The Atlanta Compromise

By: Booker T. Washington

Narrated by: Duncan Brownlehe

The Atlanta Compromise is a historic statement on race relations articulated by Booker T. Washington, a leading black educator in the United States. On September 18, 1895, Washington gave a speech at the opening of the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. The speech was the first given by an African-American to a racially-mixed audience in the South. Washington asserted that vocational education was more valuable to than social advantages, higher education, or political office.

The author suggested that they should not aim for political and social equality, but should work hard, earn respect and acquire vocational training in order to participate in economic development. He believed that by doing so, eventually, African-Americans would gain respect and be granted the rights of full citizenship.

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