Question

Read the quotation from Booker T. Washington's 1895 Atlanta Compromise Speech.

Answer 1

The correct option is:

The government cannot legislate equality.

Booker T. Washington understood that the government can´t legislate equality, as in a merit-based society hard work and patience are the proper tools to accomplish racial equality. Washington was a former slave who embodied self-help in the years following reconstruction. He started the Tuskegee Institute in 1881, to help former slaves and poor black people of the time.

Answer 2

In this quotation, Washington is expressing his view that government cannot legislate equality.