Atlanta Compromise Speech Analysis

Washington and Du Bois Comparison Assessment W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington were both men who fought for the rights and betterment of African Americans. Both men publicized their viewpoints, notably with Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk and Washington’s Atlanta Compromise Speech. Though both men fought for the rights of African Americans, they both had very different methods for accomplishing their goals. This is made clear in comparing the Atlanta Compromise Speech and the first chapter of The Souls of Black Folk— “Of Our Spiritual Strivings.” Specifically, similarities and differences can be found in the content, styles, and purposes of the two pieces. The specific content of Washington’s and Du Bois’s work contains several …show more content…
Washington presents his ideas via a speech at an international convention to an audience that is predominantly white. In contrast, Du Bois presents his ideas through a book that is primarily addressed to fellow African Americans. The effect of these differences is that the two works have very different tones. Washington’s speech conveys a sense of humble piety to his audience, as evidenced when he says “were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race” (par. 5) and later when he speaks of African Americans’ “humble effort at an exhibition of [their] progress” (par. 8). This tone makes sense given that Washington is attempting to persuade a predominantly white audience as an African American man. That tone does, however, sharply contrast with Du Bois’s tone, which is more provocative and inspirational. This is shown when Du Bois writes that African Americans merely want to achieve equality “without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows” (par. 4) and also when he writes of the “personal disrespect and mockery, the ridicule and systematic humiliation, the distortion of fact and wanton license of fancy” (par. 10) that African Americans face. Both of these quotations reveal that Du Bois seeks to invoke his readers’ passions and make them indignant at the transgressions African Americans face. This does, however, relate to rhetorical devices that Washington and Du Bois both use: appeals to pathos and ethos. Pathos is an appeal to a person’s emotions while ethos is an appeal to a person’s morality and ethics. Washington appeals to his listeners’ pathos when he says that African Americans “have proved [their] loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sick-bed of your mothers and

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