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When Europeans came upon real ruined cities they refused to believe that they had been built by Africans. Here the past has been distorted and denied.

Henry Louis Gates

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Henry Louis Gates
Age: 74
Born: 1950
Born: September 16
Critic
Essayist
Genealogist
Historian
Journalist
Literary Critic
Philosopher
University Teacher
Writer
Keyser
West Virginia
Henry Louis Gates
Believe
Ruined
Denied
Built
Cities
Came
Africans
Upon
Distorted
Past
Europeans
Real
Refused

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You should not pick an occupation because your think your parents want you to do it, or because you think it's the noble thing to do. You should only pick a job because it turns you on.
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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.
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My grandfather was coloured, my father was Negro, and I am Black.
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I have no plans to slow down.
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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.
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So many people of color who made major contributions to American history have been trapped in the purgatory of history.
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My goal is to get everybody in America to do their family tree.
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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.
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I want to be a figure for prison reform. I think that the criminal justice system is rotten.
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The genius is making a way out of no way.
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Suffering does not necessarily ennoble you.
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People don't realize what a brilliant politician Lincoln was. Looking back, we want to ascribe a level of providence to his every decision but he was a cunning and calculating politician from the cultivation of his image as a hayseed from Illinois, to his ability to keep this country together under dire circumstances.
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Learning to sing one's own songs, to trust the particular cadences of own's voices, is also the goal of any writer.
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