Let's face it - think of Africa, and the first images that come to mind are of war, poverty, famine and flies. How many of us really know anything at…

- Henry Louis Gates

There are just so many stories that are buried on family trees.

- Henry Louis Gates

The first slave came to Florida in 1526. The first one we know by name, Esteban, which means Stephen, came a couple of years later. So, we start with…

- Henry Louis Gates

Our society is driven today by so much ethnic discord. We have Black Lives Matter, which I praise and celebrate. We have the demagogues stereotyping …

- Henry Louis Gates

The biggest surprise for me, without a doubt, was that the first black people who came to the United States weren't the 20 who arrived in Jamestown i…

- Henry Louis Gates

The genius is making a way out of no way.

- Henry Louis Gates

We must begin to understand the nature of intertextuality . . . the manner by which texts poems and novels respond to other texts. After all, all cat…

- Henry Louis Gates

If you don't tell your stories, other people will tell their story about you. It's important that we nurture and protect these memories. Things chang…

- Henry Louis Gates

The story of the African-American people is the story of the settlement and growth of America itself, a universal tale that all people should experie…

- Henry Louis Gates