Booker T. Washington Essay

Booker T. Washington Atlanta Compromise In 1895, Booker T. Washington delivered his “Atlanta Compromise” address. Washington’s speech was very influential and was almost not allowed to be spoken in front of a mainly White audience. However, it was decided that having a Black speaker would impress the Northerners and prove the South’s racial progress. Washington’s compromise provided the theory of “cast their buckets where they are” for the Blacks. Throughout Washington’s entire address, the use of multiple literary strategies highly influenced the Blacks to stand up for themselves while still remaining inferior to the Whites. Washington uses an analogy to capture the audience’s attention and express his thoughts. One of the his most brilliant analogies was “A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel….in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded.”. Washington tells a story by comparing White men to a distressed vessel and Black men to a friendly vessel. When the White men are in need of water, the Black men put aside their differences and help the Whites realize that all they need is right where they are. When in a bad situation, rather than returning the ignorant attitude that the Blacks received, Washington wanted them to do all they could to be kind neighbors to the whites while being sure not to challenge their superiority. The use of this analogy greatly influenced the Blacks to be confident in what they believed in and to not be afraid to express themselves. If the Blacks were going to gain the respect of the Whites, it was going to all respect of them and they intended to get it by hard work and determination. Parallelism also played a major role in Washington’s address. He states “Cast down your bucket among these people who have…make blossom the waste places in your fields, and run your factories.” Washington’s use of parallelism in this statement portrays two different scenarios