Talented Tenth
The Talented Tenth is W. E. B. Du Bois’s proposal that higher education develop Black leaders who would advance the wider Black community.
W. E. B. Du Bois: W. E. B. Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, and writer. He formulated the Talented Tenth as a strategy for Black leadership and education.
Higher education: Higher education is formal study beyond secondary school, including colleges and universities. Du Bois treated advanced study as preparation for intellectual and civic leadership.
Booker T. Washington: Booker T. Washington was an American educator and leader who emphasized vocational training and economic self-help. His educational strategy became the most prominent contemporary alternative to Du Bois’s.
Black leadership: Black leadership encompasses the people and institutions guiding political, cultural, and social life in Black communities. The proposal assigns educated leaders a particular responsibility for community advancement.
Elitism: Elitism is the belief that a select group is especially entitled or qualified to direct society. Critics question whether privileging a small educated class marginalizes other forms of community knowledge.
Reconstruction era: The Reconstruction era was the period of U.S. political and social change after the Civil War, from 1865 to 1877. Its brief expansion of Black political rights shaped later debates about leadership and education.
Racial uplift: Racial uplift was a movement to improve Black communities through education, institution-building, and social reform. The Talented Tenth framed educated leadership as a means of collective advancement.
Atlanta Compromise: The Atlanta Compromise was Washington’s 1895 proposal for Black economic progress alongside temporary accommodation to segregation. Du Bois opposed the political accommodation associated with this program.
Black intellectuals: Black intellectuals are scholars, writers, and thinkers who engage critically with Black life and society. They represent the educated class Du Bois envisioned as contributing to public debate and change.
Meritocracy: Meritocracy is a system in which status or authority is allocated according to assessed ability and achievement. The proposal invites scrutiny of how ability is recognized when education remains unequally accessible.