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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Atlanta Compromise Address

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Rhetorical Analysis Booker T. Washington is considered as one of the most influential speakers of the late 19th century speaking under the “Black American Society’s” banner. One of his most famous speeches was known as “The Atlanta Compromise Address”. This is where he was able to explain his beliefs that the African Americans should make best of their surroundings to make best of to be able to excel and succeed. He also addressed the whites by saying they should also make use of their surroundings. His main goal in this speech was to encourage a common rally between the whites and the blacks to “rally under the same flag”. The impact of “The Atlanta Compromise” was so powerful because of the way he maintained his appeal to ethos and used tone, repetition and even reasoning to further support his beliefs. …show more content…

He uses a lost ship without drinking water being found by another ship and was saved by using their surroundings. The relation being that African Americans can save themselves by using the resources they already have but the problem being is that they don’t attempt thinking that they do not have anything to work with. He shows this in terms of imagery by saying that the ship never tried to drink the water around them until suggested thinking it was sea water. The most memorable quote being “Cast down your buckets where you are” further supports the analogy by being a reasonable explanation and through the use of repetition to further suggest the idea. However while repeating it he does not just apply the quote to the African Americans he also applies it towards the Whites, suggesting that the whites could use the Blacks as a resource instead of looking at the “foreign birth and strange tongue habits” this also introduces the idea that both the blacks and the whites are not too different after all thus sparking the suggestion to both rally under the same

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