Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

Reynolds introduces William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, better known by his initials, W. E. B. Du Bois. One of the most famous Black American intellectuals of all time, Du Bois was also, according to Reynolds, “the king of uplift suasion” and “the Black king of assimilation” (118) through much of his career. He attended the best Black college—Fisk University—for his undergraduate degree and the best white college—Harvard University—for his postgraduate degree. His education at Harvard introduced him to the narrative that slavery ruined Black people, one that existed for centuries and that the American education system perpetuated. In his own estimation, Du Bois was an exceptional Black man that exemplified the level of poise and intelligence that Black people could attain. He wrote The Souls of Black Folk, which “set out to establish the mere fact that Black people were complex human beings” (124) and established the idea of the Talented Tenth, an upper echelon of Black people that were, like him, exceptional. This idea gained influence around the turn of the century.

We also meet some other high-profile Black intellectuals of the time. Investigative journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett published a massive report on lynching in the South in 1892.