Intellectual Women Work Through the Theories of the Talented Tenth
In this article I will attempt to demonstrate a coherent link between the actions of
Anna Julia Cooper, bell hooks, and Patricia Hill Collins as each intellectual carries (or carried) on the work of the Talented Tenth. This research will include a discussion of Cooper's educational work as well as her speaking career; in both areas she advocated equal education opportunities for Black women. The central concern of DuBois' theory, his advocacy for education and the creation of an upper class of Blacks, was thus promoted by Cooper through these vehicles. I will demonstrate that Collins and hooks, educators as well as members of a contemporary Talented Tenth, are carrying on the work of education and enlightenment. Through new strategic methods these intellectuals attempt to reach a broader audience, and therefore better represent DuBois' reworking of the theories of the Talented Tenth that occurred near the end of his life. I will demonstrate that the education and awareness that the contemporary intellectuals advocate is more inclusive, and while still elitist in some respects, seeks to accommodate and reach a wider range of people. I will also show a linkage between theory and practice and demonstrate the decreasing gap between the theoretical base of the Talented Tenth and the practice of those who may be considered elite members. This link between theory and practice, which has not been achieved but which is recognized as necessary, is a crucial component to the work of contemporary intellectuals. Thus these intellectuals may be seen as intersecting and furthering the work of earlier female intellectuals, while broadening the scope of the Talented Tenth.
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...t stands upon. Hooks particularly stresses the need for coalitions, particularly the need to be inclusive of men in the feminist movement. Only by demonstrating how these movements are important to all people will progress ensue. Thus there is a great necessity for educators, movement leaders, and participants to create clear, accessible, usable theory that transcends class and race.
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hooks, bell. Feminist Theory, From Margin to Center. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: South End P,
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hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress, Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York:
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Logan, Shirley Wilson. We Are Coming, The Persuasive Discourse of Nineteenth-
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Educational advancement among black woman is substantially higher than the black man. This displays the inter-relatedness of the problems in the Negro family. The term “knowledge is power” coined by Maria Stewart literally connects to Moynihan’s
The Niagara Movement was a radical protest organization; its members were highly educated African-Americans; ‘The Talented Tenth’.This short-lived movement launched a campaign for equality for African-Americans, with an emphasis on political rights. However the movement was unsuccessful due to lack of financial support, causing its dissolution. The NAACP was a coalition of African-American and White educated radicals who sought to remove legal barriers for full citizenship of African-Americans. The NAACP was successful due to its triumph of many segregation and discrimination cases. DuBois was one of the founding members of the organization; he became known for editing it’s publication ‘The Crisis’; in which he denounced White racism and demanded that African-Americans stand up for their rights. DuBois’ publications were socially successful because they increased Black pride and confidence. These two organizations were able to conduct productive political efforts because their members were well educated, thus showing that DuBois’ ‘Gradualist Political Strategy’ was rational. DuBois’ strategy was politically efficient in the sense that it exercised the importance of political equality on the
Unlike Washington, Dubois was born a free man and lived in the North in a predominately white area in an integrated community. He was very intelligent and excelled in the local schools he attended. However, it wasn’t until he attended Fisk University in Tennessee where he encountered his first issue dealing with racism and the Jim Crow laws. This experience is what shaped his ideas and philosophies on black people and their oppression. Dubois went back to the north to continue his education, focusing on the racial injustice and how to build equality for African Americans right then. After being the first black man to receive his PhD from Harvard University, he wrote his dissertation “The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the Unites States of America” which was one of his first academic works. Dubois was a powerful scholar and was headstrong as well. He believed that Washington’s idea would only help to continue the oppression of blacks from white people. Dubois advocated for a right now change. He created a civil rights agenda to work towards advocating equality for African Americans. He argued that Washington’s idea seemed “...well-nigh impossible…” (539). Dubois was an integrationist; he believed that there had to be a stand now, not later and that Washington’s philosophy was more of a submission to the oppression instead of a stand against it. Dubois’ call for change
W.E.B. DuBois attempted to tell African Americans what they should learn throughout schooling. He thought academics were of the utmost importance in order for African Americans to exist socially in society. Through academic schooling, he thought that 10 percent of the African American society would succeed and move on to become doctors, lawyers, politicians, etc.; they were called “the talented ten.” The subject material that would advance their learning would consist of the “trivium” and the “quadrivium.” The...
