The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was held at the current Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
Nearly 800,000 visitors attended the event. The exposition was designed to promote the region to the world and
showcase products and new technologies as well as to encourage trade with Latin America. The Cotton States and
International Exposition featured exhibits from several states including various innovations in agriculture and
technology. President Grover Cleveland presided over the opening of the exposition. But the event is best remembered
for the both hailed and criticized "Atlanta compromise" speech given by Booker T. Washington on September 18,
promoting racial cooperation.
The Exposition was open for 100 days, beginning on September 18, 1895 and ending December 31, 1895, attracted visitors from the U.S. and 13 countries. Over $2,000,000 was spent on the transformation of Piedmont Park. The government allocated $250,000 for the construction of a government building and many states and countries such as Argentina also had their own buildings. Also constructed for the fair were the Tropical gardens, now known as the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and Lake Clara Meer which was originally a pond but was expanded to 11.5 acres (47,000 m2) for the event. Today, the stone balustrades scattered around the park are the only part of the enormous main building. The park remains largely as Joseph Forsyth Johnson designed it for the exposition. The supervising architect for the entire fair was Bradford Gilbert.
The Cotton States and International Exposition Speech was an address on the topic of race relations given by
Booker T. Washington on September 18, 1895, at the exposition in Atlanta. The speech laid the foundation for the
Atlanta compromise, an agreement between African-American leaders and Southern white leaders in which Southern
blacks would work meekly and submit to white political rule, while whites guaranteed that blacks would receive
basic education and due process of law. The speech was presented before a predominantly white audience and has
been recognized as one of the most important, influential, and controversial speeches in American history.
Much more information about the Cotton States and International Exhibition is available at its Wikipedia entry.