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Difficulty: EasyThe New South and Jim Crow

"Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour... No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem."

— Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Address, 1895

Which of the following statements best describes the primary goal of the author of this excerpt?

  1. A
    To advocate for immediate social integration and the elimination of Jim Crow laws.
  2. To encourage African Americans to focus on economic progress and vocational training.Answer
  3. C
    To lobby the federal government for land redistribution and the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment.
  4. D
    To build a coalition with rural white Populists to challenge Gilded Age industrial capitalists.

Answer

To encourage African Americans to focus on economic progress and vocational training.
The correct answer is correct because Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Address (often called the Atlanta Compromise) urged African Americans to accept temporary social segregation in exchange for the opportunity to gain economic security through agricultural and industrial labor. The passage directly states that 'no race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem,' highlighting the focus on vocational labor.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus text.
The author emphasizes that 'masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands' and that there is 'dignity in tilling a field.'
This establishes that the author values agricultural and manual labor as the starting point for progress.
2
Identify the historical figure and context.
The text is from Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Address in 1895, during the rise of Jim Crow segregation.
Washington's philosophy focused on self-help, gradual progress, and vocational training (accommodationism) rather than immediate political agitation.
3
Evaluate the choices based on the author's primary goal.
The goal of encouraging vocational training and economic self-reliance aligns perfectly with the text's focus on manual labor and gradual prosperity.
This matches the correct option.

Key Concept

Early Civil Rights Strategies and the Atlanta Compromise
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Topics

The New South and Jim Crow

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