As a child, Dubois was born a free man into a wealthy family. With opportunities around for him at every corner, Dubois became determined to make something with his life. After studying at Harvard and becoming the first African to graduate with a P.h.D. there, Dubois set his mind onto the African American treatment in America. Seeing the disgusting nature of white supremacists, Dubois knew that the only way for Blacks to actually obtain their rights was to demand them. Since Booker’s beliefs only appealed to hopeful lower-middle class African Americans, Dubois wanted a resolution that would take less time to come to. Without knowing how long they would need to wait for their rights to finally come, the African American community deserved the equality needed for them. If blacks are held down by the society and fail to get the education they need, they will definitely be stuck in their state forever. When talking on the problem of education for blacks, Dubois stated “Education is that whole system of human training within and without the schoolhouse walls, which molds and develops men”. That being said, if blacks follow Bookers path and decide not to use education to their advantage, they won’t develop into the ment they need to be. If whites are the only ones able to obtain an education, they will remain the men in charge of the nation. With racism being a constant issue within the
According to West, “the attitudes of white scholars in the academy are quite different than those in the past” (West pg. 303). In the dilemma of the black intellectual Afro-American intellectual often known better as “black’s” have a stressful time in being acceptance in whites universities and find themselves in one of the black educational institutions for potential black intellectuals. Many black’s begin their intellectual career with hopes of self worth and self confidence in a way that is in alignment with certain values. Under the effects of their own emotional pain however, some black’s become removed from those values, removed from the purpose behind their intellectual. Black’s can feel like a ship in stormy seas, floundering with nothing solid to anchor to. When black’s make demands, use criticism or labeling to be taken seriously as potential scholars and intellectuals in our universities and colleges to vulgar perceptions fueled by
In her essay "Educating Women: A Feminist Agenda" bell hooks asserts that a feminist movement to end sexist oppression that ignores communication with the majority of women and men (i.e. those outside of academia) is a movement that has no hope of realizing its goals for social change. Hooks contends, "The ability to "translate" ideas to an audience that varies in age, sex, ethnicity, degree of literacy is a skill feminist educators need to develop . . . Difficulty of access has been a problem with much feminist theory" (111) One educator/activist who demonstrates hooks' idea in his teaching techniques is Glenn Omatsu. However as an educator Omatsu does not put the onus of translation solely on himself, he holds his students responsible for translating what they have learned in the classroom for people outside of the classroom and in the community beyond the university campus.
These driven African American leaders are the “talented tenth” meaning the top ten percent of the African American population who are all successful college educated men who are looking at the long-term view of where the role of Black Americans is going to be in the nation. These “talented tenth” share in DuBois’s belief that “education is that whole system of human training within and without house walls, which molds and develops men.” That in order to gain equality the Black community in the country needs to pursue the holistic education, that caters to the mind, body and soul of the African American student, and prepares black leaders. Ultimately this means that in a time of booming industrialization in America, it is imperative that for African Americans that, “True education is not to make men carpenters, it is to make carpenters men.” This is so important to Dubois because he understands that the White man’s view of progression in an industrialized America is no different then the pro-slavery America of the nineteenth century. When DuBois returned to his schoolhouse in Tennessee, several years after leaving to pursue his own higher education, he returned to find his “log schoolhouse was gone. In its place
Shortly after Rachel was written in 1916, the New Negro Movement began to gain traction in the African American community. This broad cultural movement focused on promoting a public image of African Americans as industrious, urban, independent, and distinct from the subservient and illiterate “Old Negro” of the rural South. Unlike his predecessor, the New Negro was self-sufficient, intellectually sophisticated, creative, knowledgeable and proud of his racial heritage (Krasner, Beautiful Pageant 140). While these concepts had been promoted since the turn of the century, it was not until 1917-1918 that they began to crystalize as a concerted effort among African American intellectuals. These men actively supported the creation of black drama because they recognized that “At a time when African Americans had virtually no political recourse, their voice could best be heard through…a creative and humanistic effort to achieve the goal of civil rights by producing positive images of African Americans and promoting activism through art” (“New Negro Movement” 926). The New Negros therefore shared the same overall goal as black intellectuals such as DuBois, but believed that black artists should focus on presenting the reality and beauty of the “black human experience” instead of an idealized vision of what life should be. Ultimately, the transition from “political” art to that which held creativity in high esteem was complex and divisive. Fortunately, just as Dubois emerged as the primary advocate of the former Political Theatre, so too would Alain Locke help guide the New Negros to support the idea of Art Theatre.
Oprah was born in a small, rural town in Mississippi to an unwed teenage mother. Even though her birth was not miraculous like that of other heros, she made up for it in her early years of life with an abundance of charisma and personality. She was so poor at one point she had to wear potato sacks as clothes and was made fun of by her classmates. Oprah faced other hardships early on, including sexual assault by close family members and a pregnancy at the age of fourteen, of which her son died shortly after birth. She was forced to move towns often, living with her mother, grandmother and father at different times throughout her childhood. This did not affect her obviously natural social abilities. She was nicknamed “The Preacher” for her ability to recite bible verses and was often found interviewing her dolls for fun. At the age of seventeen, Oprah won an oratory contest that granted her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University where she majored in communication. She experienced an early recognition of her talents much like many other heros. This was the start of a booming career for her.
W.E.B Dubois’ Talented Tenth idea could be considered elitist to most people. His idea was to “[develop] the Best of this race [African-Americans] that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.” Mr. Dubois only wanted the select specialized few, through a high quality education based on “intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it”1, to lead the fight. If we apply this model to Lowndes ...
Heaven Hollywood, (2010). Celebrating women’s history month: queen of all media Oprah Winfrey. Retrieved from http://heavenhollywood.wordpress.com/tag/actress/page/13/
Hooks, bell. Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. Print.
Walt Whitman is known for his excellence in writing and poetry during the mid 19th century in American Literature. The Leaves of Grass is one of his more memorable works of literature. The work expresses many thoughts and opinions about art, nature, and early nationalism. It also includes a multitude messages for the readers in an attempt to capture the reader and reinforce his points.Within the Preface of the work he talks about issues that he feels are important to inform his audience before they continue into the literature. These observations made by Whitman signify some importance to him in one way or another. Using his rhetorical skills, Walt Whitman attempts to educate his audience about the importance of self improvement and self awareness
Oprah has successfully accomplished being a talk show host. As well, she challenged the fabulous forces that she encountered. This truly is why the story of Oprah Winfrey is one of supernatural wonder.