How many African Americans were in college in the early 1900s?

Between 1900 and 1909, there were about 1,600 black college graduates.

By 1915 that total had risen to more than 5,300. W. E. B. Du Bois referred to these college-educated blacks as the “Talented Tenth,” although they made up much less than one-tenth of the African American population, which totaled about ten and a half million by 1920.

Du Bois believe that African Americans would be “saved” by this small educated black elite.

About 2,000 blacks attended college in 1917.