There simply have been no black literate intellectuals who have mastered their craft commensurate with the achievements of Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker or Rev. Manuel Scott — just as there are no black literate intellectuals today comparable to Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan or Rev. Gardner Taylor. This is not so because there have been or are no first-rate, black, literate intellectuals, but rather because without strong institutional channels to sustain traditions, great achievement is impossible.

Cornel West, The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual, p.306