W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was the first Black American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University, and he went on to be a founding member of the NAACP. This quote is pulled from an influential essay Du Bois published in 1903 in response to what he, and several other Black thought leaders of the time, saw as an overemphasis on industrial training for people of color. He feared that without multidisciplinary education, Black Americans would be forever relegated to second-class citizenry, barred from higher levels of leadership in both business and politics. “Work alone will not [uplift a people],” he wrote, “unless inspired by the right ideals and guided by intelligence.” The sentiment is as true today as it was in 1903.