The Atlanta Exposition Address

Faith McCullough
November 23, 2008
Period 11
AP English III

The Atlanta Exposition Address

Booker T. Washington was a well respected man during his time, and the respect for him continues today. Many people, black and white, looked up to Washington because of the truthfulness in words, intelligence, and respect for all races. In The Atlanta Exposition Address, Booker T. Washington explains how the Negroes and the whites had to come together and unite to have any progress with the nation. He also explains how that this progression of change would not come about by forcing it; Negroes would have to endure some struggles and trials to get to the point of social equality. “I think that the according of the full exercise of political rights is…not an over-night, gourd-vine affair” (Page 7). Change would not come over night and Washington knew this. When doing anything, everyone has to wait for the right time to come.

Like stated before, Washington was well respected for the truthfulness in his words. Washington spoke his mind and that is what a lot of people liked about him. Though many people liked him for his truthfulness, a number of people didn’t. For example, when Washington was asked to give his “opinion of the exact condition, mental and moral, of the coloured ministers in the South…” (Page 5) Negroes began to get mad and stop sending their children to Tuskegee. Although this probably hindered Washington in some ways, it didn’t stop him from doing what he knew what he was supposed to do and that was to “speak in the interests of the Tuskegee school and my race…” (Page 4).

“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 progress” (Page 2). Washington respected all races because he knew that they would all have to come together for the nation to progress into a greater nation. Once this happens, Negroes would be given political rights just like whites and would now have a chance to be apart of society. Washington started this trend of becoming part of a white society when he became one of the jurors of the Atlanta Exposition. Just speaking at the exposition was a great privilege, but being able to judge others was an even greater privilege. This event proved that Negroes had to work their way up to the top. They more than an education now; they needed confidence to know that one day there would be equal opportunity for blacks.