This document summarizes a speech given by Booker T. Washington at the 1895 Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta where he advocated for African Americans to focus on industrial education and economic development rather than political advancement or challenging social segregation. He proposed that blacks should "cast down your bucket where you are" by concentrating on agriculture, mechanics, commerce, domestic service, and industrial skills. This became known as the "Atlanta Compromise" and was controversial as it seemed to accept the status quo of social segregation in the South.