Summary Of In The Kitchen By Henry Louis Gates

Marisol Avila
Professor Melanie Kachadoorian
English 10
October 6, 2015 White Privilege Since the beginning of time, privilege has existed. Privilege, specifically white privilege, is written all over American history. Unfortunately, it still exists till this day, till this very moment. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the W.E.B Du Bois Professor of Humanities at Harvard and director of the W.E.B Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research. In his essay “In the Kitchen” he uses his childhood memories to show how African Americans do not see hair as just hair. Gates figurative use of hair shows us how far the unprivileged are willing to go in order to get a sense of acceptance by the privileged. White privilege is difficult to see for those

They tried to feel some sort of acceptance by straightening their “kink” with a hot iron in order to have “good” hair. Gates says, “The kitchen was permanent… no matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t de-kink a person’s kitchen. So you trimmed it off as best you could” (627). In other words, Gates is saying that the kitchen hints that African Americans will never be apart of the white society, the dominant discourse. Gates uses Nat King Cole and Frederick Douglas as examples to argue his point that even the most expensive or unorthodox way of trying to remove the kitchen is impossible. Frederick Douglas, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Nat King Cole are famous recognizable African American names that support Gates’ credibility as a writer and representative of the black community. By the end of the essay, Gates is upset when he sees Nat King Cole on television, and is reminded of how African Americans were willing to go as far as ironing their “kink” in order to feel the acceptance that they were deprived from as being

She says, “When I am told about our national heritage or about ‘civilization,’ I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.” McIntosh demonstrates that people born within the dominant race in America are granted certain unearned privileges that people of color are not granted. In her list, she uses daily experiences to show how white people undergo advantages, because of the color of their skin. But she completely ignores the fact that there is more than one type of privilege. She says, “ If I need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area, which I can afford and in which I would want to live” (607). She believes that because of the color of her skin, she is able to pay for her housing anywhere that she chooses. This is one of the several points that she lists that exposed her economic status as a middle class person than her status as a white person. McIntosh seems to have confused the two privileges, because she has failed to recognize her economic status as a