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
Learning to sing one's own songs, to trust the particular cadences of own's voices, is also the goal of any writer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of finding and expressing one's unique voice as a writer.
Henry Louis Gates highlights that the essence of writing is not just about technique but also about authenticity. Learning to embrace and convey one's individual perspectives and experiences through writing is crucial for any author aiming to resonate with readers and convey genuine emotions.
Themes
WritingVoiceAuthenticityExpressionCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, this quote could inspire participants to focus on their personal narratives.
More from Henry Louis Gates
All quotes βIt'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
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