Henry Louis Gates Jr. Quotes

George Kimble said, 'The only thing dark about Africa is our ignorance of it.' So let's start shedding light on this amazing eclectic continent that has so much to offer.

I love Africa in general South Africa and West Africa, they are both great countries.

I wish I could spend more time in Africa. I have this intense sense of complete relaxation and normality here.

Just going to Africa is amazing; it all comes back to the motherland. It's pretty much where everything started.

I would love to do a film in Africa.

I haven't traveled in Africa nearly as much as I'd like to. I've been there a few times, and I'd like to learn more about the various cultures in Africa. But that's the basis point of where all of the music that I love is based upon, from Africa to Cuba to Puerto Rico to South America.

My name, Solange, means 'Angel of the sun,' and I'm completely enamored of my African history. The culture is so expressive.

We are guys from North Hollywood singing about Africa. What do we know about Africa?

My roots are African. The birds I remember, the fruits I ate, the trees I climbed, they're African.

It's obvious that the rest of the world loves high African culture - African culture, period.

Let's face it - think of Africa, and the first images that come to mind are of war, poverty, famine and flies. How many of us really know anything at all about the truly great ancient African civilizations, which in their day, were just as splendid and glorious as any on the face of the earth?

I fell in love with Africa while I was there.

If you want to know about Africa, read our literature - and not just 'Things Fall Apart,' because that would be like saying, 'I've read 'Gone with the Wind' and so I know everything about America.'

South Africa never leaves one indifferent. Its history, its population, its landscapes and cultures - all speak to the visitor, to the student, to the friend of Africa.

If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?

Thousands of years ago, civilizations flourished in Africa which suffer not at all by comparison with those of other continents. In those centuries, Africans were politically free and economically independent. Their social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.

Africa's not a color - it's a place.

I have an affinity for Africa, especially East Africa, and Kansas looks very much like that.

It's important to debunk the myths of Africa being this benighted continent civilized only when white people arrived. In fact, Africans had been creators of culture for thousands of years before. These were very intelligent, subtle and sophisticated people, with organized societies and great art.

Africa was the most exotic place I could conceive of - the end of the world - and I knew I would go there one day.

I read a lot of biographies and books with an African background.

'Griot' is a French word which means, you know, really, literally, 'cry.' You know, like the town crier. You know, they come in and say, you know, 'It's nine o'clock; everything is cool.' You know, 'President Bush is a fool.' I mean, stuff like that just to tell you. But for the kind of, the African thing is called djali.

I think Africa is the most interesting continent on the planet. You look at a country like Egypt, and you look at a country like Ghana. It's just completely different, and the people look completely different. It's just a fascinating continent with the most culture.

My children have to know where they come from and the way of life in Africa.