Always been the case.
Which is why the anti-intellectual movement that was spreading in the community, especially through hiphop, was so dangerous.
Nothing scares them more than educated black folks. Especially YOUNG Black educated folks.
Look at Black history post 1865:
Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877 made MASSIVE strides for Black Americans and gained lots of ground in education, politics, business, inventions, and so on. Then Jim Crow came through and crashed the buildings. That was when lynchings and uneducated black farmers became the popular trope, and didn't quite bounce back until the 1960s.
The 1960s and 70s had black folks, against, gain massive ground in education and middle class neighborhoods until outsourcing and crack became normalized in the 80s. Crack Era justified young black folks not taking education seriously and engaging in everything destructive for the sake of being "cool" and fast money.
Even Hip Hop post 1992 was when everyone conformed to be a "real nikka" and abandoned African Medallions for gangsta rap that brainwashed a large portion of the Black youth to be gangsta for props and being "real" by doing jail bids and selling crack.
Always, always, always been obstacles that hindered the intellectual growth of the black youth for clout.