Henry Louis Gates

Henry Gates Louis in his essay “Delusions of Grandeur,” he analyzes the reason as to why young African Americans tend to take the path of an athlete, over something more realistic. His purpose in writing this is to show the negative effects that can be carried along with the child, if they wrongly believe they will only find success if it is on the field. The intended audience for his essay were adults, the common public, educators, also young African Americans so they can understand that success doesn’t only come with being an athlete. Gates message to the reader is, to make them aware of the causes that may be holding the young African Americans back, and reaching their full potential. Henry Gates Louis, a successful author, historian, and much more, writes about why young African Americans believe that the peak of their success will only be reached by dribbling a ball. Gates analyses why this happens, and what is causing it to do so. “Young athletes, particularly young black athletes, are especially ill-served. Many of them are functionally…

“In the kitchen” is a short story of the author Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s experience with understanding the significance of “the kitchen”, his family, history, the notion of good and or bad hair and the background on African American products. The understanding of the experience allows him to clearly describe the importance on why he thinks and functions a certain way. Henry expresses two sides of “the kitchen” and “In the kitchen”. “In the kitchen” highlights his mother’s hair at-home business,…

controversies surrounding the life of Henry Louis Gates Jr. Born on September 16, 1950, in Keyser, West Virginia, Gates continued to travel and study internationally before he became in charge of Harvard’s African-American studies department. Additionally, Gates was an exceptional student who continued to excel academically, he graduated with a degree in history from Yale University in the year 1973. He continued to pursue high education at Clare College, which is a part of the University of…

In the kitchen by Henry Louis Gates, Jr, is a text which reveals the struggle that African American people face with hair. It talks about himself and his friends trying to straighten their African American hair with its natural “kink” to try and conform in with other white people. The text talks mainly about hair, but the hair has another meaning. It’s about what the hair represents. The necessity for good hair shows the pressure for the African Americans to be equal with whites. It can be…

“What’s in a name?" by: Henry Louis Gates JR. Henry Louis Gates JR. grew up in a time where racial tension was still alive and well, not to say it is now a thing of yesterday but back then it was a bigger issue and not something that was condemned. It is my opinion that Gate’s parents should have used the experience like the one in “What’s in a name?” to educate him about the family’s social status in the community because he would have had more of an understanding and knowledge of how to react…

For many years, Henry Louis Gates Jr was handicapped due to a misdiagnosis due to prejudice. In 1964, he was a 14-year-old boy living in a small backwoods town of Appalachia with around 2,000 residents. One day while playing touch football, he unknowingly had retained a hairline fracture playing football with his friends and shortly after, the fracture sheared in to two. He then went to the hospital, and just on hearing that henry had knee pain the surgeon diagnosed with having a torn ligament…

While reading “What’s in a Name” by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gates reflects on a moment in his childhood where he witnessed racism towards his father. He was walking home with his father after his father finished work they ran into a man who referred to his father as “George” according to the author. The context of this narrative essay is clear when you think about it a little more it states who the story is about which is the authors and his father, what it’s about which is when the author as a…

adult lives end up very similar. Both short stories have African American people as the main characters. There is a little boy named Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in “What’s in a Name?” who “could not have been more than five or six” (Gates 6). There is a little girl named “Marguerita Johnson” in her “tenth year” (Angelou 108) in “Finishing School”. Both characters experience a situation where names, other than given names are used, and lack of respect is…

Louisiana. Although is it uncertain as to where she was specifically born, it is believed to be on a cotton plantation. Her parents, Owen and Minerva Breedlove, gave birth to the only child out of five freely; classifying Madame Walker as free born. According to Monica Klen, a writer for philanthropy Roundtable; “Her parents died when she was a young child, leaving her to live with her sister” (Klen). Due to how Madame Walker was being treated by her sisters’ husband, she decided that it was…

The home serves as a safe haven for most people, correct? On July 16th of 2009, a man named Henry Louis Gates Jr. was taken home in a limousine provided to him by his employers at Harvard University. Professor Gates and his limo driver, both African American men, had difficulties opening his front door, so they attempted to bash through the door with their shoulders. Gates’ neighbor witnessed the “break in” and informed a neighborhood watch employee, Lucia Whalen, who informed the authorities.…