Booker T. Washington
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30 years after Emancipation Proclamation
Invitation from powerful Southern leaders
Exposition promotes economy of region
Must appeal to audience’s self interest
Need for respectful tone
Embrace values of hard work
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Cooperative relationship with whites
Gradual approach to change
First step for African Americans - workforce
“Cast down your bucket where you are”
Types of work
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Positive at the time
White southerners not threatened
All could get behind message of self reliance
Later…and much later
 W.E.B. DuBois and Civil Rights era thinkers critical
of ideas in speech
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History has been kind to Washington
Shrewd
Knew how to approach rich and powerful
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Logos: Factual opening, $ benefits to South
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Ethos: Reasonable and knowledgeable,
ready to work on mutual goals
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Pathos: Figurative language, biblical
allusions and quotes, connotative language
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“No race can prosper till it learns there is as
much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a
poem”
 Importance of practical education
 Emphasis by CONTRAST
Parallelism: “cast down”, “casting down”
Synecdoche (part for whole): head, heart, hand
Periodic Sentence (builds toward main clause):
“As we have proved our loyalty to you…”
 Analogy: “we can be as separate as the
fingers, yet one as the hand in all things
essential to mutual progress”
 Emphasize the approach he advocates
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