It is the black poet who bridges the gap in tradition, who modifies tradition when experience demands it, who translates experience into meaning and meaning into belief. Henry Louis Gates More Quotes by Henry Louis Gates More Quotes From Henry Louis Gates You have to have a canon so the next generation can come along and explode it. Henry Louis Gates canonnextgenerations No one thinks of Mexico and Peru as black. But Mexico and Peru together got 700,000 Africans in the slave trade. The coast of Acapulco was a black city in the 1870s. And the Veracruz Coast on the gulf of Mexico and the Costa Chica, south of Acapulco are traditional black lands. Henry Louis Gates landcitiesthinking The act of writing for the slave constituted the act of creating a public, historical self, not only the self of the individual author but also the self, as it were, of the race. Henry Louis Gates raceselfwriting The sad truth is that the civil rights movement cannot be reborn until we identify the causes of black suffering, some of them self-inflicted. Why can't black leaders organize rallies around responsible sexuality, birth within marriage, parents reading to their children and students staying in school and doing homework? Henry Louis Gates readingchildrenschool Color categories are on steroids in Latin America. I find that fascinating. It's very difficult for Americans, particularly African-Americans to understand or sympathize with. Henry Louis Gates colorlatinamerica I think literacy is everything. Henry Louis Gates literacythinking So, Mexico, Brazil, they wanted their national culture to be 'blackish' - really brown, a beautiful brown blend. And finally, I discovered that in each of these societies the people at the bottom are the darkest skinned with the most African features. Henry Louis Gates beautifulculturepeople The sad truth is that without complex business partnerships between African elites and European traders and commercial agents, the slave trade to the New World would have been impossible, at least on the scale it occurred. Henry Louis Gates agentsimpossibleworld The genius is making a way out of no way. Henry Louis Gates geniusway There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery. Henry Louis Gates brutalitystoriestwo 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 blackwhiteamerica Mama and I would go to a funeral and she'd stand up to read the dead person's eulogy. She made the ignorant and ugly sound like scholars and movie stars, turned the mean and evil into saints and angels. She knew what people had meant to be in their hearts, not what the world had forced them to become. She knew the ways in which working too hard for paltry wages could turn you mean and cold, could kill the thing that made you laugh. Henry Louis Gates angelstarsmean So, the kind of precious memories about being black for my generation won't exist for my kids' and grandkids' generations unless we preserve them through fiction, through film, through comic books, and every other form of media we can possibly utilize to perpetuate the story of the great African-American people. Henry Louis Gates memorieskidsbook The most ironic outcome of the black Civil Rights movement has been the creation of a new black middle class which is increasingly separate from the black underclass. Henry Louis Gates blackrightsclass Everything my mother and father did was designed to put me where I am. Henry Louis Gates mother-and-fathermotherfather 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 teenagercommunitywhite Where do real conversations about citizenship occur? In our schools. Think about the things you learned in first grade. "My Country 'Tis of Thee," "I pledge allegiance to the flag," "America the Beautiful." Henry Louis Gates realbeautifulcountry I want to be remembered as someone who tried to bring the story of our ancestors to the broadest possible audience. I want to be remembered as a man who loved his race. Henry Louis Gates racestoriesmen I want to be a figure for prison reform. I think that the criminal justice system is rotten. Henry Louis Gates criminalsjusticethinking Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice. Henry Louis Gates lynchingjusticeart
