Talented Tenth Quotes & Sayings

Was there ever a nation on God's fair earth civilized from the bottom upward? Never; it is, ever was, and ever will be from the top downward that culture filters. The Talented Tenth rises and pulls all that are worth the saving up to their vantage ground. — W.E.B. Du Bois

The Talented Tenth of the Negro race must be made leaders of thought and missionaries of culture among their people. — W.E.B. Du Bois

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. — W.E.B. Du Bois