African American Intellectual-Activists: Legacies in the Struggle

This study examines the narrated life experiences of 11 African American intellectual-activists. An intellectual-activist is defined as a person whose education has provided him or her with a body of knowledge to which he/she is continually adding (intellectual self) and who works daily for, or has a career dedicated to, the betterment of African American people (activist self). The study explores the ways in which the subjects developed this positive self-concept, how this self-concept influenced the goals of their activism, and how they define progress toward these goals.