Talented Tenth

34 replies · 15943 views · Started by RevolutionarySistah · May 2004

Los Angeles, CA

RevolutionarySistah Los Angeles, CA

so, I was gazing through a post and I saw this brought up, and it brought back a lot of feelings I felt when I was first introduced to this concept. For those of you who don't know, this concept was brought up by W.E.B DuBois....first black to graduate from Harvard, migrated to Ghana, Souls of Black Folk, etc. etc. Anyways, he felt that it was up to the "talented tenth" of black folk to basically carry the rest of them that are lagging. When I thought about it, I said to myself "Is he saying that only a tenth of the total black population is talented??" But now I am starting to think that perhaps he didn't mean to say that only a tenth were talented, but out of all the talented black people, the tenth are the ones who should take responsibility for the rest. I would really appreciate it if someone cleared this up for me. We didn't really go over it much in my history class. And also, how do you feel about the "talented tenth" scenario?? do you think it is right, or wrong?

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King_J · May 2004

#1 Reply

Well, u have to remember the times. Maybe he ment that only 10 percent were able to do big things worldwide. Now aday's, I don't believe in the talented 10th, talent and people capable of big things is everywhere u go

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NeoSoulBrotha from Rosedale, MD · May 2004

#2 Reply

I'm glad you brought this up. I've done a lot of soul-searching and thought on this one. Basically, DuBois' philosophy was that the most educated and privileged Black people should be the most active towards finding solutions to our problems. In other words, those with resources and ability have a greater responsibility to use those towards a greater good. The reason for this is the fact that they have the potential to achieve the most for our community and thus should be in the forefront towards combating ignorance, poverty, poor health, crime, and similar plagues. This philosophy behind the "Talented Tenth" has been applied widely, through activism, leadership programs, and even to some extent through Greek organizations; all of which have seen mixed results. The drawback is that the same characteristics which have the ability to make a great leader also have the ability to foster elitism, which blunts progress towards those goals. As a result, there are those who focus completely on their own comfort and satisfaction, or "give back" in ways that are more symbolic than practical. At the same time, true leaders do tend to emerge. As quoted by DuBois, "this race, as with all others, will be saved by its extraordinary men."

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RevolutionarySistah from Los Angeles, CA · May 2004

#3 Reply

NeoSoulBrotha wrote:
I'm glad you brought this up. I've done a lot of soul-searching and thought on this one. Basically, DuBois' philosophy was that the most educated and privileged Black people should be the most active towards finding solutions to our problems. In other words, those with resources and ability have a greater responsibility to use those towards a greater good. The reason for this is the fact that they have the potential to achieve the most for our community and thus should be in the forefront towards combating ignorance, poverty, poor health, crime, and similar plagues. This philosophy behind the "Talented Tenth" has been applied widely, through activism, leadership programs, and even to some extent through Greek organizations; all of which have seen mixed results. The drawback is that the same characteristics which have the ability to make a great leader also have the ability to foster elitism, which blunts progress towards those goals. As a result, there are those who focus completely on their own comfort and satisfaction, or "give back" in ways that are more symbolic than practical. At the same time, true leaders do tend to emerge. As quoted by DuBois, "this race, as with all others, will be saved by its extraordinary men."

....once again Neo Soul, you have responded well. You know....you pretty alright, being that you go to Hampton and all :roll: check the siggy and respect it!

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GaPeAcH · May 2004

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HU_Intellect wrote:
As a child I used to hate that a man whom I respected so much would be arrogant enough to suggest that only a tenth of our people are capable of being leaders. But as I have grown and seen more and more of the world I agree more and more with it. You see it's not that only a tenth of our people are capable of being leaders but unfortuantly only a tenth of our people will step up and answer to the call. This has become very evident in todays society, many of our people just don't care and are sadly contempt with their lowly positions in society. Just people the number of people who actually come to the education and concerns forum, the bulk of the post are spent on party and bullsh*t.

when i first came across his philosphy of the talented tenth i felt the same was as all of you but like most of you as i began to become more knowledgeable about Dubois and african american history i came to the conclusion that yes he was right because throughout the past century only a tenth of us actually had access to an education or chose to get an education personally i feel Dubois' philosophy is just as relevent now as it was during his lifetime...yes there is more than ten percent of our people pursuing and achieving an education, but how many of us actually put it to use and improve our communities? not many....