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Primary sourceSpeech18 September 1895

Atlanta Compromise

Booker T. Washington · 18 September 1895

Booker T. Washington's 1895 address at the Cotton States and International Exposition, which proposed Black Southerners accept segregation in exchange for economic opportunity.

This is Washington's own speech, the defining statement of his accommodationist philosophy and the basis of his national fame.

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Black-and-white photo of a man in a dark suit standing on an elevated platform, arm outstretched, addressing a large crowd of people gathered outdoors, with buildings and trees in the background.
Booker T. Washington delivering the Atlanta Compromise address, Cotton States and International Exposition, 1895.

About this source

What it is

This is the speech Booker T. Washington delivered in 1895 at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta. In it he urged Black Southerners to accept segregation and delay demands for full civil rights in exchange for education, jobs, and legal protection.

Why it matters

The speech made Washington the nation's most prominent Black spokesman and defined the accommodationist strategy that shaped Black leadership in the South for twenty years. It was controversial from the start: leaders like W. E. B. Du Bois rejected its emphasis on accommodation and pushed instead for immediate equal rights, a debate that lasted until Washington's death.

Look closer

  • Why might white listeners have given this speech a standing ovation?
  • What did Washington ask Black Southerners to give up, and what did he promise in return?
  • What does the debate this speech caused tell you about different strategies for fighting injustice?

This speech is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Booker T. Washington on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Speech

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Booker T. Washington reading an excerpt from his 1895 Atlanta Compromise speech

Booker T. Washington · 5 December 1908

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Handwritten Supreme Court of the United States record, No. 210, October Term 1895, Homer Adolph Plessy, plaintiff in error, versus J. H. Ferguson, Judge of Section A Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans. Text states the judgment is affirmed with costs, signed Mr. Justice Brown, dated May 18, 1896, with a dissent noted by Mr. Justice Harlan.Document

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Plessy v. Ferguson

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