Atlanta Exposition Address Analysis

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Emerson Vergara Period 2 Atlanta Exposition Address In the Atlanta Exposition Address, given in 1895 by Booker T. Washington before the Cotton States and the International Exposition, Washington had shaped the address for his audience. He had shaped the address to be (or seem) factual, so that the audience would have less of an opportunity to state the address as false. Washington uses true stories, facts, examples of good economics, and even starts off the address with a fact about the African American population in the South. There are many powerful components to the address, and each one is just as important to shaping the speech into a factual address. One of the components that shapes Washington’s address is the use of the story of a sea vessel spotting another sea vessel. In the story, the spotted vessel responds to the other’s cries for water, saying “Cast down your bucket where you are.” Dr. Washington uses a true story, here, as an analogy of a truth he understood regarding how one may miss the life saving nourishment or answer when it is right in front of them. Contrary to what many may think, Washington was not referring to African Americans wanting or yearning to return to Africa, or even to seek a better way of life in another country, he as referring to the North, a “free land”, as a completely foreign place from the South, which Washington is stating IS their home. He is attempting to convince the African Americans of the South the benefits and the opportunities pf the South, of the promised prosperity and good-living, and the dangers of life in the North. In a nutshell, African Americans are the thirsty vessel, and the North is the other seafaring vessel. The point of the address after the sea vessel story may be the most powerful passage of the entire speech. In fact, he is referencing Adam Smith, who wrote the book on America’s
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