Talented Tenth

34 replies · 15947 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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· Jun 2004

#21 Reply

B'Lyse757 wrote:
The talented tenth is a concept that is more vast than just the African American community. Sometimes, the untarnished truth can appear condescending. If you look across America and the world, the concept of percentage domination is evident. Look at the percentage of people in the US who vote. Even the percentage of people who answer polls which supposedly indicate the political climate. There will always be the people who slouch away from responsibility. And there will always be that "tenth" or so of people who pick up the slack of the slouchers. Du Bois was just calling out to that tenth. He was just assigning the duty of consciousness to those who will take it. Some people would be more at ease with the Talented Fifth, simply because it includes more people, doesn't seem as elitist. My personal opinion of Du Bois' concept is not elitism, though.. I don't think that he meant that only ten percent of African Americans were talented. I think he is describing the ones who, with their respective talents, will carry the race on their backs to new heights. And don't worry, all of you who answered this post, and those who even took the time to read the responses, can be categorized within that tenth. Not just because you read, but because the topic of the upward motion of the Black people is of interest to you. This is, I believe, the consciousness that Du Bois spoke of.

very very very much so!!!! It baffles me why the most powerful man of all time in the sports industy, Michael G. Jordan, would not want combat the issues that plagued the community he came from??

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B'Lyse757 · Jun 2004

#22 Reply

sowthwestplaya03 wrote:
B'Lyse757 wrote:
The talented tenth is a concept that is more vast than just the African American community. Sometimes, the untarnished truth can appear condescending. If you look across America and the world, the concept of percentage domination is evident. Look at the percentage of people in the US who vote. Even the percentage of people who answer polls which supposedly indicate the political climate. There will always be the people who slouch away from responsibility. And there will always be that "tenth" or so of people who pick up the slack of the slouchers. Du Bois was just calling out to that tenth. He was just assigning the duty of consciousness to those who will take it. Some people would be more at ease with the Talented Fifth, simply because it includes more people, doesn't seem as elitist. My personal opinion of Du Bois' concept is not elitism, though.. I don't think that he meant that only ten percent of African Americans were talented. I think he is describing the ones who, with their respective talents, will carry the race on their backs to new heights. And don't worry, all of you who answered this post, and those who even took the time to read the responses, can be categorized within that tenth. Not just because you read, but because the topic of the upward motion of the Black people is of interest to you. This is, I believe, the consciousness that Du Bois spoke of.
very very very much so!!!! It baffles me why the most powerful man of all time in the sports industy, Michael G. Jordan, would not want combat the issues that plagued the community he came from??

exactly. everyone can agree that jordan is talented, but he use his talent for personal gains (championships, coaching positions), or will he put back to the community which produced him. Jordan can learn a few things from magic johnson.