Politicians will not put forth programs aimed at the problems of poor blacks while their turnout remains so low. Henry Louis Gates More Quotes by Henry Louis Gates More Quotes From Henry Louis Gates In 1957, when I was in second grade, black children integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. We watched it on TV. All of us watched it. I don't mean Mama and Daddy and Rocky. I mean all the colored people in America watched it, together, with one set of eyes. Henry Louis Gates mean children school The thing about living in a village at the foot of a mountain is that the world for you becomes, without thinking about it, self-contained. People are of two kinds, really: from the Valley, and from Elsewhere. Henry Louis Gates self class thinking An impressively researched and documented collection of the finest thought produced by writers throughout the African Diaspora. A magnificent achievement. Henry Louis Gates diaspora finest achievement My father and I made genetics history. We were the first African-Americans and the first father and son anywhere to have their genomes sequenced. Henry Louis Gates african-american father son I want to be black, to know black, to luxuriate in whatever I might be calling blackness at any particular time, but to do so in order to come out on the other side, to experience a humanity that is neither colorless nor reducible to color. Henry Louis Gates color humanity order Learning to sing one's own songs, to trust the particular cadences of own's voices, is also the goal of any writer. Henry Louis Gates voice goal song It's fascinating how life works. Henry Louis Gates fascinating You have a diasporic black world, and the only way to put it back together again is symbolic. It's like Humpty Dumpty. Whoever could edit the 'Encyclopedia Africana' would provide symbolic order to the fragments created over the past 500 years. That is a major contribution. Henry Louis Gates order past years Patriotism is best exemplified through auto-critique. Henry Louis Gates descent critique patriotism You notice patterns. White guests often are mortified - that word again - when they learn their ancestors owned slaves. But I've never had a black guest who was upset to learn about white ancestry that probably involved forced sexual relations. Henry Louis Gates upset black white Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labor-saving device in the face of complexity. Henry Louis Gates conspiracy saving faces America is the greatest nation ever founded. The ideals are the greatest ever espoused in human history, and we just need the country to live up to them. But what I worry about are the 1 million black men in the prison system. Henry Louis Gates men country america In a one-hour documentary, you can tell maybe ten stories. That's how the documentary is structured. I wrote to forty of the greatest historians of both African and African-American history, and hired them as consultants. I had them submit what they thought were the indispensable stories, the ones they felt this series absolutely had to include. Henry Louis Gates documentaries african-american stories I think that is what we do by preserving and telling our stories. If you don't tell your stories, other people will tell their story about you. It's important that we nurture and protect these memories. Things change. Existence means change. 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 memories mean book Like the amazing story of Anthony Johnson. This man was a slave, then became free, accumulated 250 acres, and even had his own slave, a black man who took him to court in Virginia in 1654.That man argued that he should be freed like an indentured servant. But Johnson, who we believe was a pure African from Angola, said, "No way, you're my slave." And the court agreed. Henry Louis Gates virginia men believe My producers and I worked with these consultants and came up with seventy [stories] which we think are exemplary of the larger arc of African-American history between 1513 and 2013. We covered half a millennium, and it's amazing. Henry Louis Gates african-american stories thinking My earliest childhood memory is of my father going crazy when the Giants won the World Series in 1954. He started whoopin' and hollerin' and jumpin' up and down all around the living room. I started crying because he scared me to death. Henry Louis Gates crazy memories father Without doubt, President [Barack] Obama is a great historical figure. Henry Louis Gates historical president doubt The first slave came to Florida in 1526. The first one we know by name, Esteban, which means Stephen, came a couple of years later. So, we start with the stories of Juan Garrido and Esteban to show that African-American people have been here a century longer than anyone thought, and that the diversity we see in the African-American community today has existed since the beginning. Henry Louis Gates couple mean years You had one guy who was a slave, and another who wasn't. And I actually know what happened to them. [Juan ] Garrido ended up getting good jobs and a pension in Mexico which was the center of New Spain, as it was called. Esteban ended up being killed by the Zuni Indians. Henry Louis Gates spain guy jobs
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