Booker T Washington

The Atlanta Exposition Address: A foundation for better race relations.

The address of Mr. Booker T. Washington at the 1895 Atlanta Exposition was the corner stone towards race relation improvements between blacks and whites in the post-slavery south. My response focuses on Mr. Washington’s speech and why it should be considered a positive turning point in black history towards a better a way of life for southern blacks. First, I will briefly comment on the background of Washington and his life as a slave. Next, I will focus on the actual speech in Atlanta and my response to the main points of the speech and the positive influences Washington hoped to have on both races. Finally, I will close my response on why the speech was needed to help improve race relations and why it should be not be looked at as a submissive compromise as stated by many critics such as Dubois. Whether you agree with all, some or none of the speech made by Washington in Atlanta, it no doubt served as an outline of how race relations could be improved in the post-slavery South.

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in the 1858 or 1859 (572) on a plantation in Virginia. Washington learned early on as a slave the importance of being able to learn a skill or trade as he noted the white boys and girls ever mastered a single trade or special line of productive industry (578). Washington eventually saw slavery abolished after the war, which lead to his freedom and ability to learn. Washington’s first taste of education came while working as a free man in a salt furnace in West Virginia. His mother obtained a copy of Webster’s blue-black spelling book (581) which taught him the ABC’s. Washington self taught himself the book until eventually and educated man entered their village and was to teach all the black people. Washington struggled to find time for his education due to him being needed at the salt furnace by his stepfather (582). While working a coal mine later in his youth, Washington learned of a higher education in Virginia named the Hampton Institute (587). Through many struggles, Washington eventually moved to Virginia and was admitted to Hampton. Washington became educated at Hampton and was most appreciative of his professors, especially noting the Yankee teachers that worked night and day in the education of Negroes (594).

Later in life, Washington delivered what is considered to be his most influential and important speech in Atlanta at the Atlanta Exposition. Washington had been asked to deliver a speech as a representative of the Negro race to the president and board of directors of the Atlanta Exposition (594). Washington captivated