Atlanta Exposition Speech

Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) delivered the Atlanta Exposition Speech on September 18, 1895, at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia. A formerly enslaved person and prominent Black educator, Washington was the best-known Black advocate for progress in race relations in the post-Reconstruction South. His speech engages with the problem of racial justice by promoting the idea that Southern Black people should work for social and political rights by gaining wealth and economic independence rather than through political activism.

This study guide refers to the version of Washington’s speech found online at “History Matters: the U.S. Survey Course on the Web,” published by George Mason University (Booker T. Washington Delivers the 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech) and is cited by paragraph. In 1908, Washington recorded part of the speech, which is the only extant recording of Washington’s voice. It can be found on the website of the Library of Congress (Booker T. Washington's “Atlanta Compromise” Speech - The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom | Exhibitions - Library of Congress).

Content Warning: The source material references racial prejudice.