Black Intelligentsia (of America) is a term and, ultimately, a movement with roots dating back to the Reconstruction Period, a time when statutory bans on educating Blacks were lifted and Black educational institutions became available to the population of free Blacks and newly-freed slaves. The individuals who comprised this movement at its emergence would later become the audience for whom intellectual giant W. E. B. Du Bois set the stage, as bodies of Black intellectuals began to coalesce around the idea of racial equality.
With regard to equality in education as it related to African-Americans, several ideologies were introduced that spoke directly to the Black Intelligentsia, particularly to its direction and focus. Activist W. E. B. Du Bois envisioned a system that was different from other predominant Black leaders of his time—namely Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey. Washington stressed industrial, not academic, education as a means of gaining economic independence from the sharecropper system. In his Atlanta Exposition Address (dubbed the “Atlanta Compromise”), he told those of his race to “…‘Cast down your bucket’… in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions.” To those of the white race, he assured that the wisest among the black race understood that “…the agitation of questions of socially equality is the extremest folly and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges… must be the result of severe and constant struggle…”, etching out a clearly-defined subordinate “place” for blacks in America. Du Bois publicly rejected the policy of Washington’s Atlanta Compromise, for he felt that his “policy of submission” practically accepted the alleged inferiority of the Black race. He thought that providing only an industrial education was insufficient and argued for the education of a Black elite, whom he termed “the talented tenth,” and the education of youth according to ability. In his essay, “The Talented Tenth,” Du Bois promoted higher training for the brighter minds of his race. “The Talented Tenth rises and pulls all who are worth the saving up to their vantage ground” by leading, inspiring, and elevating the masses. While they both solicited and garnered support from Whites, Du Bois, unlike Washington, insisted on civil equality and the right to vote. Garvey, on the other hand, believed in total and complete autonomy of African Americans in education and infrastructure-building without the influence, involvement, or interference by outsiders or “alien races.” Garvey believed this feat to be achievable through equal and proper wages, government representation, and fund allocation across racial lines. His UNIA movement demanded civil equality for Africans in the Americas and throughout the world.
Though they shared the same vision, these three remarkable minds could not fully see eye-to-eye on neither approach nor strategy (Garvey did, however, correspond with Washington to establish educational and industrial colleges modeled after Tuskegee Institute). Du Bois made his personal contempt for both Washington and Garvey publicly through his speeches and essays but applauded their leadership abilities and accomplishment of uniting the masses.
Black Intelligentsia Libraries, LLC was founded with the three aforementioned distinguished gentlemen in mind. For the sake of Black children home and abroad, their three philosophies have been combined in hopes of providing direction and hope to the despaired. BIL was established to be a resource to those who are without, thus strengthening and replenishing the “Black elite” while restoring the phalanx toward the goal of equal educational, civil, employment, and governmental opportunities and representation for all.
The founders of our company believe that power, on so many levels, lies within Black institutions of learning and within their history. In the decades that followed the founding of Black learning institutions, desegregation had a profound and unexpectedly adverse effect on their viability and enrollment, for Blacks entering college began choosing to attend predominately White colleges. The once-vast and mighty Black education infrastructure experienced a drastic decline, as integration began to take its toll on predominately Black schools. The format of integration took the form of Blacks bolstering the enrollment of predominately White schools—rarely the other way around—while historically Black grade and high schools were closed, despite supposedly being regarded as “separate but equal.” Education as Blacks knew it—the village-like setting—began to vanish at all levels. And, as it did, much of the Black talent was redirected from Black institutes to predominately White institutes and colleges. Even today, over 100 years later in some cases, some HBCUs face the threat of losing accreditation. What does remain is a legacy of unparalleled resiliency from alumni, supporters, and their ability to unite to overcome adversity. It is imperative to restore the support once amassed for our great and storied learning institutes, as they were and remain, collectively, invaluable assets to our communities.
Despite its establishment in 2009, Black Intelligentsia Libraries, LLC had been conceptualized nearly a decade prior. Detailed processes require time, and, according to His plan, all things happen in due time. This moment marks the dawn of the BIL movement and its inevitable harvest.
“Education is that whole system of human training within and without the school house walls, which molds and develops…”
--W. E. B. Du Bois
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Black Intelligentsia Libraries
The New Way Of Thinking
