What came to be known as the Atlanta Compromise stemmed from a speech given by Booker T. Washington, president of the Tuskegee Institute, to the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 18, 1895.[1] It was first supported and later opposed by W. E. B. Du Bois[2] and other African-American leaders.
In the speech, also known as the Atlanta Exposition Speech, Washington promoted vocational education, industrial occupations, and the learning of other practical trades that would give African Americans opportunities for economic advancement and wealth creation rather than other more intellectual pursuits such as higher education.[1] [3] At least for the present, Washington proposed, Blacks would not focus their demands on equality or integration, and Northern whites should fund black educational charities. Booker T. Washington urged blacks to "cast down your bucket where you are" - emphasizing his view that they should stay in the South and try to make the most of their situation.
Essential elements of the compromise articulated in Washington's speech were that—at least for the present—blacks would not ask for the right to vote, they would not retaliate against racist behavior, they would tolerate segregation and discrimination, and they should receive free basic education, particularly vocational or industrial training (for instance as teachers or nurses).[3]
After the turn of the 20th century, other black leaders, most notably W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter a group Du Bois would call "The Talented Tenth" took issue with the Compromise, instead believing that African-Americans should engage in a struggle for civil rights. W. E. B. Du Bois coined the term "Atlanta Compromise" to denote Booker's earlier proposal. The term "accommodationism" is also used to denote the essence of the Atlanta compromise.
William Archer noted that race relations in the United States became more hostile in the decade following the Atlanta compromise, possibly because acceptance of blacks in the South required that each "knew his place", which was undermined by Washington's program of seeking education and uplift without first seeking acknowledgment of equality. Archer referred to the Atlanta Massacre of 1906 as "a grimly ironic comment on Mr. Washington's speech."[4] Du Bois believed that the Massacre was a consequence of the Atlanta Compromise.
After Washington's death in 1915, supporters of the Atlanta Compromise gradually shifted their support to civil rights activism, until the Civil Rights Movement commenced in the 1950s.