Atlanta Compromise

Atlanta Compromise
Classic statement on race relations by Booker T. Washington, made in a speech at the Atlanta Exposition (1895).

He asserted that vocational education, which gave blacks a chance for economic security, was more valuable than social equality or political office. Many African Americans feared that such a limited goal would doom them to indefinite subservience to whites; that fear led to the Niagara Movement and later to the founding of the NAACP.

* * *

▪ United States history
 classic statement on race relations, articulated by Booker T. Washington (Washington, Booker T), a leading black educator in the United States in the late 19th century. In a speech at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 18, 1895, Washington asserted that vocational education, which gave blacks an opportunity for economic security, was more valuable to them than social advantages, higher education, or political office. In one sentence he summarized his concept of race relations appropriate for the times: “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.” In return for African Americans remaining peaceful and socially separate from whites, the white community needed to accept responsibility for improving the social and economic conditions of all Americans regardless of skin colour, Washington argued. This notion of shared responsibilities is what came to be known as the Atlanta Compromise.

      White leaders in both the North and the South greeted Washington's speech with enthusiasm, but it disturbed black intellectuals who feared that Washington's “accommodationist” philosophy would doom blacks to indefinite subservience to whites. This criticism of the Atlanta Compromise was best articulated by W.E.B. Du Bois (du Bois, William Pène) in The Souls of Black Folk (1903): “Mr. Washington represents in Negro thought the old attitude of adjustment and submission.…[His] program practically accepts the alleged inferiority of the Negro races.” Advocating full civil rights as an alternative to Washington's policy of accommodation, Du Bois organized a faction of black leaders into the Niagara Movement (1905), which led to the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1909).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Atlanta Compromise — The Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition Speech was an address on the topic of race relations given by black leader Booker T. Washington on September 18, 1895. The title Atlanta Compromise was given to the speech by Booker T.… …   Wikipedia

  • Atlanta — /at lan teuh/, n. a city in and the capital of Georgia, in the N part. 425,022. * * * I City (pop., 2000: 416,474; metro. area pop.: 4,112,198), capital of Georgia, U.S. Lying in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Atlanta is Georgia s… …   Universalium

  • compromise — compromiser, n. compromisingly, adv. compromissary /kom prom euh ser ee/, adj. /kom preuh muyz /, n., v., compromised, compromising. n. 1. a settlement of differences by mutual concessions; an agreement reached by adjustment of conflicting or… …   Universalium

  • Missouri Compromise — The United States in 1819. The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery in the unorganized territory of the Great Plains (dark green) and permitted it in Missou …   Wikipedia

  • Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport — Infobox Airport name = Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport IATA = ATL ICAO = KATL FAA = ATL type = Public owner = City of Atlanta operator = Department of Aviation city served = Atlanta, Georgia location = College Park, East Point,… …   Wikipedia

  • Battle of Atlanta — Coordinates: 33°44′45″N 84°20′56″W …   Wikipedia

  • United States — a republic in the N Western Hemisphere comprising 48 conterminous states, the District of Columbia, and Alaska in North America, and Hawaii in the N Pacific. 267,954,767; conterminous United States, 3,022,387 sq. mi. (7,827,982 sq. km); with… …   Universalium

  • Booker T. Washington — Born Booker Taliaferro Washington April 5, 1856(1856 04 05) Hale s Ford, Virginia, USA …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline of African-American Civil Rights Movement — African American topics History  Atlantic slave trade · Maafa Slavery in the United States Military history of African Americans …   Wikipedia

  • Piedmont Park — Infobox nrhp | name =Piedmont Park nrhp type = caption =Piedmont Park. location= Atlanta, Georgia area = built =1895 architect= Joseph Forsyth Johnson;John Charles Olmsted; Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.; added = May 13, 1976 governing body = Local… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”