WEB duBois wrote:
The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. 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. Now the training of men is a difficult and intricate task. Its technique is a matter for educational experts, but its object is for the vision of seers. If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men; if we make technical skill the object of education, we may possess artisans but not, in nature, men. Men we shall have only as we make manhood the object of the work of the schools — intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it — this is the curriculum of that Higher Education which must underlie true life. On this foundation we may build bread winning, skill of hand and quickness of brain, with never a fear lest the child and man mistake the means of living for the object of life.
If this be true — and who can deny it — three tasks lay before me; first to show from the past that the Talented Tenth as they have risen among American Negroes have been worthy of leadership; secondly to show how these men may be educated and developed; and thirdly to show their relation to the Negro problem.
And subsequently:
The most interesting question, and in many respects the crucial question, to be asked concerning college-bred Negroes, is: Do they earn a living? It has been intimated more than once that the higher training of Negroes has resulted in sending into the world of work, men who could find nothing to do suitable to their talents. Now and then there comes a rumor of a colored college man working at menial service, etc. Fortunately, returns as to occupations of college-bred Negroes, gathered by the Atlanta conference, are quite full — nearly sixty per cent. of the total number of graduates.
This enables us to reach fairly certain conclusions as to the occupations of all college-bred Negroes. Of 1,312 persons reported, there were: Teachers, 53.4% Clergymen, 16.8% Physicians, etc., 6.3% Students, 5.6% Lawyers, 4.7% In Govt. Service, 4.0% In Business, 3.6% Farmers and Artisans, 2.7% Editors, Secretaries and Clerks, 2.4% Miscellaneous, .5
Over half are teachers, a sixth are preachers, another sixth are students and professional men; over 6 per cent. are farmers, artisans and merchants, and 4 per cent. are in government service. In detail the occupations are as follows: Occupations of College-Bred Men. 701 Teachers: Presidents and Deans, 19 Teacher of Music, 7 Professors, Principals and Teachers, 675 221 Clergymen: Bishop, 1 Chaplains U. S. Army, 2 Missionaries, 9 Presiding Elders, 12 Preachers, 197 83 Physicians: Doctors of Medicine, 76 Druggists, 4 Dentists, 3 74 Students 62 Lawyers 53 in Civil Service: U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary, 1 U. S. Consul, 1 U. S. Deputy Collector, 1 U. S. Gauger, 1 U. S. Postmasters, 2 U. S. Clerks, 44 State Civil Service, 2 City Civil Service, 1 47 Business Men: Merchants, etc., 30 Managers, 13 Real Estate Dealers, 4 26 Farmers 22 Clerks and Secretaries: Secretary of National Societies, 7 Clerks, etc., 15 9 Artisans 9 Editors 5 Miscellaneous
These figures illustrate vividly the function of the college-bred Negro. He is, as he ought to be, the group leader, the man who sets the ideals of the community where he lives, directs its thoughts and heads its social movements. It need hardly be argued that the Negro people need social leadership more than most groups; that they have no traditions to fall back upon, no long established customs, no strong family ties, no well defined social classes. All these things must be slowly and painfully evolved. The preacher was, even before the war, the group leader of the Negroes, and the church their greatest social institution. Naturally this preacher was ignorant and often immoral, and the problem of replacing the older type by better educated men has been a difficult one. Both by direct work and by direct influence on other preachers, and on congregations, the college-bred preacher has an opportunity for reformatory work and moral inspiration, the value of which cannot be overestimated.
What are we to make of such things today?
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