Slavery to Liberation- The African American Experience, 2019a

doctorate from that institution in 1895. He performed sociological field research in
Philadelphia’s Black neighborhoods and published The Philadelphia Negro in 1899, the
first case study of a Black community in the United States. In that study, he described
the Black underclass as “the submerged tenth” and would later use the term the
“Talented Tenth” to indicate a Black elite class who should be educated in the classics,
humanities, and social and physical sciences. He came to believe that racial integration
was the key to democratic equality in American cities.
DuBois’s educational views began to crystalize when he opposed Washington’s
apparent accommodation to White interests as expressed in the Atlanta Compromise.
He felt that Black schools should focus more on liberal arts and an academic curriculum
as a means of developing a leadership cadre. His publication in 1903 of The Souls of
Black Folk took direct aim at Washington’s silence on civil and political rights. Although
both men emphasized education, the debate over the curriculum would continue, and
Black colleges and universities were caught in the middle. As a result, many chose to
skillfully incorporate both a classical-liberal curriculum and a vocational curriculum, in
order to attract money from White philanthropists. But these Black leaders were not the
only ones who began to devise a plan for Black education.
DECISIONS AT CAPON SPRINGS
On June 29, 1898, a group of White ministers, college presidents, and philanthropists
met in Capon Springs, West Virginia, to formulate their own philosophy in regards to
training Black teachers and leaders. This gathering was the start of a series known as
the Capon Springs Conference for Education in the South. By the end of the Third
Conference at Capon Springs, it was agreed by all members that the best way to
provide training for Blacks was to first provide adequate schools and education for the
neglected Southern Whites. The schools would be separate but operate under one set
of laws and supported by taxes paid by the pupil. It was decided that certain Black
colleges would be strengthened for the purpose of training ministers, physicians, and