Atlanta Compromise Speech (Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition)

Primary text of the Atlanta Compromise speech. The actual, verbatim sentence (Gutenberg edition, Ch. XIV) reads: “In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” The popularly circulated version (“In all things purely social we can be separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand”) drops “that are,” drops “as” before “separate,” and truncates the sentence without marking the cut — this is a widespread misquote, not the speech’s actual wording. Always quote the full verbatim sentence, or mark an elision explicitly. Standard, uncontested historical record — Washington’s own published account (Project Gutenberg edition of “Up From Slavery,” a public-domain text, reproduces the full speech in Chapter XIV). Du Bois’s contemporaneous critique is well-established historical context (e.g., “The Souls of Black Folk,” 1903, Chapter III) and should be cited to its own primary if quoted directly rather than asserted from general knowledge.