Page 171 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

“CAST DOWN YOUR BUCKET”
312 ● (EDUCATION.) WASHINGTON, BOOKER T. Autograph Notes for his
Emancipation Day Address, January 1, 1895. Four pages of pencil notes written on
pieces of paper of irregular size, written on the scraps of official Tuskegee lined stationary,
and headed in Washington’s hand “Emancipation Address, Montgomery Ala.” And dated
Jan. 1, 1895.” Tuskegee, circa December 31-January 1, 1895
[30,000/40,000]
CONTAINS THE FAMOUS PHRASE
“CAST DOWN YOUR BUCKET”
WHICH WOULD HE WOULD LATER
INCORPORATE INTO HIS HISTORIC
ATLANTA COMPROMISE SPEECH.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
was a facile improvisational speaker
who rarely if ever wrote out his speeches
in their entirety. Instead, he relied on a
series key words, or phrases from which
he could spin whole paragraphs. For
example, this speech is headed by the
following phrases on two separate lines:
“Two flags, Ahead of all Negroes. In
and out of slavery. Ignorance costs more
than ed. Intelligence rules (Indians),”
and so forth. This particular speech
however was an important precursor to
Washington’s landmark Atlanta
Compromise” speech. On page four of
these notes, there appears the phrase
“Cast down your bucket.” Nine
months later, these four words would
become the essence of one of the most
important speeches ever delivered by an
African American; four words that vir-
tually defined Booker T. Washington’s
philosophy. He related an anecdote
about “A ship, lost at sea for many
days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel.
From the mast of the unfortunate vessel
was seen a signal, ‘Water, water; we die of thirst.’ The answer from the friendly vessel at once came
back ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ A second time the ‘signal water, water; send us water’
ran up from the distressed vessel, and was answered ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ And a
third and fourth signal for water was answered, ‘Cast down your bucket where you are.’ The captain
of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of
fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of the Amazon River. To those of my race who depend on bet-
tering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating relations
with the Southern white man, who is their next door neighbor, I would say: ‘Cast down your bucket
where you are.’” He went on, urging the mainly white audience to try and do the same. Despite some
occasionally expressed resentment about Washington’s perceived role as an accomodationist, his contri-
bution to the advancement of the race is undeniable. Given the times, and the extraordinary opposition
to the advancement of people of color, Booker T. Washington amassed a record of accomplishment
unmatched in his lifetime.