The South interpreted it in different ways: the radicals received it as a complete surrender of the demand for civil and political equality; the conservatives, as a generously conceived working basis for mutual understanding.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “The South interpreted it in different ways: the radicals received it as a complete surrender of the demand for civil and…”
Editor's note · Context
Du Bois explains the divergent interpretations of the "Atlanta Compromise" by radical and conservative elements within the white South.
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