QuoteProject
In Ethiopia, the black people became Christians 1700 years ago, hundreds of years before Northern Europe turned to Christianity... And here, most of the saints are black.
Henry Louis Gates
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the early adoption of Christianity by black people in Ethiopia, and the prominence of black saints in the faith's history.

Henry Louis Gates emphasizes the historical importance of Ethiopia in the context of Christianity, noting that black people embraced the faith some 1700 years ago, well before it spread to Northern Europe. This statement serves to challenge commonly held narratives about the history of Christianity and showcases the significant contributions of African communities within the religion, particularly through the acknowledgment of black saints.

Themes

EthiopiaChristianityHistoryBlack SaintsAfrica

In practice

Example use cases

In a lecture on the history of Christianity, one might quote this to highlight the importance of Africa in the spread of the faith.

More from Henry Louis Gates

There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery.
Henry Louis GatesRead
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.
Henry Louis GatesRead
In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.
Henry Louis GatesRead
In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. We also need intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The only people who live in a post-black world are four people who live in a little white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea that America is post-racial or post-black because a man I admire, Barack Obama, is president of the United States, is a joke. And I hope no one will even wonder about this crazy fiction again.
Henry Louis GatesRead

Similar quotes

My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked bread for George Washington's troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own father was a slave.
Paul RobesonRead
For 200 years, the dominant powers have also been the colonial powers: the European countries, the U.S. and Japan. They have never been required to pay their dues for what they did to those whom they possessed and treated with contempt.
Martin JacquesRead
It is like writing history with lightning and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.
Woodrow WilsonRead
War is a crucial, deeply ingrained part of human history. It has to be understood.
Margaret MacmillanRead
They didn't incarcerate the Japanese-Americans in Hawaii. That's the place that was bombed. But the Japanese-American population was about 45 percent of the island of Hawaii. And if they extracted those Japanese-Americans, the economy would have collapsed. But on the mainland, we were thinly spread out up and down the West Coast.
George TakeiRead
History is the queen of the humanities. It teaches wisdom and humility, and it tells us how things change through time.
Gordon S. WoodRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.