What did Booker T. Washington mean by 'the buckets and the veils'?

Answer 1

Booker T. Washington made a speech in 1895 called the Atlanta Exposition Address. In the opening paragraphs he portrayed a ship lost at sea in distress for drinking water. They crossed a friendly ship which told the captain to let down his bucket where they were. But they did not believe fresh water was possible so far from shore. After the fourth message, they let the bucket down where they were. The water was fresh because they were at the mouth of the Amazon River where water is drinkable out to sea beyond the sight of land. He addressed "those of my race ... Cast down your bucket where you are ... in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions...it is in the South..." the Negro has a chance at commercial success. The "veils" often refer to the veil of ignorance, adopted in John Rawls philosophy thought experiments to hide rationale thought from biased influences. In the Biblical traditions studied in the African-American churches, the veil has an Old Testament and a New Testament reference. There was a veil between Jewish worshippers and the altar of the Temple, which Christians believed ripped apart at Jesus' crucifiction. Referred to in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians, at conversion to Christianity, the veil between God and the believer's heart is lifted away. There is a statue of Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee University by Charles Keck, called "Lifting the Veil" from a crouching slave. The inscription reads, "He lifted the veil of ignorance from his people and pointed the way to progress through education and industry."