Transcending the Talented Tenth : Black Leaders and American Intellectuals

Joy James provocatively examines African American intellectual responses to racism and the role of elitism, sexism and anti-radicalism in black leadership politics throughout history. She begins with Du Bois' construction of "the Talented Tenth" as an elite leadership of race managers and takes us through the lives and work of radical women in the anti-lynching crusades, the civil rights and black liberation movements, as well as explores the contemporary struggles among black elites in academia. Originally published 1997.

In Transcending the Talented Tenth, Joy James provocatively examines African American intellectual responses to racism and the role of elitism, sexism and anti-radicalism in black leadership politics throughout history. She begins with Du Bois' construction of "the Talented Tenth" as an elite leadership of race managers and takes us through the lives and work of radical women in the anti-lynching crusades, the civil rights and black liberation movements, as well as explores the contemporary struggles among black elites in academe.

Library Journal

James is an African American intellectual who has written on U.S. foreign policy and the politics of state violence (Resisting State Violence, LJ 9/1/96). Her latest book examines the historic role of intellectual leadership in the black community, with special reference to the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, Ella Baker, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, and Cornell West. Her primary interest is in challenging the elitism and self-absorption of academic intellectuals and in recovering the work of "nonelite" community activists who have contributed to public life through their journalism, polemics, and public speaking. Despite her sharp critique of liberal academics, her conception of the relationship of black intellectuals to movements for social justice is ultimately hopeful, noting that black progressive intellectuals "shape America's national discourse, even while agitating for inclusion within it." A thoughtful study recommended for libraries with collections in American politics or history.Kent Worcester, Social Science Research Council, New York

Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Foreword Preface Introduction Our Past: Historiography, Erasure, und Race Leadership Chapter 1 The Talented Tenth Recalled Chapter 2 Profeminism and Gender Elites: W. E. B. Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett Chapter 3 Sexual Politics: An Antilynching Crusader in Revisionist Feminism Chapter 4 Disappearing Race Women and Civil Rights Radicals The Present Future: Contemporary Crises and Black Intellectuals Chapter 5 On Racial Violence and Democracy Chapter 6 The Common Program: Race, Class, Sex, and Politics Chapter 7 Captive Theorists and Community Caretakers: Women and Academic Intellectualism Chapter 8 Elite Educators and the Heroic Intellectual Conclusion: Radicalism and Black Intellectual Life Notes Index Offers an examination of African-American intellectuals, both historically and in contemporary life. The text explores the work and politics of thinkers, activists, and topics from W.E.B. DuBois to Ida B. Wells, from Ella Baker to women's autobiographies of the civil rights movement. The role of black public intellectuals is being passionately debated both within and outside academia. This book offers an expansive examination of African-American intellectuals, both historically and in contemporary life. Referring to a select castle, C. L. R. James wrote pessimistically about the possibilities of American intellectuals to move beyond the conservative functions of elites.