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Books by Henry Louis
Gates, Jr.
Colored People /
Our Nig /
The African American Century /
The Bondwoman's Narrative /
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man
The Trials of Phillis Wheatley /
"Race," Writing, and Difference /
Wonders of the African World
In Search of Identity /
Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex /
The Signifying Monkey
Cosmopolitanism /
Identity and Violence /
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature
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Responses
to
Skip Gates
"Two
Nations" and the "Talented Fifth"
Dear Rudy,
For a variety of reasons, mostly my own fault, I have just read your
piece on Skip Gates. Thanks a million.
You have also given me some ammunition for a column which I will
be writing in a little while about an issue which I call
"Slave Society in the 21st century".
You need wider exposure outside of the US.
Peace and Love
—John
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RL, peace!
Skip Gates is part of a flanking effort being made by
conservatives on one side and middle/upper class sellouts on the
other side. It is my opinion that we are entering a new phase of
struggle that will divide Black folk along class lines. This is
why I said that we must know where middle and upper class blacks
allegiance lie. As far as Skip is concerned, I am fed up with
his bs and uncle tom antics. I have decided to boycott the
programs.
—amin sharif
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Greetings Brother Lewis,
I appreciate your emails and keep them
coming. But you have got to be kidding about watching anything
Gates presents after the outrageous hatchet job he did for white
america in that showing about Africa. He was dogged by
conscience African descendants all over america after he did the
hatchet job on Africa.
Serious African descendants don't need "skip gates"
who obvious helps to redefine the white supremacy system values
in such ways many whites would dare not do to help prop up their
system.
If people don't understand how the white
Harvard University well funds this man gates to go out step and
fetch it for them under the guise of scholarship and higher
education, then our people don't understand how the white
supremacy system power keepers operate.
The beyond the color line bullshit is only
more confusing. The white supremacy system domination is the
underlying factor of the white power structure. Being in bed
with persons classified as white, causes most "black"
persons who are hooked up with them to make compromising
comments and actions while the white supremacy system power
keepers go on dominated people of color around the world. That's
what colin powell helped them do then and is helping them do
now. The white supremacy domination system survives by dealing
on color.
As Dr. Frances Cress Welsing stated back in
the 1980s at Stanford University, in the white supremacy
domination chessboard game, white people play on the white side
of the board. Too many black people try to play in the middle of
racism chessboard game, even some claiming to be white or at
least color blind. What's needed and must be is the type of
blacks who will play on the black side of the white supremacy
domination with its racism behavior side of the board and
checkmate white supremacy.
Skip Gates, yes skip him, ain't playing on
the black side of the white supremacy chessboard game, he is in
the middle and as the coloreds of Southern Africa was and is
still being used as a buffer to better the white supremacy
system power keepers to keep on, this beyond color business is
just more of the same.
In fact this defect goes back to the days
when the Portuguese invaded Africa in the 15th century and
intentionally jumped in bed with black women to produce children
who identified with their white daddies and helped them do the
dirty work of seducing Africa. If you don't understand this age
old color thing, then skip gates and em are only going to
confuse the hell out of you.
—Ser Boxley
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Dear Rudy:
I just read your editorial on Gates . I
agree with most of what you have to say. The only comment
I have to make is that the mothers and fathers who manage to
give their children a tremendous dose of self esteem, whatever
their circumstances, seem to be the parents with the most
capable adults. This is hard to do - poor or rich - too
many variables. Bad stuff happens along the way.
However, I do believe if the child is short
he or she should be told the advantages of being short.
The same goes for anything else the world hands us.
Unfortunately, none of us are perfect parents and we all make
excuses for our children and ourselves. Inevitably we make
mistakes and the buck stops here.
It is comforting to have someone else to
blame it on, and God knows white America has a lot to be ashamed
of. But the more we blame, rather like a marital
quarrel, the more backlash there is. all best, —Lee
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It is strange, but in a sense Gates has this
same class biased sociology of Du Bois "talented
tenth" which he inherited from Lenin's concept of the
"bourgeois intelligentsia" leading the
"proletarian revolution". I'm sure that Du
Bois and Lenin would roll in their graves if they saw the shit
that their ideas led to -- Lenin to Stalin, Du Bois'
"talented tenth" to Gates "talented
"one-fifth". Your critique of Gates is very
comprehensive as it stands. It's unbelievable that he would
expose the bourgeois mentality and elitism of the "black
bourgeoisie" in public. But I guess he's no different than
C Thomas and the other Black Republicans. But this trend is the
opposite of Du Bois who argued that the educated elite had a
social and political obligation to the masses of less fortunate
Blacks whereas, as you showed, Gates is telling the Black
bourgeoisie to tell the masses to kiss their asses.
