Quotesia
Home
Authors
Popular authors
Edward Young
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Ausonius
Mignon McLaughlin
Charles M. Schulz
Thomas Jefferson
All authors
Today's birthdays
1672 - Joseph Addison
1988 - Anushka Sharma
1951 - Sally Mann
1917 - Danielle Darrieux
1940 - Elsa Peretti
1984 - Henry Zebrowski
Today's birthdays
Popular professions
Cartoonist
Actress
Architect
Actor
Psychologist
Artist
All professions
Authors by letter
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
All authors
Topics
Top Quotes
Quotesia
Favorite authors
Henry Louis Gates Quotes
Henry Louis Gates Quotes
Henry Louis Gates
American
Critic
Born:
Sep 16
,
1950
America
Black
People
Think
White
You
Related authors:
George Steiner
James Wolcott
Kimberly Guilfoyle
Lawrence Clark Powell
Margaret Fuller
Pauline Kael
Roger Ebert
bell hooks
Patriotism is best exemplified through auto-critique.
Henry Louis Gates
Best
Patriotism
Through
I'm a tech geek.
Henry Louis Gates
Geek
Tech
Suffering does not necessarily ennoble you.
Henry Louis Gates
You
Suffering
Does
Necessarily
Ennoble
Keeping the Union together, freeing slaves and being assassinated all added up to creating 'Lincoln the myth.' He overcame a lot of his own prejudices and became what many would consider the first black man's president.
Henry Louis Gates
Man
Together
Black
Myth
First
Own
Added
President
Consider
Would
He
Freeing
Overcame
Became
Lincoln
His
Lot
Up
Being
Creating
Prejudices
Union
Many
Keeping
Slaves
The Dominican Republic says 'We're black behind the ears.' And in Mexico, 'there's a black grandma in the closet.' They know, they've just been intermarrying for a long time. But if we did the DNA of everyone in Mexico a whole lot of people would have a whole lot of black in them.
Henry Louis Gates
Time
People
Black
Long
Long Time
Everyone
Ears
Says
Would
Know
Been
Lot
Mexico
Dominican Republic
Did
Closet
Behind
Just
Republic
Them
Grandma
Whole
In America one drop of black ancestry makes you black. In Brazil, it's almost as if one drop of white ancestry makes you white.
Henry Louis Gates
You
Black
Drop
Brazil
White
Ancestry
Almost
Makes
America
Let's face it - think of Africa, and the first images that come to mind are of war, poverty, famine and flies. How many of us really know anything at all about the truly great ancient African civilizations, which in their day, were just as splendid and glorious as any on the face of the earth?
Henry Louis Gates
War
Day
Great
Mind
Face
Poverty
First
Glorious
Think
Earth
Ancient
About
Civilizations
Splendid
Come
Know
How
Were
Truly
Any
Just
Africa
Famine
African
Anything
Which
Us
Really
Flies
Many
Images
It's very lonely being a prominent black intellectual at an institution where you're the only prominent black intellectual. That was the model that was followed in the late 60s when black studies started. You'd get one here and one there and one here, like Johnny Appleseed.
Henry Louis Gates
You
Black
Lonely
Late
Prominent
Followed
Only
Johnny
Studies
Institution
Like
Intellectual
Very
Model
Get
Being
Where
Here
Started
I'm a tech geek. Whenever I read about something new, I think to myself, How can I take this and make it black?
Henry Louis Gates
Myself
Black
Think
Geek
About
Something
Something New
Take
New
Make
Read
How
Whenever
Tech
A more humane form of capitalism is about the best I think we can get. Which might sound very reformist or conservative, but that's basically where I am.
Henry Louis Gates
Best
Capitalism
Conservative
Humane
Think
About
More
Sound
Am
Very
Get
Where
Form
Which
Might
Basically
My family and our neighbors and friends thought of Africa and its Africans as extensions of the stereotyped characters that we saw in movies and on television in films such as 'Tarzan' and in programs such as 'Ramar of the Jungle' and 'Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.'
