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布克‧T‧華盛頓 (BOOKER T. WASHINGTON) 亞特蘭大博覽會演講 The Atlanta Exposition Address在一切純社交性的事務中，我們可以像手指那樣分開；但在一切對共同進步有決定意義的事情上，我們必須團結得像一隻手一樣。布克‧T‧華盛頓(1856－1915)出生 於奴隸家庭。1872年他被漢普頓學院錄取，靠在學院當看門工友勤工儉學完成了學業。畢業任教和進修之後，他被選為塔斯基吉工業師範學院的領導人。在以後的三十四年時間裏，他把這所貧窮的學院發展為實力雄厚、擁有一千五百名學生的學校。 華盛頓認為對黑人進行工業教育、小規模企業管理培訓和勤勉若干精神的培養是提高黑人地位的途徑。他被邀請於1895年9月18日在亞特蘭大博覽會上向白人聽眾發表演講，這是由於他的做法被認為值得報導。在演講 中，他勸黑人同胞要學會「一般的職業技能」，發展與白人朋友的睦鄰關係，腳踏實地地從「最低點」而不是從最高點開始努力。 杜波依斯等黑人領袖反對他耐心溫和的勸告，稱他的演講為「亞特蘭大妥協」。他們還譴責華盛頓強調工業教育是以犧牲高等教育為代價。當時， 由 於對黑人實行種族歧視的法律得到通過，南方黑人的權利處於危急之中。黑人農民主要是佃農，受到用穀物交租制度的剝削，城市裏的黑人工人被拒於工會大門之外。 然而， 白人卻為華盛頓的演講喝采，南北方的白人都給了他極大的榮譽。1901年他曾被西奧多‧羅斯福總統邀請到白宮。從1895年直至他逝世，他被公認為是當時最有影響的美國黑人。他寫過十二本書，其中包括他的自傳《出身奴隸》。 南方人口的三分之一是黑人。任何想在南方取得物質、文化、道德方面巨大成就的事業家都不能忽視我們人口的這一組成部分。在這盛大的博覽會進展的每一個階段，美國黑人的價值和 氣概都得到了博覽會經理們恰當而又極其慷慨的賞識，我謹在此向會長和理事先生們轉達廣大黑人同胞的謝意。這種賞識將比我們獲得自由以來所發生過的任何事件更能鞏固加強我們兩個民族之間的友誼。 除此之外，這兒還為我提供了演講的機會，來喚醒黑人同胞去迎接工業發展的新時代。由於我們無知，又缺乏經驗，所以在我們新生活的最初，幾年裏，我們沒有從最低點而是最高點開始努力；我們奮力爭取在國會和州立法機關的席位，卻忽視了培養房地產經營的能力和工業技能；我們被政治會議或樹墩演講所吸引，而覺得經營牛奶場或蔬菜場乏味，這種現象並不奇怪。 一條在海上迷航了幾天的船隻突然看見一艘友好船隻，從遇難的船隻的桅桿上可以看到求救信號：「水，水，我們快渴死了。」對方立即答 覆：「從你們船上把水桶放下來打水。」遇難船隻好再一次發出求援信號：「水，水，給我們送水！」得到的答覆是：「從你們船上把水桶放下來打水。」第三、四次要求送水的信號也得到了同樣的答覆。遇難船隻的船長終於注意到了這一答覆，將桶放下去，從亞瑪遜河口打上來滿滿的一桶清澈的淡水。 對依靠在異國改善生活狀況的黑人同胞和低估了發展與南方白人睦鄰友好關係的重要性的黑人同胞，我要疾呼：從你們那兒把水桶放下來打水，果斷地放下來，與我們周圍的各族人民交朋友。在農業、機械業、商業、家庭服務業及其它行業，黑人同胞都應該這樣做。關於這一點應該記住，不管可能要南方忍受其他什麼罪惡，在純商業事務方面，南方為黑人在商界提供了像樣的機會，本屆博覽會就是勝於雄辯的審實證明。我們面臨的最大危險是，從奴隸制到自由這一飛躍過程中，我們可能會忽視這一點：我們大部份人靠手工生產謀生。而忘記了當我們學會讚美歌頌平凡的勞動，在各行各業中發揮我們的智慧和技能時，當我們學會區分生活中表面與實質，華而不實與真正有用的東西之間的差別時，我們將會興旺發達，獲得成功。只有當一個民族認識到種田與寫詩是一樣高貴時，這個民族才有可能繁榮昌盛。我們應該從生活的最低點而不是最高點開始努力，我們也不應該讓我們所受的委屈給我們的機遇投下陰影。 不少白人希望講不同語言，保持不同風俗習慣的異族人的到來能促進南方的繁榮，如果允許的話，我想對他們重覆一下我對黑人同胞講過的話：「從你們那兒把水桶放下來！」放到八百萬黑人中來。你們瞭解他們的脾性，在他們的反叛意味著你們家園的毀滅那種日子裏，你們也曾經考驗過他們的忠誠與愛。把你們的水桶放到這些黑人中來，他們過去既不舉行罷工也不爭議報酬，為你們種田、開墾荒地、修建鐵路、建設城市，開採寶藏，使南方的巨大發展成為現實。把你們的水桶放到我們黑人同胞中來，就像你們現在正在做的那樣，幫助和鼓勵他們，在才智、技能和精神這些方面培訓他們。你們將看到，他們將購買你們多餘的田地，使荒蕪的土地結出碩果，他們也將經營你們的工廠。 這樣做的時候，你們可以相信，像過去那樣，將來圍繞在你們及你們家人周圍的也將是世界上至今所見到的最耐心、最忠誠、最守法、最不易抱怨的人們。過去我們替你們照看小孩，在病榻前伺候你們的父母，還經常流著眼淚為他們送葬。我們過去已經證明瞭對你們的忠誠，所以將來，我們也將忠心耿耿地站在你們一邊，這種忠誠是任何異族人所不能比的。假如情況需要的話，我們還隨時準備犧牲生命保衛你們。我們將在工業、商業、文化和宗教生活各方面與你們交融在一起，使我們兩個民族的利益相一致。在一切純社交性的事務中，我們可以像手指那樣分開；但在一切對共同進步有決定意義的事情上，我們必須團結得像一隻手一樣。 要是沒有全體民眾的高度文化水平和興旺發達，我們都得不到保護，都不會感到安全。假如存在著不讓黑人充份發展的阻力，那麼應該把這種阻力轉化為動力，刺激鼓勵黑人，使他們成為最聰明有用的公民。這種投資得到的將是十倍的收益。這種努力將為雙方造福，既有利於提供幫助的一方，也有利於被幫助的一方。在人類或上帝的法律面前，沒有任何人能逃脫不可避免的命運：
將近八百萬雙的手可能幫你們挑起重擔，也可能拉後腿；我們可能構成南方愚昧與罪惡的三分之一甚至更多，也可能構成文明與進步的三分之一；我們可能為南方的工商業繁榮作出三分之一的貢獻，也可能成為一具殭屍，延緩、削弱、阻礙國家進步的各種努力。 光臨博覽會的先生們，當我們在博覽會上向你們展出我們的努力所取得的一些小成果時，希望你們對我們不要太苛求。三十年前，我們在各地開始擁有一些被子、南瓜和雞(從各方收集來的)。請記住：我們是在一無所有的情況下開始發展的。我們搞發明創造，生產農具、輕便馬車、蒸汽機、報紙、書本、雕塑，經營藥店、銀行，我們走過的路是不平坦的，我們是披荊斬棘走過來的。當我們為我們所展出的獨自努力的成果而感到自豪時，我們一刻也不曾忘記你們對我們教育事業的幫助。不僅南方幫助了我們，北方也幫助了我們，尤其是北方的慈善家們源源不斷的捐贈給了我們極大的支援與鼓勵。要是沒有你們的幫助，我們的展品會使你們大失所望。 黑人中的有識之士明白挑起社會平等方面的爭端是極其愚蠢的。要實現我們能夠充分享受一切權利這一理想需要一個過程，必須靠我們艱苦不懈的努力，而不是靠人為的推行推進。能為世界市場提供必需商品的民族是不可能被長期排斥在外的。不錯，我們應該享受法律所保障的一切權利，這一點很重要；然而，更重要的是，我們應該為行使這些權利做準備。現在，在工廠裏掙一美元錢的機會比起在歌劇院裏消費一美元錢的機會更有價值。 最後，請允許我再說一遍，與以往三十年裏的各種機會相比，這次博覽會所提供的機會給了我們更大的希望和鼓舞，使我們與白人的關係更密切了。這神聖的講壇可以說是代表了我們兩個民族共同奮鬥的成果，因為三十年前我們幾乎都是從零開始。在這聖壇上，我向你們保證，在你們努力解決上帝為南方所設置的這一重大而又複雜的問題時，你們將隨時得到黑人的同情和耐心的幫助。這些展廳裏所陳列的來自農田、森林、礦山、工廠和文藝界的成果將推動各行各業的發展，帶來更大的成果。可是，我們還應該記住這一點：比物質利益更為重要的是精神方面的更高的追求。讓我們祈禱主將降臨，消滅區域差別，消除種族仇恨和懷疑，施行法律，讓各階層的人都服從法律的意志。這一點再加上物質上的繁榮，將為我們親愛的南方開創一個新天地。 