Washington — If the assertion, popular among mainstream writers, is true that the age of public intellectualism is dead, no one told the growing number of Black scholars and their rapidly growing non-campus following.
For example, a standing-room-only crowd recently gathered in a church here and enthusiastically applauded the news that an international organization of African-American scholars — funded by a Rockefeller Foundation grant — is in the works.
What was unusual about the statement was that it came from Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. He was responding during a brief question-and-answer session as he shared the stage with his colleague in Harvard’s Department of Afro-American Studies, Cornel West.
Such a joint appearance would have been a rarity decades ago. But, even in a town where book-signing appearances are as common as political press releases, this little-publicized gathering drew a turn-away crowd.