—Joe
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Brother Rudy:
I must have entered Harvard at the same time
he entered Yale only I was not a middle class, I was dirt poor.
My route to Harvard was different than Schmoke and Gate’s path
to Yale.
My father was a construction worker,
and my mother was a fulltime homemaker. She had to be with
eleven children, and a sick mother-in-law residing at 306 S.
Fremont Avenue. When I was presented with the idea of
going away from home to a place where I could get 3 square
meals, a bed of my own, and a good education, I got down
on my knees every evening and prayed to Almighty God for this
dream to come true. When I got the letter of acceptance ,
I ran up and down Fremont avenue shouting for joy.
Through prep school, I smiled all the time
because I was in a wonderland. Because I was one of two
African-Americans at the school, I experienced more economic
than racial prejudice. I remember the first marking period, I
had a D- average, but with first class effort marks. I was
so embarrassed . I quietly vowed and prayed that this
would change and it did. By the end of my senior year, I
had a cumulative average of B- and was on my way to Harvard.
It was only at fair Harvard that I
started to hear about something that Gates omitted, namely the
controversy of racial inferiority as proposed by Prof. Hernstein
during the 70’s. I began to doubt my own abilities,
even as society sought academic justification for my
inferiorities. I had to reach out to God again on my knees for
the ground of reason and truth that was not available in
academic society and certainly not the society at large. God
answered like Jesse said, “I am somebody!” I went on
to graduate cum laude, with a degree in mathematics and with
skepticism that the culture at large can entertain the TRUTH.
Du Bois had the talented tenth, and now Gates
has doubled it to make it a talented fifth. I guess that
is his idea of progress.
At this point in my life, having come a ways
from the poverty of my youth, I can truly say that the only
reason I can now stomach the lynchings of the past, the drugs of
the present, the cruelties of the war, the futilities of our
lives is my Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ who brought me
through prep school, Harvard and professional life. Jesus
is my reason for being; my answer for the absurd society in
which I live.
peace and all good to you and yours,
—will
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Wow, Rudy,
That was good! Well written and compassion
for the masses and hostility to those who call themselves
"Black" to advance their careers and turn around and
attack us once they get there. I am reminded of Clarence Thomas
attacks on his sister on welfare supporting his mother. Or
something like that. Great writing. Joe
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As they say in N'yawlins (or in the words of our mutual
friend Kalamu): "Yeah, you right!"
—Chuck
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Hey brotha Rudolph!
Wanted to send a shout out on your recent
article concerning Henry Louis Gates. Good reading, right on
point and I loved it.
Warmest,
—Njai
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you tickle me
i thought i was the only one up burning
that midnight oil
trying to stay ahead of the game
in struggle—arf
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I assume your article was inspired by Skip's appearance on
Charlie Rose last night? Fast work! By now, I
suppose everybody has seen through Skip--well almost everybody.
He continues to be a popular speaker. Yours faithfully,
—Wilson*
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Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr.,
Ph.D. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic,
educator, scholar, writer, editor and public intellectual. He was the
first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his
teaching, research, and development of academic institutions to study
black culture. In 2002, Gates was selected to give the
Jefferson Lecture, in recognition of his "distinguished intellectual
achievement in the humanities." The lecture resulted in his 2003 book,
The Trials of Phillis Wheatley.
As the host of the 2006 and 2008
PBS television miniseries
African American Lives, Gates explored the genealogy of prominent
African Americans. Gates sits on the boards of many notable arts,
cultural, and research institutions. He serves as the
Alphonse Fletcher
University Professor at
Harvard University, where he is Director of the
W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
Michael Kinsley referred to him as "the nation's most famous black
scholar."[1]
However he is criticized as non-representative of Black people by
prominent African-American scholars such as
Molefi Asante,
John Henrik Clarke, and
Maulana Karenga. . . .