One-third of the population of the South is of the Negro race. No enterprise seeking the material, civil, or moral welfare of this section can disregard this element of our population and reach the highest success. I but convey to you, Mr. President and Directors, the sentiment of the masses of my race when I say that in no way have the value and manhood of the American Negro been more fittingly and generously recognized than by the managers of this magnificent Exposition at every stage of its progress. It is a recognition that will do more to cement the friendship of the two races than any occurrence since the dawn of our freedom. Not only this, but the opportunity here afforded will awaken among us a new era of industrial progress. Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the State Legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skill; that the political convention or stump speaking had more attractions than starting a dairy farm or truck garden. 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 bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man who is their next-door neighbor, I would say: Cast down your bucket where you are; cast it down in making friends, in every manly way, of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded. Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions. And in this connection it is well to bear in mind that whatever other sins the South may be called upon to bear, when it comes to business pure and simple, it is in the South that the Negro is given a man's chance in the commercial world, and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing this chance. Our greatest danger is that, in the great leap from slavery to freedom, we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in the pro- portion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor, and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to over- shadow our opportunities. To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race, "Cast down your bucket where you are." Cast it down among the 8,000,000 Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of your firesides. Cast down your bucket among these people who have, without strikes and labor wars, tilled your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and cities, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth and helped make possible this magnificent representation of the progress of the South. Casting down your bucket among my people, helping and encouraging them as you are doing on these grounds, and, with education of head, hand and heart, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom the waste places in your fields, and run your factories. While doing this, you can be sure in the future, as in the past, that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world has seen. As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watching by the sick-bed of your mothers and fathers, and often following them with tear- dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future, in our humble way, we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach, ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in defense of yours; interlacing our industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life with yours in a way that shall make the interests of both races one. 