The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.
Henry Louis GatesRead
Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Immigrants are central to the story of America rather than just a chapter in it.
This quote by Oscar Handlin emphasizes the integral role of immigrants in shaping American history. Rather than viewing them as a separate group, Handlin asserts that immigrants are a fundamental part of the American narrative, highlighting their contributions and impact on the nation’s development.
Themes
ImmigrantsHistoryAmericaIdentityContribution
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on immigration reform, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of immigrant contributions to American society.
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The men who founded and governed Massachusetts and Connecticut took themselves so seriously that they kept track of everything they did for the benefit of posterity and hoarded their papers so carefully that the whole history of the United States, recounted mainly by their descendants, has often appeared to be the history of New England writ large.
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Nations without a past are contradictions in terms. What makes a nation is the past, what justifies one nation against others is the past, and historians are the people who produce it.
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America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.
James MadisonRead
The Holocaust is a sacred subject. One should take off one's shoes when entering its domain, one should tremble each time one pronounces the word.
Elie WieselRead