104 Quotes by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

no human culture is inaccessible to someone who makes the effort to understand, to learn, to inhabit another world.

All historians generalize from particulars. And often, if you look at a historian’s footnotes, the number of examples of specific cases is very, very small.

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.

So many people of color who made major contributions to American history have been trapped in the purgatory of history.

Lincoln had a tremendous capacity for personal growth – more than any other American President.

The first step toward tolerance is respect and the first step toward respect is knowledge.

The genius is making a way out of no way.

I’m looking forward to the time when we all look like Polynesians.

I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you’re desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward – well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism.