Hi Michele,
Thank you very much for reading this important speech by Booker T. Washington, outlining, in 1895, what he felt to be the future of relations between Blacks and Whites in the United States.
I'd like to comment about sourcing before I say anything else. As the SNF book coordinator I always emphasize the need to pay close attention to sources, As you know, we need to read from clearly attributable, published, public domain sources. While this is true of every recording at LibriVox, it is even more imperative when we are dealing Black History.
When a speech is transcribed into a contemporary secondary source, the possibility exists that some parts of the original speech might be left out. Or, the title of the speech might be changed to reflect modern sensibilities. That is why I believe it is important to trace the speech back to it's original form.
The citation for the transcription of Booker T. Washington's speech published on the Andrew Jackson Hermitage site is from a website called BlackPast.org. On the BlackPast website, the citation for Washington's speech, which is transcribed there is: "Alice M. Bacon, The Negro and the Atlanta Exposition (Baltimore: The Trustees, 1896), 12-16."
Bacon's book, which has a copy of Washington's speech, is available on archive.org:
https://archive.org/details/negroatlantaexpo00baco/page/14/mode/1up
There is also an authorized contemporary copy of Washington's speech, published in 1895, which can be viewed on the the U.S. Library of Congress website:
https://www.loc.gov/item/90898322/
I PL'd your recording against these three sources. There is one place in particular where the transcription and the original sources differ.
From the authorized 1895 "Address of Booker T. Washington" [Library of Congress; Bacon reads similarly]
"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 labor and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful." https://www.loc.gov/item/90898322/
As transcribed on the BackPast website and re-published on the Andrew Jackson Hermitage website:
"Our greatest danger is, that, in the great leap from slavery to freedom, we may overlook the 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 draw the line between superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful."
https://thehermitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Booker-T-Washington_Atlanta-Compromise-Speech_1895.pdf
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So--I am asking that you make two edits:
1) Change the title of Washington's speech, as recorded, from "The Atlanta Compromise Speech" to "Address of Booker T. Washington Delivered at the Opening of the Cotton States and International Exposition, at Atlanta, Georgia, September 18, 1895" [
https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t0c15/?sp=1&r=-0.02,0.205,1.149,0.762,0]
2) Read the paragraph about "common labor" as it was originally written [
https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t0c15/?sp=7&r=-0.111,0.514,1.097,0.716,0]
I appreciate your efforts in this regard!
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On a different topic, your collection of covers looks fabulous! Congratulations on making these LibriVox volumes come alive with such vibrant color and graphics! Very well done.
We're on #20... but of course we could find a place...