Differences 5.1 Atlanta Exposition Address

4.Differences

5.1 Atlanta Exposition Address

When I arose to speak, there was considerable cheering, especially from the coloured people. As I remember it now, the thing that was uppermost in my mind was the desire to say something that would cement the friendship of the races and bring about hearty cooperation between them. So far as my outward surroundings were concerned, the only thing that I recall distinctly now is that when I got up, I saw thousands of eyes looking intently into my face. The following is the address which I delivered (Up from Slavery, chapter XIV.)

In the following part of the speech, Washington talks about friendly relations with whites, but more importantly with Southerners, which some African-American people deemed inappropriate, and lost interest in following Washington. Not only that he promoted this friendship, he also puts forward into importance only industrial / economic matters, which would leave African-Americans in the same submissive spot in the society as they endured before. This part is mostly known as the "cast down your bucket" part, He uses this tale of a ship lost at sea seeking help. In order to receive the help it should "cast down their bucket where you are". When it finally does cast down the bucket, it receives the help it demanded (fresh water). He then addresses those of African-Americans, who are depending on bettering their conditions, to cast down their buckets. In other words, do not keep seeking some other place or circumstance in the idea that such will make everything better, rather, use what you have, where you are, to its bet advantage and in so doing you will gain what you are seeking. All circumstances and places hold the seeds of what is needed to succeed if you try. 

Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions. And in this connection it is well to bear in mind that whatever other sins the South may be called to bear, when it comes to business, pure and simple, it is in the South that the Negro is given a man's chance in the commercial world, and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing this chance.

Washington continues in explaining why should African-Americans take this thirst for equality slow and start with building up their relationship and respect with the white community. He opposes Du Boisian approach and emphasis on political power by explaining why there is no political power without economic stability. In addition, he warns African-American community before the "great leap" which is what Du Bois was promoting: gain civil rights as soon as possible. Washington preaches: first dignity, then comes respect, then you get the rights and not just go straight for the rights. He also belittles the importance of art by saying that writing a poem is not more important than in tilling the field. Washington also addresses White community and tries to persuade them that African-Americans are capable of proving themselves from the very start and urges them to remember that slaves had already proven themselves and future could be better with them being part of the society as a whole. In addition, Washington is trying to indirectly implement African-Americans into the society by encouraging whites to employ "my people" instead of immigrants by pointing out skills of all the African-Americans, so there is no need to look for help, the help is right here:

Our greatest danger is that, in the great leap from slavery to freedom, we may overlook the fact that most of us must live by the work of our hands. We shall prosper as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top.

To those of the white race who look to the immigrant for the prosperity of the South, consider instead my people. Help and encourage them. With education of head, hand, and heart, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom the waste places in your fields, and run your factories.

In the following part, Washington is trying to prove to the whites that this is the right way to go, to let African-Americans prove themselves to them and start building a new society with African-Americans by their side. If they do so, they are sure to have a bright future and return to those "golden" times of prosperity. One more thing to notice is that he talks about "the future" not the present, which makes his suggestions for the strategy for an uplift not so urgent:

While doing this, you can be sure that in the future, as in the past, you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world has seen. We have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sickbed of your mothers and fathers, and often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves. In the future, in our humble way, we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach, ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in defense of yours. We shall weave our industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life with yours and make the interests of both races one. In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things necessary to mutual progress.