Before he was at Harvard, Henry Louis Gates had a brief tenure on the faculty at Duke University.
It was, apparently, a bumpy experience for Gates, the noted scholar thrust into the spotlight last week after being arrested at his home in Cambridge.
Gates' arrest has sparked a great deal or racial turmoil in Cambridge; Gates is black, the arresting officer is white, and nobody seems to be able to agree on precisely what happened.
Gates came to Durham two decades ago to join an English department run at the time by Stanley Fish.
Writing in the New York Times, Fish recalls how when Gates arrived in town, he bought a huge house and was immediately and repeatedly mistaken for the hired help.
It was apparently not a good experience for Gates, who was at Duke for so short a time that he didn't even develop an allegiance to the basketball team.
As Fish notes, Gates actually rooted for UNLV when Duke squared off against them in the national title game.
Gates left for Harvard in 1991.
Comments
FUNNY
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 13:38 — RPadiI find it Funny how ignorance plays a huge factor when it comes to labeling people and/or places, here is an example to touch the "racism at Duke" statement. - ON THE TIME OF SEGREGATION AND RACISM IN THE SOUTH DUKE HIRES AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARCHITEC TO DESIGN THE BEAUTIFUL UNIVERSITY THAT STANDS IN FRONT OF US TODAY: - Julian Abele (April 30, 1881 – April 23, 1950) was a prominent African-American architect, known best for his work on the Duke University campus and on the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Just ask the Duke Lacrosse
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 13:03 — kedavraJust ask the Duke Lacrosse players who were thrown under the bus by an uninformed faculty and administration remarkably similar to the way an uniformed Obama threw the cop under the bus.
Racism at Duke !!!
Mon, 07/27/2009 - 12:53 — AgentPierceSkip Gates found "racism" at DUKE ???? NO NO NO .... Say it ain't so Skip!
Did you folks catch last week's encounter between Sen Babs Boxer (D-CA) and Mr Alford - Exec Dir of The National Black Chamber of Commerce? Mr Alford finally had to interrupt over Babs overtly condescending remarks. She all but offered him a slice of watermelon. Babs' contention was "aren't all you black guys alike?" It was classic.
Racial prejudice among The Liberal Elite is one of America's dirtiest little secrets. They (the Lib elite) do love to show off how much they "feel their pain" but in reality ".... don't swim in my pool or date my daughter".
Hey N&O, dig around over at Duke (or UNC) and look beneath the trite rhetoric. I dare you.