Henry Louis Gates
Family
Queen
Thought
Films
Programs
Our
Saw
Television
Neighbors
Characters
Friends
Jungle
Tarzan
Africa
African
Movies
Extensions
For as long as I can remember, I have been passionately intrigued by 'Africa,' by the word itself, by its flora and fauna, its topographical diversity and grandeur; but above all else, by the sheer variety of the colors of its people, from tan and sepia to jet and ebony.
Henry Louis Gates
People
Remember
Word
Long
Diversity
Jet
Else
Intrigued
Above
Variety
Colors
Sheer
Tan
Passionately
Been
Itself
Africa
Grandeur
Flora
The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. We also need intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment.
Henry Louis Gates
Success
Class
Opportunities
Ending
Black
Poverty
Intervention
Would
Economic
Betterment
Between
Also
Eradicate
Historical
Itself
Expanding
Discrimination
Middle
Middle Class
While
Dysfunction
Poor
Ethic
Gap
Shows
Among
Basis
Need
My mom, God rest her soul - she liked nicknames. In the womb she named me Skip. There was another black guy in Piedmont, W.Va., and his name was Skip. They called him Big Skip, and I was Little Skip.
Henry Louis Gates
God
Mom
Me
Soul
Black
Rest
Big
Guy
Name
Named
Liked
She
Him
Another
His
Womb
Little
Skip
Her
Nicknames
In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.
Henry Louis Gates
Racism
Become
Air
Participate
Like
Institutional
America
Sensitive
Room
Breathing
Inherit
The bottom line is that Wanda Sykes has the longest continuously documented family tree of any African-American we have ever researched.
Henry Louis Gates
Family
Tree
Bottom
Bottom Line
Longest
Documented
Line
Continuously
Any
African-American
Ever
If Martin Luther King came back, he'd say we need another civil rights movement built on class not race.
Henry Louis Gates
Class
Rights
King
Back
Say
Rights Movement
Civil
Civil Rights
Civil Rights Movement
Martin
Martin Luther
Martin Luther King
He
Another
Built
Came
Movement
Race
Need
Luther
It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.
Henry Louis Gates
Class
Black
Inevitable
White
Strategy
Think
Unless
Promote
More
Tension
Between
Versus
Any
Middle
Middle Class
Them
Interests
Avert
Unite
My grandfather was coloured, my father was Negro, and I am Black.
Henry Louis Gates
Father
Black
Coloured
Am
Grandfather
First we have to recognize that the cause of poverty is both structural and behavioral. And the first thing about the behavior part is that we need a moral revolution within the African American community. Look - no white racist makes you get pregnant when you are a black teenager.
Henry Louis Gates
You
Cause
Behavior
Black
Poverty
First
Revolution
White
Community
Teenager
Recognize
Moral
About
Structural
Both
Part
Look
First Thing
Within
Makes
Get
American
Behavioral
The First Thing
African
African-American
Pregnant
Thing
Need
Really, the values under which my generation was raised in the '50s were immigrant values even though we weren't immigrants. The greatest thing you could be was a college-educated Negro.
Henry Louis Gates
You
Generation
Values
Though
Immigrant
Immigrants
My Generation
Could
Greatest
Were
Greatest Thing
Which
Really
Even
Thing
Raised
You can find virtually everybody black back as far as the 1870 census. Why 1870? That's when the ex-slaves first have surnames. But if you find your great-great-grandfather in 1870 and it says he's 50, that means he was born in 1820 and you're back to 1820 already. For an American that's pretty damned good, you know?
Henry Louis Gates
Good
You
Black
First
Everybody
Virtually
Back
Says
Find
Born
Pretty
He
Know
American
As Far As
Census
Far
Means
Your
Why
Load more quotes
No more Henry Louis Gates quotes
Haven't find the right quote? Try quotes from authors related to Henry Louis Gates.
George Steiner
James Wolcott
Kimberly Guilfoyle
Lawrence Clark Powell