Despite the promotional efforts of the Southern journalist Henry Grady in the Atlanta Constitution, the New South was a misnomer in at least two ways. Firstly, African-Americans had lost many of the rights and opportunities of Reconstruction with the return of white supremacist "home" rule under the Redeemers after 1877. Second, the region continued to rely heavily on its most important staple crop: cotton. These fundamental limitations on the concept of the New South were strikingly visible at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta in 1895, an event designed to promote the accomplishments and advantages of a New South. The event showcased the region's deep investment into cotton cultivation and its industrial processing, and in his much criticized and much acclaimed speech at the Exposition, Booker T. Washington, the renowned black educator and director of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, urged Southern blacks to "cast [their] buckets where [they were]." His suggestion that Southern blacks work their way out of poverty and second-class citizenship offended civil rights leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois. Washington accepted racial segregation, proposing that "in all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers," a stand that the United States Supreme Court turned into a constitutional principle in its ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson the following year. Here are links for Washington's speech: Text Version Audio Recording of Washington later in life After reading or listening to the speech, take a look at these oral histories of blacks living in the South at that time. New South Voices Project comments from farmers and sharecroppers at the time After viewing these sources, please write a 2 page paper with cited sources that considers the following questions: 1.How did Washington characterize the political ambitions of African-Americans during the preceding Reconstruction period? How did he describe the thirty years since the Civil War in general? How does this compare with what you have learned in class? 2.How, according to Washington, should African-Americans approach Southern whites? 3.What did Washington mean when he urged Southern blacks to "cast [their] buckets" where they were? Be specific. 4.How did Washington describe race relations in the South? Compare this to what you have learned in your course so far. 5.Compare what Washington says to what you saw in the oral histories. How promising was the New South really? Part 2: Look at the following websites and consider what you learned in your text about US foreign policy around the turn of the 20th century. http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/empire.html (Links to an external site.) http://herb.ashp.cuny.edu/exhibits/show/creating-an-empire (Links to an external site.) Consider the following questions. Describe US imperialism. How did people justify US expansion? What were some beneficial and negative effects of US imperialism of this time period? To get full credit on the discussion, you must post an initial response that is at least 250 words and that includes at least one scholarly quote. Part 3:Watch the videos entitled "Taming the West" and "An Expanding Global Power" at this link - http://www.learner.org/resources/series208.html. After viewing After watching the videos listed on the Unit 5 page, answer the following questions: 1) What was the most interesting event described in the video lectures? Why? 2) List at least one new thing you learned. 3) Write a question that you would ask a classmate about the video. Answer that question.