Atlanta Exposition Speech

Content Warning: The source material references racial prejudice.

Washington argues that the answer to the problem of racial inequality lies in a joint effort between Black and white people to integrate Black people into the Southern economy. To convince his mainly white audience that it is in their interests to cooperate in promoting Black economic independence, he employs Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle: logos (appealing to the listener’s reason), pathos (appealing to the listener’s emotion), and ethos (demonstrating the speaker’s integrity). He also emphasizes the timeliness (kairos) of his message. The first line of his speech sets a premise and a problem: “One-third of the population of the South is of the Negro race” and the South cannot reach its “highest success” unless that population reaches theirs (Paragraph 1). He emphasizes that the problem exists right now and failure to resolve it will have dire consequences.

Washington establishes himself as a man of character and objectivity by showing good will towards his white audience. Expressing optimism regarding “friendship” between the two races, he flatters the organizers of the event: “in no way have the value and manhood of the American Negro been more fittingly and generously recognized than [in] this magnificent