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. There is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all. If anywhere there are efforts tending to curtail the fullest growth of the Negro, let these efforts be turned into stimulating, encouraging and making him the most useful and intelligent citizen. Effort or means so invested will pay a thousand per cent interest. These efforts will be twice blessed－"blessing him that gives and him that takes." There is no escape, through law of man or God, from the inevitable: The laws of
changeless justice bind Nearly sixteen million hands will aid you in pulling the load upward, or they will pull against you the load downward. We shall constitute one-third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South, or one-third its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one-third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we shall prove a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing, retarding every effort to advance the body politic. Gentlemen of the Exposition: As we present to you our humble effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect over much. Starting thirty years ago with ownership here and there in a few quilts and pumpkins and chickens (gathered from miscellaneous sources), remember: the path that has led us from these to the invention and production of agricultural implements, buggies, steam engines, newspapers, books, statuary, carving, paintings, the management of drugstores and banks, has not been trodden without contact with thorns and thistles. While we take pride in what we exhibit as a result of our independent efforts, we do not for a moment forget that our part in this exhibition would fall far short of your expectations but for the constant help that has come to our educational life, not only from the Southern states, but especially from Northern philanthropists who have made their gifts a constant stream of blessing and encouragement. The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing. No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of those privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house. In conclusion, may I repeat that nothing in thirty years has given us more hope and encouragement and drawn us so near to you of the white race as this opportunity offered by the Exposition; and here bending, as it were, over the altar that represents the results of the struggles of your race and mine, both starting practically empty-handed three decades ago, I pledge that, in your effort to work out the great and intricate problem which God has laid at the doors of the South, you shall have at all times the patient, sympathetic help of my race. Only let this be constantly in mind that, while from representations in these buildings of the product of field, of forest, of mine, of factory, letters and art, much good will come－yet far above and beyond material benefits, will be that higher good, that let us pray God will come, in a blot- ting out of sectional differences and racial animosities and suspicions, in a determination to administer absolute justice, in a willing obedience among all classes to the mandates of law. This, coupled with material prosperity, will bring into our beloved South a new heaven and a new earth. |