Rticle which he wrote in 1898,
he said that he believed that the time would
come when his people
would be given all of their rights in the South. He said that they would receive the privileges due to any citizen on the basis of ability, character, and material possessions. He was, in effect,
approving disenfranchisement
of the poor and ignorant in both races. When Negroes did receive what was due them as citizens, he said, it would come from Southern whites as the result
of the natural evolution of mutual trust and acceptance. Artificial external pressure, he insisted, would n ot help. The Atlanta Compromise
was to be the means to an end and not an end in itself. If the ex-slave would start
at the bottom,
develop manners and friendliness, Washington
believed that he could make his labor
indispensable to white society. Acceptance of segregation was, at that
time, a necessary part of good behavior. If the whites, in turn, opened the doors of
economic opportunity to the ex-slave instead of importing more European immigrants, Washington said that the nation would have
an English-speaking non-striking labor force. Gradually, individual Afro-Americans would gain trust, acceptance,
and respect. The class line based on color would be replaced
by one based on intelligence and morality. Washington seemed to be unaware
that a race which began at the bottom could stay at the bottom. In an age of rapid urbanization and industr