The Talented Tenth is a term that designated a leadership class of African-Americans in the early twentieth century. The term was publicized by W. E. B. Du Bois in an influential essay of the same name, which he published in September 1903. It appeared in The Negro Problem, a collection of essays written by leading African Americans.

The phrase "talented tenth" originated in 1896 among Northern white liberals, specifically the American Baptist Home Mission Society. They had the goal of establishing black colleges to train Negro teachers and elites.

Du Bois used the term "the talented tenth" to describe the likelihood of one in ten black men becoming leaders of their race in the world, through methods such as continuing their education, writing books, or becoming directly involved in social change

Social change

Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...

. He strongly believed that blacks needed a classical education to be able to reach their potential, rather than the industrial education promoted by the Atlanta compromise

Atlanta compromise

The Atlanta compromise was an agreement struck in 1895 between African-American leaders and Southern white leaders. The agreement was that Southern blacks would work meekly and submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic education and due...

 which was endorsed by Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...

 and some white philanthropists. He saw such an education as the basis for what, in the 20th century, would be known as public intellectuals:
In his later life, W.E.B. Du Bois came to believe that leadership could arise from many levels, and grassroots efforts were also important to social change. His stepson David Du Bois tried to publicize those views, writing in 1972: "Dr. Du Bois’ conviction that it’s those who suffered most and have the least to lose that we should look to for our steadfast, dependable and uncompromising leadership."

Du Bois writes in his Talented Tenth essay that black Americans must develop “the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst.” Later in Dusk of Dawn

Dusk of dawn

Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept is an autobiographical text by W.E.B. Du Bois, which, published in 1940, examines Du Bois's life and family history in the context of contemporaneous developments in race relations....

, Du Bois re-articulates this notion. He writes that “my own panacea of earlier day was flight of class from mass through the development of the Talented Tenth; but the power of this aristocracy of talent was to lie in its knowledge and character, not in its wealth.”

See also

• Negro Academy
  Negro Academy
  The American Negro Academy was an organization that supported African-American scholarship. It was organized in Washington DC, in 1897. The organization was the first organization in the United States dedicated to African-American scholars, and it existed from 1897 to 1928.Founders of the...
  
   - Scholarly institute that published many works of the Talented Tenth.

Further reading

• The Negro Problem, New York: James Pott and Company, 1903
• W.E.B. Du Bois, Dusk of Dawn
  Dusk of dawn
  Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept is an autobiographical text by W.E.B. Du Bois, which, published in 1940, examines Du Bois's life and family history in the context of contemporaneous developments in race relations....
  
  , “Writings,” (Library of America, 1986), p 842