The Talented Tenth is a term that designated a leadership class of African Americans in the early 20th century. The phrase “talented tenth” originated in 1896 among White Northern liberals, then publicized by W.E.B DuBois in an influential essay of the same name, which he published in September 1903. The expression “talented tenth” in a 1903 essay in his volume The Negro Problem., a collection of essays written by leading African Americans. In 1903, W.E.B DuBois wrote “The Talented Tenth.” Theodore Roosevelt was president of the United States and industrialization was skyrocketing. Du Bois thought it a good time for African Americans to advance their positions in society.
The “Talented Tenth” refers to the one in ten Black men that have cultivated the ability to become leaders of the Black community by acquiring a college education, writing books, and becoming directly involved in social change. In The Talented Tenth, Du Bois argues that these college educated African American men should sacrifice their personal interests and use their education to lead and better the Black community. The “Talented Tenth” refers to the one in ten Black men that have cultivated the ability to become leaders of the Black community by acquiring a college education, writing books, and becoming directly involved in social change. “The Talented Tenth” concept was tied to organized institutional leadership — colleges, organizations, movements.
In “The Talented Tenth“, Du Bois argues that these college educated Black men should sacrifice their personal interests and use their education to lead and better the Black community. He strongly believed that the Black community needed a classical education, rather than the industrial education promoted by the 1895 Atlanta Compromise, endorsed by Booker T. Washington and some White philanthropists. He saw classical education as the pathway to bettering the Black community and as a basis for what, in the 20th century, would be known as public intellectuals.
Du Bois believed that college educated African Americans should set their personal interests aside and use their education to better their communities. Using education to better the African American community meant many things for Du Bois. For one, he believed that the “Talented Tenth” should seek to acquire elite roles in politics. By doing so, Black communities could have representation in government. Representation in government would allow these college educated African Americans to take “racial action.” That is, Du Bois believed that segregation was a problem that needed to be dealt with, and having African Americans in politics would start the process of dealing with that problem.
Moving on, he also believed that an education would allow one to pursue business endeavors that would better the economic welfare of Black communities. According to Du Bois, success in business would not only better the economic welfare of Black communities, it would also encourage White people to see Black people as more equal to them, and thus encourage integration and allow African Americans to enter the mainstream business world.
To be a part of this “Talented Tenth,” an African American must be college educated. This is a qualification that many view as unattainable for many members of the Black community because the percentage of African Americans in college is much lower than the percentage of White people in college. The African-American intellectual W.E.B. DuBois, for instance, coined the expression “talented tenth” in a 1903 essay in his volume The Negro Problem. “The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men,” DuBois wrote. “The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races.“