Compromise, Washington contended that blacks and whites could coexist in harmony with separate social lives but united in efforts toward economic progress. Northern intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois challenged Washington's…
Name: __________________________ Date: __________ Period: __________ Unit 5: The New South Page Numbers – Textbook (p. 317-373) Coach (p. 110-121) CRCT Prep (94-107) I. Economics of the New South 1. Bourbon Triumvirate Group of three wealthy men (Joseph E. Brown, Alfred H. Colquitt, John B. Gordon) that led the Georgia Democrats and tried to help the wealthy, white citizens of Georgia during the New South.…
As the great parts of the Afro-American history, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois played the most important roles in the problem of Negro leadership of nineteenth- twentieth centuries. The Negro leadership problem caused considerable debate among Negro leaders: how to obtain first-class citizenship for the Negro American. Some black leaders encouraged Negroes to become skilled workers. Others advocated struggle for civil rights, especially the right to vote. In the theory it would lead to the economic and social rights. The two remarkable black men were presenting two opposite solutions of the most heated controversy in Negro leadership at that time. For two decades Washington was the founder and the trustworthy base of a dominant tone…
Washington presented his approach to an audience on September 18, 1895, when he delivered his Atlanta Compromise Address. In his address, Washington advised blacks to accept discrimination for the time being and concentrate on elevating themselves through hard work and an education and career in an industrial study, such as farming, enterprise, housekeeping, or thrift. He explained that this would earn the respect of whites and eventually incorporate them into society. Washington assured, “No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is going to be in any degree ostracized” (Source D). DuBois, on the other hand, disagreed and argued that social change could only be accomplished by giving the black population a higher education and developing them into cultured individuals. Although well intentioned, DuBois’ plan was quite unrealistic. During this time period, over half of the black population above age nine was illiterate and only about 1/3 of Negros…
In post-reconstruction America, many Black writers, ministers, teachers and others eloquently argued on behalf of freedom and justice for Black Americans, advocating various strategies for achieving racial and economic equality. Two such leaders who helped shape the political discourse were Ida B. Wells and Booker T. Washington. Urging politically divergent approaches, they both wanted African American people and men in particular, to be valued and respected by the white south. However, they differed significantly in the means by which they believed such change would come about. Ida B. Wells told the truth in a way that made many whites uncomfortable, addressing lynching and other racially motivated atrocities directly and proposing that African Americans collectively leverage economic power through strikes and boycotts, and individually protect themselves from lynches with weapons. In contrast, Washington was more conciliatory, appealing to whites to give African Americans the opportunity to prove their technical capacity and participate alongside whites as legitimate economic partners. While the “gradualist” gained unprecedented access to formal political power through his white benefactors, I believe Ida B. Wells’ argument that African Americans stop conceding power to whites was more persuasive in advancing racial equality for African Americans in post-reconstruction America.…
This speech, often called the "Atlanta Compromise," played down the importance of civil rights and social equality among the races in favor of economic and educational advances for African Americans. At the time he delivered this speech, it was widely praised by both blacks and whites, although it was not long before critics of Washington's position emerged to challenge his leadership. Early complaints about Washington's accommodation to the white South came from the black scholar W. E. B. Du Bois and others. But until he died in 1915, Washington was the most influential black leader in America, and the most famous black celebrity in the country, an adviser to presidents and representative to European heads of state. His autobiography Up From Slavery is still in print more than a century after it was first…
He urged his fellow blacks, most of whom were impoverished and illiterate farm labourers, to temporarily abandon their efforts to win full civil rights and political power and instead to cultivate their industrial and farming skills so as to attain economic security. Blacks would thus accept segregation and discrimination, but their eventual acquisition of wealth and culture would gradually win for them the respect and acceptance of the white community. This would break down the divisions between the two races and lead to equal citizenship for blacks in the end. In his epochal speech (September 18, 1895) to a racially mixed audience at the Atlanta Exposition, Washington summed up his pragmatic approach in the famous…
Washington was the nation’s most influential black leader. He had access to the most powerful political and business leaders in the United States. He would even become an advisor to the President. Washington was a former slave with no money who, with help; taught himself to read; was a very religious person; always the top student in his class; worked his way through school, and people admired him. Washington soothed white people and reassured black Americans as he counseled conciliation, patience, and agricultural and mechanical training as the most effective means to bridge the racial divide. His 1895 speech at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta elicited praise from both white and black listeners. (Darlene Clark Hine, et al., The African-American Odyssey, p. 443) Washington cleverly spoke in a way to raise up black aspirations without making white people fearful enough to kill and change laws. The south was only three decades out of the Civil War, and one of every three people was black. Many blacks in the south were kept illiterate and impoverished. Washington told whites that if they kept this up they will also be down. But, if they help lift blacks up, they and their community will also be lifted. He advised blacks to not be so distressed where they could not see the opportunity around them, and that their destiny was in the south. He also stated to cast down their buckets where they were in areas of trades and mechanics to live by production with their hands. During this time, black white collar workers such as lawyers could not find much work. Washington thought being a doctor was great, but stated; don't miss the opportunity in front of you right now. Washington also expressed to whites that black people have never treated them wrong and since their destiny rest in blacks, stop brutalizing them and help blacks get an education. Whites, at this time, feared blacks would vote and take over. Washington told whites…
Washington’s idea of economical equality before social equality makes sense to me because many of the African Americans at the time were poor and without jobs. Because of the racial issues, very few whites would even consider hiring an African American in their businesses. Washington’s idea and plan was to build a workplace built by the African Americans themselves so they could find work and get an education through his schooling. Through this idea, although the right to vote was important to Washington, it would not come first. So the political rights would not be taken care until the African Americans were economically accepted by the whites. However, DuBois considered the right to vote the most important thing and that it should be argued and fought for before anything else. He believed that the ¨Talented Tenth¨ which was a term made famous by DuBois in an article published in The Negro Problem in 1903. In the essay, Du Bois issues an argument for the higher education of African Americans. He claims “to attempt to establish any sort of a system of common and industrial school training, without first providing for the higher training of the very best teachers, is simply throwing your money at the winds.” Under the legal law, African Americans and Caucasians are equal. For example our current president is an African American. However, there will always be racial problems in society. I believe this to be true because even in today’s news, people hear about…
The key phrases that I have identified are Negro and America from the beginning sentences. The correlation that I notice with the use of these phrases is that he is expressing to the public that a change needs to occur for America to create unity and equality for the Blacks to be included in society. In the following sentences from his speech, he expresses how no change has happened over the course of time towards the Black population. “But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.” “One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” These key phrases express the main objective in his speech and that is the division between the Whites and Blacks in society. Mr. King is emphasizing that Blacks are still not free in society even though slavery has been abolished. He addresses the segregation that still exists which is promoting a form of discrimination among society. The end goal of his speech was to open the eyes of the nation to identify the problem and to act on this issue of discrimination by not engaging into the problem anymore.…
In 1895 there was discrimination everywhere. In America people of African descent had a miserable existence. Less than 40 years earlier, they were either “owned” property, known as slaves, or lived a very humble, poverty stricken life. Booker T. Washington was among a number of very few blacks that were articulate, well educated, and well informed. He was aware that his life stood as an example to both blacks and whites that his race was capable of much more. His purpose was to bring the United States together and show how everyone could benefit. In this speech, Booker T. Washington uses many rhetorical devices to promote changes in the combined community of the nation. In his opening statements he was clear that the audience as a participating element in society should recognize the “American Negro”.…