Kulturraumstudien USA, Homework for December 13th

For homework, please: 

- read/skim "The Talented Tenth" by W.E.B. Du Bois posted under "Week Nine Reading Du Bois" on Ilias and answer the following:

a) paraphrase Du Bois' concept of the "talented tenth" and identify at least three points in the reading that he uses to support his thesis that "the Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men".

b) answer the following question: where do we see echoes of the "talented tenth" discourse in 21st-century US society? (Make the link to Hall: how do informal-level convictions about meritocracy manifest on the formal and technical levels of culture in the US today?)