That's what I mean by being bilingual: comfortable in your skin, comfortable with all parts of who you are. — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
If you share a common ancestor with somebody, you're related to them. It doesn't mean that you're going to invite them to… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
If you don't tell your stories, other people will tell their story about you. It's important that we nurture and protect these… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
You can find virtually everybody black back as far as the 1870 census. Why 1870? That's when the ex-slaves first have surnames.… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
In 1957, when I was in second grade, black children integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. We watched it on… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
If you share a common ancestor with somebody, you're related to them. It doesn't mean that you're going to invite them to… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
Mama and I would go to a funeral and she'd stand up to read the dead person's eulogy. She made the ignorant… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
I think that is what we do by preserving and telling our stories. If you don't tell your stories, other people will… — Henry Louis Gates Copy Share Image
The first slave came to Florida in 1526. The first one we know by name, Esteban, which means Stephen, came a couple… — 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
