ABSTRACT
Apart from the recognition DuBois provided for the identification and support for intellectual possibilities, the field of gifted education took root over the next several decades after DuBois's introduction of the Talented Tenth failed to embrace his ideas. He rejected the idea that the most talented minds found amongst minority populations—a view perpetuated at the establishment of the field of gifted education and largely tied to the hereditarian views of intelligence held by Terman and Hollingworth, "which often erected road blocks to opportunity for certain groups, notably blacks". The critical work completed by Jenkins in the 1930s and 1940s sought to change the discourse around gifted African American students. Schools were not particularly effective at identifying and serving gifted students who were economically, ethnically or racially diverse, as teachers and educators did not recognize these characteristics together in one student. Criteria for the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Act of 1988 changed in order to help address these issues.
