The Kinsey Collection of African American Artifacts opened at the Gantt with a symposium featuring Henry Louis Gates and a private reception last week. Bernard and Shirley Kinsey attended the reception and shared their passion for collecting and history with audience members.
Prior to the reception, Henry Louis Gates discussed DNA and race at symposium at the Knight Center. Gates said African-Americans are 70 percent black, 20 percent white and less than 2 percent Native American. He said blacks like to claim that they have Indian in their family to account for their straight hair or fair complexion, but typically it is from white ancestry.
