Washington opens his speech with the sentence, “One-third of the population of the South is of the Negro race” (Paragraph 1). How does this premise inform the remainder of his speech?

According to Washington, what mistakes did Black Southerners make during Reconstruction? Why did they make those mistakes?

Washington frequently instructs his audience to “Cast down your bucket where you are” (Paragraph 3). To whom is he speaking and what does he mean?