This trip came 25 years after Gates worked at a hospital in Kilimatinde, near Dodoma, Tanzania, when The program documents a 3,000-mile journey Gates took through Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania, with his then-wife, Sharon Adams, and daughters, Liza and Meggie Gates. Henry Louis Gates Jr. - IMDb Gates hosted Faces of America, a four-part series presented by PBS in 2010. Not by assuaging them, but by exacerbating them. As a black intellectual and public figure, Gates has been an outspoken critic of the Eurocentric literary canon. Gates In 2021, the National World War Two Museum recognized Gates with its American Spirit Award. https://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Ways-Looking-Black-Man/dp/0679776664/?tag=2022091-20, (Henry Louis Gates, Jr., takes us to twelve countries in s). In September 1995, Gates read a five-part abridgment (by Margaret Busby) of his memoir Colored People on BBC Radio 4. https://www.amazon.com/We-Come-from-People/dp/B004C2I7OS/?tag=2022091-20, (Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. weaves together ge). Gates was the host and co-producer of African American Lives (2006) and African American Lives 2 (2008) in which the lineage of more than a dozen notable African Americans was traced using genealogical and historic resources, as well as genealogical DNA testing. And From Nubia's ancient empire, which for a time ruled Egypt and centuries before had established the earliest known African city, to the fabled town of Timbuktu, where during the medieval period there thrived a center of scholars that rivaled any in Europe and where books were as prized as gold, to Ethiopia's Christian kingdom, where the Lost Ark of the Covenant is said to reside under perpetual vigil, Gates reveals an Africa little known to Westerners. In his major scholarly work, The Signifying Monkey, a 1989 American Book Award winner, Gates expressed what might constitute a black cultural aesthetic. At Harvard, Gates teaches undergraduate and graduate courses as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, an endowed chair he was appointed to in 2006, and as a professor of English. This program examined the genealogy of 12 North Americans of diverse ancestry: Elizabeth Alexander, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Louise Erdrich, Malcolm Gladwell, Eva Longoria, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Queen Noor of Jordan, Mehmet Oz, Meryl Streep, and Kristi Yamaguchi. Additionally, he has worked to bring about social, educational, and intellectual equality for Black Americans. Why did free black people living in the South before the end of the Civil War stay there? The first time we met was when I interviewed him for The Reflection Effect, an essay I wrote for O, the Oprah Magazine about the power of nostalgia to drive happiness and build resilience after loss. src="" alt="" class="gallery-slider__content__img" height="", data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525078&cache=false" Gates doesn't shy from pointing to the Black church's own failures and discrimination, including homophobia and sexism. That's the first descriptor that comes to mind. Gates requested that his family accompany him on the trip, and the BBC expanded the show to include them. They had two daughters together before they divorced in 1999. He is on the boards of many notable institutions, including the, In 2010, Gates became the first African American to have his, In December 2014, Gates was announced as one of 14 recipients of a 2015. People who didnt vote. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an American literary critic, teacher, historian, filmmaker and public intellectual who currently serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. In their 52 years of marriage, the couple were able to give birth to 4 children. Gates has walked down the aisle twice within his life. Gates was born in Keyser, West Virginia,[2] to Pauline Augusta (Coleman) Gates (19161987) and Henry Louis Gates Sr. (c. 19132010). Want to keep up with breaking news? src="" alt="" class="gallery-slider__content__img" height="", data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525236&cache=false" 301 Park Ave, New York, New York, United States. Henry Louis Gates Jr "Gates has argued that a separatist, Afrocentric education perpetuates racist stereotypes. [8] The first African American to be awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, Gates sailed on the Queen Elizabeth 2 for England, where he studied English literature at Clare College, Cambridge, and earned his Ph.D. degree. Henry Louis Gates He was previously married to Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979. The real hazard of the trip, however, came when Gates, Adams and their guide searched for elephants in the wilderness. "As a mediator between those advocating separatism and those believing in a Western canon, Gates has been criticized by both. Wife. While at Yale, Gates guided Jodie Foster, who majored in African-American Literature at Yale with her thesis on Toni Morrison. Sharon Lynn Adams [Henry Louis Gates Ex-Wife] Before & After I called my friends in the room. Writer Henry Louis Gates and his wife Sharon Adams share a The trip had the most impact on the children, according to Adams. The series combines the work of expert researchers in genealogy, history, and historical research in genetics to tell guests about the lives and histories of their ancestors. A profound new rendering of the struggle by African-Americans for equality after the Civil War and the violent counter-revolution that resubjugated them, as seen through the prism of the war of images and ideas that have left an enduring racist stain on the American