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Title: Colored People by Henry Louis Gates Jr. ISBN: 0-679-73919-X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 11 April, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: ANOTHER PIEDMONTER'S VIEW
Comment: I was fortunate enough to be born and grow up in Piedmont, WV. I was also in the same class as author Henry Louis (we called him "Skip") Gates. I was the 1968 Piedmont High Class Salutatorian and he was the Valdectorian.
Despite what Mr. Gates projects in his book, Piedmont was a "wonderful" place to grow up. I adamantly dispute his connotation of any racism in this town. In 1968, the citizens of Piedmont, although a very small town of 2,500 were very progressive. The fact that the foundation he received in Piedmont growing up which propelled him to the Director of Afro-American studies at Harvard should speak something of the childhood rearing and education he received in Piedmont.
I am not aware of any restaurant or establishment that denied service to anyone of color. I personally entered many establishments with him and never once saw him denied service of any kind.
Mr. Gates grossly misrepresents what was truly a great town to grow up in. I was very offended with his use of my name in the book without obtaining my permission and most importantly he greatly distorts a very close and loving relationship that I had with my Italian father. I felt that he mentioned several personal things about me and my family of which he had NO direct knowledge.
I was disturbed to see that Mr. Gates put such a negative spin on a great place, just to "sell" a book for personal gain and recognition of his college position at Harvard.
Buy it if you want - but buyer beware - this is a college professor who is writing because he is expected to publish or perish. Unfortunately Piedmont, WV happened to be in his sights.
John M. DiPilato (Piedmont High School Class of 1968)
Rating: 2
Summary: The Book of a Life
Comment: Henry Gates is a boy thrown into a life that known would choose but fights to
make it a life that his children would choose. Colored People by Henry Louis
Gates Jr. is a fascinating book that brings you into a life of a boy struggling to be
accepted and understood by the people around him. He is growing up in a racist time and
environment that throws new obstacles at him each day.
What a story. Henry Gates went through a world of racism, hate, and violence. He
was part of a movement that would change a small town forever. The outside world was
fighting for freedom while Piedmont was doing nothing but sitting by and watching. He
saw this and tried to bring it to his town, change his town, make a difference.
I found the writing of the story to be very poor. The memories seemed to be
unconnected; they did not flow well together. The writing never captured me as a reader
but left me with an emptiness when I put the book down. His memories were exciting and
interesting but the writing left you bored and the book seemed unappealing.
This book left me with a feeling of "thank god its over" but a week later I started
to appreciate it more. I thought over each memory and I found a sense of understanding
inside of me. I understood what he was trying to say and how amazing his life was. I
understood why he went into "White only" restaurants, and why he fought so hard for his
cause. I now feel an urge to read the book again and try to understand more of what he
was saying.
Henry Gates Jr. led a life of hardship and pain. He overcame what life through at
him and excelled to become a better person. He struggled through the book to find
acceptance from his father and brother and his peers. He showed you the reader a world
that is unknown to many of us and let you see it first hand.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Gone Community
Comment: Personally, I had a heckuva time keeping track of all the various Gates and Coleman relatives, so I gave up after the first forty pages or so and just appreciated this memoir for what it is -- the story of a community that no longer exists but will be alive for generations through Gates' evocation of it for his children and, vicariously, the readers of this book. As a white age contemporary of Gates, I was impressed by the evenhandedness with which he tells the story of the often grudging desegregation of the late 50s and 60s in West Virginia, and surprised by the extent of black/white interaction -- sometimes positive for Gates -- in this small town, even in the days of segregation. That is obviously a function of small town life, but it struck me as more than in many parts of US life today, leading to the question I wondered about throughout this book -- whether 46 years after Brown vs. Board of Education we are more, not less, isolated by color in our social interactions in the United States. If so, that's a tragedy for all of us.
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Title: America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans by Henry Louis Gates ISBN: 0446532738 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 07 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man by Jr. Henry Louis Gates ISBN: 0679776664 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 03 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Future of the Race by Cornel West, Jr. Henry Louis Gates ISBN: 0679763783 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 January, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: A Walker in the City by Alfred Kazin ISBN: 0156941767 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: June, 1969 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois ISBN: 0486280411 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 20 May, 1994 List Price(USD): $2.00 |
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