W.E.B. DuBois Society Discusses Role of Black Intellectuals

Black intellectuals should "not get caught in a captivating bureaucratic university, but in some way associate with whatever feeble attempts at insurgency that are out there."

That view, voiced by Cornel West, associate professor of the philosophy of religion at Yale, was one of many opinions expressed at a conference Saturday examining the role and responsibilities of Black intellectuals.

Several Black scholars from Harvard and other universities and a predominantly Black audience of more than 100 students gathered at the Law School as part of the third annual W.E.B. Du Bois Graduate Colloquium.

The conference was sponsored by the W.E.B. Du Bois Graduate Society, an organization of Harvard graduate students formed in 1983 and named for the preeminent 20th century Black scholar and writer who was the first Black to receive a Harvard PhD.

Harold Cruse, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Michigan, launched the day of panel discussions on law, literature, and politics with a somber keynote address on the future state of Black intellectualism.

Cruse, whose 1967 book "The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual" prompted considerable scholarly debate on the role of Afro-American artist and scholars in America, told the group at the Law Scholars in America, told the group at the Law School's Pound Hall that a climate of "openness" in post-World War I Harlem enabled a great intellectual like W.E.B. Du Bois to communicate his ideas to ordinary people.

"The Black community was open to all points of view. No matter who it was, he had an audience," Cruse said.

But changing demographics and lifestyles of Blacks since the mid-20th century has created a situation where the climate of intellectual debate established by Du Bois and his colleagues is no longer possible, Cruse said.

"I mourn that the actors are gone, the continuity is broken, and that there is no active tradition that one can grab hold of," he said.

Cruse said a resurgence of Black intellectualism would require a "conscious community of intellectuals who are committed at an institutional level to create new lines of communication." But Cruse said the fact that such a development is "not in sight" is partly due to the fact that Black elites coming out of the major universities like Harvard and Yale are isolated from the general Black population.

Several people attending the colloquium accused Cruse of being overly nostalgic and pessimistic.

"By forming a society like ours, we are attempting to counter just what Cruse was saying about Black intellectuals being isolated and unable to communicate with each other," said Scott Brewer, a philosophy graduate student who is vice-president of the society.

Brewer was one of the several Harvard graduate students to deliver academic papers at the afternoon panels, which focused on legal, political, literary and historical topics ranging from the importance of race and class in the formation of Afro-American political attitudes, to narrative strategies in Alice Walker's novels, to the evolution of racial policies in the United States since 1940.

Michael Dawson, a Government Department graduate student and president of the Du Bois Graduate Society, said his organization operates on the belief that "there can be dialogue between intellectuals, activists and the Black community."

In the talk which closed the colloquium, scholars offered specific challenges for minority intellectuals.

West, the Yale professor, said it is the task of the Black intellectual to act as "a critical and organic catalyst" who "associates with whatever feeble attempts at in surgency are out there." By insurgency, West said he meant Blacks should challenge the establishment instead of joining it.

Jeffrey Howard, a Harvard social psychologist, rejected West's emphasis on external explanations for Black problems. Howard said the failure of government programs, for example, should not be blamed exclusively for problems confronting the Black community, such as a high crime rate, drug abuse, and higher instances of teenage pregnancy,

Howard said the chief failure of Blacks today is their failure to give their children a competitive footing and outlook in society.

"The distribution of knowledge, skills, and exposure to an aggressive and competitive spirit is fundamental to any group's success in society," Howard said. Howard urged intellectuals to foster personal development, self-esteem and constructive attitudes toward the family and marriage.

The final discussion, which was to take the form of a debate, was marred by the last minute cancellation of Professor of Public Policy Glenn C. Loury, whose political opinions, especially his criticism of affirmative action programs, have sparked considerable debate within the Afro-American community.

A conference organizer said Loury was ill and unable to attend.