Presentation done by Kalonji M. McClellan of Kalonji's Knowledge Korner. Black History Month lecture for Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN.

1. The Talented TenthA Black History Vigil Celebration Lecture Kalonji M. McClellan, M.A. CEO, Kalonji’s Knowledge Korner February 16, 2011

2. Overview Carter G Woodson WEB Dubois Talented Tenth Education Closing

3. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) Father of Black History Month HE is the reason for Black History Month. Recognized the lack of information on the accomplishments of Africans throughout the world.

4. Black History Month Woodson chose February for reasons of tradition and reform. It is commonly said that Woodson selected February to encompass the birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose birthdays are the 12th and the 14th? respectively.

5. The Mis-Education of the Negro The purpose behind the book is a response to his interpretation that education is teaching a subservient philosophy to African Americans where they replace their African Identity with Eurocentric view. Thus it is evident that the stress which Dr. Woodson places on historical research, writing, and teaching in this volume was not theoretical jargon. It represented rather, a firm belief; also a judgment of the available type of education that was so strongly oriented as to warrant his complete and selfless dedication to its betterment. This devotion became a crusade which, in the above instance, carried him to Europe in an effort to open new avenues for recreating and writing of the black man's past. This was in line with his basic charges against the omission by most historians of such an important part of history.

6. The Mis-Education of the Negro Mis-Education criticizes the system, and explains the vicious circle that results from mis-educated individuals graduating, then proceeding to teach and mis-educate others. But the book is by no means a study in negation. The author goes to great lengths in tracing the historical foundations of the problem, its development, and its influence on interpersonal relations and historical scholarship. When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.

7. HOW HISTORY CONNECTS US

8. W.E.B.’s Wilson county connection

10. 1888 - earned a degree from Fisk University

11. 1890 - earned a bachelor's degree cum laude from Harvard

12. 1892 - received a fellowship from the John F. Slater Fund for the Education of Freedmen to attend the University of Berlin for graduate work

13. 1895 - became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University

14. His doctoral thesis, The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States 1638–1870, was published in 1896 as the first volume of the Harvard Historical Studies.February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963

16. The Negro Problem (1903) - popularized the phrase in an article entitled “The Talented Tenth

17. Niagara Movement called for opposition to racial segregation and disenfranchisement as well as policies of accommodation and conciliation.

19. The Talented Tenth The Talented Tenth Was an influential essay written by W. E. B. Du Bois The term talented tenth represented members of the black professional and intellectual elite, known as race men and race women, particularly drawing attention to their continuous achievements in lifting the race.

20. The Talented Tenth An advocate of classical education, DuBois believed that the top 10 percent of the black race would serve as the leadership vanguard of the race, elevating the remaining 90 percent by their efforts, achievements and advocacy. If you do not lift them up, they will pull you down. Education and work are the levers to uplift a people. Work alone will not do it unless inspired by the right ideals and guided by intelligence. Education must not simply teach work—it must teach Life. The Talented Tenth of the Negro race must be made leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among their people. No others can do this work and Negro colleges must train men for it. The Negro race, like all other races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men.

21. Failure of the Talented Tenth

22. Failure of the Talented Tenth Later, Du Bois revised his earlier pronouncements regarding the role of the black elite in racial advancement, instead advocating a more significant role for the black masses in assuming black leadership and promoting social change within the race. It’s those who suffered most and have the least to lose that we should look to for our steadfast, dependable, and uncompromising leadership.

23. The Ironic Legacy of IntegrationStuart Buck The African American underclass may not be as poor as many were in the 1950s, but its isolation from the mainstream and from positive role models is actually worse. Harvard sociologist William Julius Wilson has shown, the concentration of poverty in inner cities became a crisis in the decades after the civil rights movement, as suburbanization and the decline of manufacturing hollowed out inner cities and as the most successful and talented blacks pursued newly available opportunities outside segregated ghettoes.

24. The Ironic Legacy of IntegrationStuart Buck The inadvertent result was a "brain drain" and a diversion of resources away from many black neighborhoods and black institutions. Those blacks left behind in inner cities faced anemic local economies, weakened social networks, withered institutions, and failing schools. These larger economic and demographic shifts disrupted black communities and displaced black role models, creating "super ghettos" of unprecedented isolation, joblessness, and social dysfunction

25. Collapse of Jefferson St. Jefferson was jumping. But the golden era was over in the 60’s when the Jefferson Street Corridor received two mortal blows – an interstate and desegregation. Interstate 40 bisected the street and cut off traffic to business. Desegregation gave black customers shopping choices in white stores. The once vibrant area was now a collection of businesses just holding on, boarded-up buildings, and cracking sidewalks.

26. Educo - Bring Up Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

27. Educo – Lead Out The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.

28. STORY OF LAZARUS Education is meant to raise your conscious from a dead state, or an unknown state, to higher level of consciousness.

29. Story of Lazarus

30. Revolutionaries? History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be. – Dr. Clarke John Henrik Clarke -- Yosefben Jochannan-- Chancellor Williams

31. Kalonji’s Knowledge Korner Kalonji’s Knowledge Korner, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating youth and inspiring them to leadership via a foundational philosophy of community action and social justice. In the upcoming months we plan to establish a core plan for a summer mentoring program and invite you to join us in this quest.

32. KORNERSTONES EDUCATION LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT SOCIAL JUSTICE

33. KALONJI’S KNOWLEDGE KORNER CONTACT kalonji@gmail.com WEBSITE www.kalonjisknowledgekorner.com ePORTFOLIO www.taneya-kalonji.com/alchemist

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