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
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.
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.
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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.
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In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.
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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.
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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.
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