No white racist makes you get pregnant when you are a black teenager. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
If Martin Luther King came back, he'd say we need another civil rights movement built on class not race. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
The story of the African-American people is the story of the settlement and growth of America itself, a universal tale that all… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
Wherever you go in the history of America, there have been Black people making contributions, but their contributions have been obscured, lost,… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
I want to get into the educational DNA of American culture. I want 10 percent of the common culture, more or less,… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
Each individual has a responsibility to get out of bed, learn their ABCs, learn your math tables, not use race and racism… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
The most ironic outcome of the black Civil Rights movement has been the creation of a new black middle class which is… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
It's no surprise that White people say things when they are together about Black people. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
The sad truth is that the civil rights movement cannot be reborn until we identify the causes of black suffering, some of… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
We can see that the complexity we witness inside the African-American community today has always been there. Black people were just as… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
I want to be remembered as someone who tried to bring the story of our ancestors to the broadest possible audience. I… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
We have to stop making excuses. One of the things that I'm careful to show is the horrendous effects of institutional and… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
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… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
We can't all work in the inner city. And, I don't even think that it is incumbent upon an African-American intellectual to… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
One principle I've been fighting for that doesn't endear me to a lot of people is that black people can be just… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
But you see, our society is still trapped in this binary, black/white logic and that has had some very positive implications for… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
I got a letter from this lady of Russian and Jewish descent. She asked me if I was a racist because I… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
I rebel at the notion that I can't be part of other groups, that I can't construct identities through elective affinity, that… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
I believe in the law. I think we have a great system of justice. But I do think that system of justice… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you're… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
Well, certainly one of the ironies of the success of affirmative action is that the middle class within the black community no… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
In Ethiopia, the black people became Christians 1700 years ago, hundreds of years before Northern Europe turned to Christianity... And here, most of the… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
Politicians will not put forth programs aimed at the problems of poor blacks while their turnout remains so low. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
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 Copy Share
I think that the implication of King's assassination has not been fully appreciated. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
I want to be remembered as someone who tried to bring the story of our ancestors to the broadest possible audience. I want to… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
In 1957, when I was in second grade, black children integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. We watched it on TV. All… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
Since the day Martin Luther King was killed, the black middle classes have almost quadrupled, but the percentage of black children living on or… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
Because Lincoln is so closely identified with what it is to be American, everyone wants to claim him, to rewrite his story to satisfy… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
Wherever you go in the history of America, there have been Black people making contributions, but their contributions have been obscured, lost, buried. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
The act of writing for the slave constituted the act of creating a public, historical self, not only the self of the individual author… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
You can say I had a severe case of 'Roots' envy. I wanted to be like Alex Haley, and I wanted to be able… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share
