Henry Louis Gates Quotes & Sayings (Page 11)

“A more humane form of capitalism is about the best I think we can get. Which might sound very reformist or conservative, but that's basically where I am.”

“What people forget is that the most radical thing about Obama is that he was the first black man in history to imagine that he could become president, who was able to make other Americans believe it as well. Other than that, he is a centrist, just like I try to be. He's been bridging divisions his whole life.”

“Wherever you go in the history of America, there have been Black people making contributions, but their contributions have been obscured, lost, buried.”

“Because Lincoln is so closely identified with what it is to be American, everyone wants to claim him, to rewrite his story to satisfy their own particular needs.”

“You can find virtually everybody black back as far as the 1870 census. Why 1870? That's when the ex-slaves first have surnames. But if you find your great-great-grandfather in 1870 and it says he's 50, that means he was born in 1820 and you're back to 1820 already. For an American that's pretty damned good, you know?”