Atlanta Compromise Creates Ideological Divide: Accommodation vs. Full Rights

Booker T. Washington's 1895 Atlanta Compromise accepted segregation and political exclusion in exchange for white support for Black vocational education. Supported by wealthy white philanthropists, Washington's Tuskegee Machine dominated Black public life. His philosophy was challenged by Du Bois, Trotter, and Wells. His death in 1915 created space for the more militant New Negro politics. This ideological contest defined Black political thought for decades.