In 1895, African Americans were facing many problems stemming from the racial injustices they

were being given. Lynchings were common, and the South had been inputting laws that would
prevent blacks from voting and having any political power, or exercising their rights as US
citizens. In Booker T. Washington's speech in the Atlanta Exposition Address, his primary
purpose is, rather than take a political and social stance for the unjustly treated African
Americans, the focus on the social-economic needs of the people. These included educational
and economical needs, which would allow African Americans to obtain the resources necessary
to get around the Jim Crow Laws established in the South. Washington's reasoning for aiming
for the Northern Industrialists was to shift the aim of them proposing advancements for blacks,
but rather to further the economy and appeal to industry owners to get African Americans in the
industry jobs; this would lead them to proper education and wages, shifting the labor force, and
causing the social structure of whites ruling blacks to shift. This collapse in the power structure
would then allow the African Americans to better fight the social-political structure due to them
now having the proper education and finances to get around the previously mentioned poll taxes
and literacy tests. Washington also takes the stance of viewing first-class citizenship as a
privilege rather than a right, stating that "in the first years of our new life we began at the top
instead of at the bottom" (Washington 11), stating that one must work from the bottom (meaning
slavery; enslavement) to the top (the position of the white man; full first-class citizenship).
Additionally, he states that the South was where "the Negro is given a man's chance in the
commercial world… and nothing is…more eloquent than in emphasizing this chance"
(Washington 11), meaning the South was where they could start from the bottom to earn their
first-class citizenship.

However, there were points in which Washington's speech and ideals were correct in theory; but
in practice, were quite incompatible with society. Washington's approach had been very flawed,
in the sense that it appealed to those who did not want to listen. Namely, white supremacists who
did not want blacks to have any power at all. His approach also did not appeal to civil rights
activists as it seemed as if his strategy was not to gain social equality at all; it was not achieving
the goal of full equality in America. Against these heavily contributing factors, Washington's
peaceful strategy would not take flight to change the social, economic, or political structure of
the United States.