On July 16, 2009, Gates returned
home from a trip to China to find the door to his house jammed. His
driver attempted to help him gain entrance. A passer-by called police
reporting a possible break-in and a
Cambridge police officer was dispatched. The resulting confrontation
resulted in Gates being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
Prosecutors later dropped the charges.The incident spurred a politically
charged exchange of views about race relations and law enforcement
throughout the United States. The arrest garnered national attention
after the President declared that the police "acted stupidly" in
arresting Gates. The President eventually extended an invitation to both
Gates and the officer involved to share a beer with him at the White
House.[24]
On March 9, 2010, Gates claimed on
the
Oprah Winfrey Show that he and Sgt. James Crowley, the arresting
officer in the Cambridge incident, share a common ancestor.—Wikipedia
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Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on DVD
DVD
Description of
America beyond the Color Line
Henry Louis Gates Jr. travels the length and breadth of the
United States to take the temperature of black America at the
start of the new century. Gates visits the East Coast, the deep
South, inner-city Chicago and Hollywood to explore the rich and
diverse landscape, social as well as geographic.
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DVD Description of
African American Lives
Renowned scholar Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., W.E.B. DuBois
professor of the Humanities and chair of African and
African-American Studies at Harvard University, takes Alex
Haley’s Roots saga to a whole new level. Using genealogy and DNA
science, Dr. Gates tells the personal stories of eight
accomplished African Americans, tracing their roots through
American history and back to Africa. Participants include Dr.
Ben Carson, Whoopi Goldberg, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Mae Jemison,
Quincy Jones, Dr. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Chris Tucker and
Oprah Winfrey.
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DVD Description of
Wonders of the African World
Africa is a continent of magnificent
treasures and cultures--from the breathtaking stone architecture
of 1,000-year-old ruins in South Africa to an advanced 16th
century international university in Timbuktu. However, for
centuries, many of these African wonders have been hidden from
the world, lost to the ravages of time, nature and repressive
governments. Uncover the richness of these African Wonders with
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. as he explores the many cultures,
traditions and history of the African continent.
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In Search of Our Roots:
How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past”
By
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
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Wake Up Everybody—Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes (1975)
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Africa Makes
Some Noise—Documentary on
contemporary music from Africa
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Malcolm X
A Life of Reinvention
By
Manning Marable
Years
in the making-the definitive biography of
the legendary black activist.
Of the great figure in twentieth-century
American history perhaps none is more
complex and controversial than Malcolm X.
Constantly rewriting his own story, he
became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and
an icon, all before being felled by
assassins' bullets at age thirty-nine.
Through his tireless work and countless
speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands
of black Americans to create better lives
and stronger communities while establishing
the template for the self-actualized,
independent African American man. In death
he became a broad symbol of both resistance
and reconciliation for millions around the
world. |
Manning Marable's
new biography of Malcolm is a stunning achievement.
Filled with new information and shocking revelations
that go beyond the Autobiography, Malcolm X unfolds a
sweeping story of race and class in America, from the
rise of Marcus Garvey and the Ku Klux Klan to the
struggles of the civil rights movement in the fifties
and sixties.
Reaching into
Malcolm's troubled youth, it traces a path from his
parents' activism through his own engagement with the
Nation of Islam, charting his astronomical rise in the
world of Black Nationalism and culminating in the
never-before-told true story of his assassination.
Malcolm X will stand as the definitive work on one of
the most singular forces for social change, capturing
with revelatory clarity a man who constantly strove, in
the great American tradition, to remake himself anew.
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Ratification
The People Debate the Constitution,
1787-1788
By Pauline Maier
A notable historian
of the early republic, Maier devoted a
decade to studying the immense
documentation of the ratification of the
Constitution. Scholars might approach
her book’s footnotes first, but history
fans who delve into her narrative will
meet delegates to the state conventions
whom most history books, absorbed with
the Founders, have relegated to
obscurity. Yet, prominent in their local
counties and towns, they influenced a
convention’s decision to accept or
reject the Constitution. Their
biographies and democratic credentials
emerge in Maier’s accounts of their
elections to a convention, the political
attitudes they carried to the conclave,
and their declamations from the floor.
The latter expressed opponents’
objections to provisions of the
Constitution, some of which seem
anachronistic (election regulation
raised hackles) and some of which are
thoroughly contemporary (the power to
tax individuals directly). Ripostes from
proponents, the Federalists, animate the
great detail Maier provides, as does her
recounting how one state convention’s
verdict affected another’s. Displaying
the grudging grassroots blessing the
Constitution originally received, Maier
eruditely yet accessibly revives a
neglected but critical passage in
American history.—Booklist |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Negro Digest /
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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updated 17 February
2009
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