An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience. – James Baldwin
If youre treated a certain way you become a certain kind of person. If certain things are described to you as being real theyre real for you whether theyre real or not. – James Baldwin
We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours. – James Baldwin
I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself. – James Baldwin
So when you do your family tree and Margaret Cho does hers, and… Wanda Sykes and John Legend… were adding to the database that scholars can then draw from to generalize about the complexity of the American experience. And thats the contribution that family trees make to broader scholarship. – Henry Louis Gates