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This is the African Free School where many of the first members of the Black Elite were educated
Portrait of W.E.B. DuBois

DuBois wrote an essay in 1903 called "The Talented Tenth." In it he argued that the black race needs its most promising men to be educated and cultured. These men would then help to lift the black race as a whole. He mentioned the importance of education and how these “talented tenth” would become leaders and teachers. According to Dubois, only in this way could the black race overcome the major setbacks that slavery and racism brought to them. The black elite in New York were educated men and women who “aspired to an identity that reached beyond the local and the national to a cosmopolitanism that would distinguish them both from the mass of impoverished black New Yorkers and also from the wealthy, educated— but racially estranged — white men and women with whom they otherwise shared much” (Berlin 185-6). It is ironic that the black elite wanted to both distinguish themselves from their poor brethren and also uplift the poor blacks. These educated men and women also believed in the importance of education. Only through education can the poor blacks obtain “character” and “respectability.” “Character turned away from the external—the trappings of wealth and physical attributes of complexion and hair—to focus on the internal, the moral, and even the spiritual” (Berlin 205). “Respectability related the internal to the external: proper conduct manifested good character” (Berlin 205). In a sense, the black elite in New York were an example of the DuBois' idea of the talented tenth. In other words, the essay that DuBois wrote in 1903 utilized examples of groups of black people in the United States to show how their efforts brought about some improvements in black life and that more improvements were needed. Although there is no mention of New York City's black elite in that specific essay, it is implied that there are more examples than just the ones DuBois mentions.

After slavery ended and a large influx of southern blacks overwhelmed New York City, the elite’s attitude toward their brethren changed. The southern blacks’ behavior was abominable in the eyes of the white residents of New York. Although the black elite had “character” and “respectability,” that did not matter since they would always be associated with the uncultured newcomers based on race. Thus, the elite went from wanting to uplift the black race to wanting to further distance themselves from poor blacks. The time when the migrants needed the most assistance corresponded to the time when the assistance from the elite was being reduced. All of this is against DuBois notion “of developing the Best of this race [so] that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races” [DuBois].


The Rage of the Educated Middle Class.
This class is part of the Talented Tenth because it is educated but it is a fact that "it is very possible that through hard work, determination, and pure effort, one can become a member of the Black middle class without obtaining a college education. It is not possible, however, to become a member of the Talented Tenth by any means other than obtaining a college education” (Battle 664).

(only the first 32 minutes of the video below pertain to the Rage of the Educated Middle Class)


Photos of Some Members of the Black Elite


Sources:
[W.E.B. DuBois], [African Free School], [The Talented Tenth by W.E.B. DuBois]

Ira Berlin and Leslie M. Harris, eds. Slavery in New York. New York: The New P, 2005.

Battle, Juan, and Earl Wright, Ii. "W.E.B. Du Bois' Talented Tenth: a Quantitative Assessment." Journal of Black Studies 32 (2002): 654-672. EBSCO. Baruch College, New York City. 1 Mar. 2008.

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