The Third Wave: 1915-1960 The Black Working Class Meets the Aristocracy
As the century came to a close, the old black elite was losing their position due to the rapid economic and social changes in America. A newly developing black middle class that excelled based on economic and educational achievement began integrating with the previous black upper class. This new group still consisted of blacks that worked as businessmen, professionals and in white-collar jobs from the previous elite, however with the looming anger over emancipation for blacks, many whites consistently shut blacks out of jobs. They preferred to be served by the new generation of white workers as well as the European immigrants …show more content…
Education was offered to some blacks that were not a part of the elite, but the majority of the opportunities for higher education went to the second black bourgeoisie. With increased interest from white liberals and entrepreneurs, many monetary contributions from capitalists such as John D. Rockefeller Sr. helped create what would become known as the black Ivy League for elite blacks: Howard, Clark-Atlanta, Morehouse and Spelman. With these institutions of higher learning now available to more blacks, many enrolled and began developing specialized skills to work in more expansive fields serving the black community. This change supports Emile Durkheim’s functionalist theory because they were able to contribute to more societal functions that helped their race progress. It also provided assistance to the “growing Negro problem,” that the country struggled to address. Instead of waiting for American government to help them as citizens, they utilized the skills they acquired to aid black society. Many blacks that received college degrees became teachers, which helped to educate more black people producing more college graduates. More black colleges were providing a continuous string of jobs and more training for blacks to enter the workforce and compete with whites, which helped them navigate the fourth wave. These were highly progressive measures for blacks, but they still lacked a large amount of graduate programs with the first appearing in 1921 at Howard University and the next not being erected until much later (Landry 49). Also, many black colleges and universities struggled with obtaining significant financial contributions with $260,000 in donations from 1935-1936 compared to close to $3,000,000 to white schools (Landry
As the century came to a close, the old black elite was losing their position due to the rapid economic and social changes in America. A newly developing black middle class that excelled based on economic and educational achievement began integrating with the previous black upper class. This new group still consisted of blacks that worked as businessmen, professionals and in white-collar jobs from the previous elite, however with the looming anger over emancipation for blacks, many whites consistently shut blacks out of jobs. They preferred to be served by the new generation of white workers as well as the European immigrants …show more content…
Education was offered to some blacks that were not a part of the elite, but the majority of the opportunities for higher education went to the second black bourgeoisie. With increased interest from white liberals and entrepreneurs, many monetary contributions from capitalists such as John D. Rockefeller Sr. helped create what would become known as the black Ivy League for elite blacks: Howard, Clark-Atlanta, Morehouse and Spelman. With these institutions of higher learning now available to more blacks, many enrolled and began developing specialized skills to work in more expansive fields serving the black community. This change supports Emile Durkheim’s functionalist theory because they were able to contribute to more societal functions that helped their race progress. It also provided assistance to the “growing Negro problem,” that the country struggled to address. Instead of waiting for American government to help them as citizens, they utilized the skills they acquired to aid black society. Many blacks that received college degrees became teachers, which helped to educate more black people producing more college graduates. More black colleges were providing a continuous string of jobs and more training for blacks to enter the workforce and compete with whites, which helped them navigate the fourth wave. These were highly progressive measures for blacks, but they still lacked a large amount of graduate programs with the first appearing in 1921 at Howard University and the next not being erected until much later (Landry 49). Also, many black colleges and universities struggled with obtaining significant financial contributions with $260,000 in donations from 1935-1936 compared to close to $3,000,000 to white schools (Landry