African-American scholarship has for about 200 years been cast a footnote to intellectualism in the whole of the U.S., with an even menacing myth that blacks are anti-intellectual.
Psychologist Kevin Cokley has delved into the reasons for which African-Americans are seen as ne’er-do-wells with regards to education in America. That is, after all, the basis by which even legitimately top black minds are overlooked.
However, in the last half-century, the pushback against the myth of anti-intellectualism among black people has resulted in the celebration of some prominent black academics.
Face2FaceAfrica.com takes a look at the top 10 living African-American minds in no particular order.
These scholars made it onto this list by virtue of the impact of their work in their chosen fields, as well as, the success of their public engagements in the last few years.