mind. Gates's critically acclaimed six-part PBS documentary series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, traced 500 years of African-American history to the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. The second season of the series, featuring 30 prominent guests across 10 episodes, with Gates as the narrator, interviewer, and genealogical investigator, aired on PBS in fall 2014. Additionally, he is the Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research.As a literary theorist and critic, Gates has combined literary techniques of deconstruction with native African literary traditions; he draws on structuralism, post-structuralism, and semiotics to analyze texts and assess matters of identity politics. The show's third season was postponed after it was discovered that actor Ben Affleck had persuaded Gates to omit information about his slave-owning ancestors. In 1995, Gates presented a program in the BBC series Great Railway Journeys (produced in association with PBS). https://www.amazon.com/Colored-People-Henry-Louis-Gates/dp/0679421793/?tag=2022091-20, (As some remarkable men talk about their lives, many persp). https://www.amazon.com/Wonders-African-World-Henry-Louis/dp/0375709487/?tag=2022091-20, (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s Tradition and the Black Atlantic). The injury was misdiagnosed by a physician, who told Gates' mother that his problem was psychosomatic. Following a two-year stay at Duke University, he was recruited to Harvard University in 1991. In October 1975 Henry Louis Gates Jr. was hired by Charles Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. Henry Louis Gates After a month at Yale Law School, Gates withdrew from the program. "It was a way for them to understand their father in a way that they hadn't before," she said. Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise, "Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Biography, Books, & Facts", "African American Lives The Past Is Another Country 2 4of4 YouTube", "Finding Your Roots: Decoding Our Past Through DNA", "The biggest brother: interview with Henry Louis Gates, black America's foremost intellectual", "Yale Afro-Am Chair Resigns After Remarks of Yale Pres", "Henry Louis Gates Jr. to continue at Harvard", "Henry Louis Gates is Wrong about African Involvement in the Slave Trade", Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, "Henry Louis Gates Jr. announced as editor-in-chief of the new Oxford Dictionary of African American English", "What It Means to Be Black in Latin America", "Ben Affleck's slave-owning ancestor 'censored' from genealogy show", "Ben Affleck Demanded PBS Suppress His Slave-Owning Ancestry", "Citing Ben Affleck's 'Improper Influence,' PBS Suspends 'Finding Your Roots', "PBS' 'Finding Your Roots' returning in January after Ben Affleck controversy", "African-American History Finally Gets Its Own AP ClassAnd Historians Say It's More Important Than Ever", "Instruction about race may be under siege across the US, but this course is empowering students at a Southern high school", "West Virginia Weslesyan College biography", "Black Studies' New Star: Henry Louis Gates Jr", "Henry Louis Gates Jr. On 'The Black Church' and His Own Bargain with Jesus", "MacArthur Fellos Program: Henry Louis Gates Jr. | Literary Critic | Class of June 1981", "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement", "Mister Jefferson and The Trials of Phillis Wheatley,", "2015 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award Winners Announced", "Henry Louis Gates Jr. Receives duPont Award for The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross", "Read Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Acceptance Speech for the duPont Award", "Chicago Tribune Announces 2019 Literary and Heartland Award Winners", "Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Named Don M. Randel Award Recipient | News | The Harvard Crimson", "Encarta Africana, the First Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Black History and Culture, Launches Today", Bibliography of Gates's publications and responses to it, African American National Biography Project, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work Nonfiction, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Louis_Gates_Jr.&oldid=1151619136, African-American history of West Virginia, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellows, Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Television personalities from West Virginia, African-American television personalities, Members of the American Philosophical Society, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2009, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Gates has received numerous honorary degrees, including a. He looked pretty impressive.". Elizabeth Gates, the daughter of prominent Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, is in her twenties and suffered a severe stroke just four months ago. Because of the injury, Gates now uses a cane to help him walk. He also learned that one of his African ancestors includes a Yoruba man who was trafficked to America from Ouidah in the present-day Republic of Benin. Where was the first Underground Railroad? Gates and the BBC are currently negotiating a larger project, to be called "The Seven Mysteries of Africa.". Gates's critically acclaimed six-part PBS documentary series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, traced 500 years of African-American history to the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. WebSharon Lynn Adam was married to Henry Louis Gate Jr for two decades. The two series demonstrated the many strands of heritage and history among African Americans. He also has some European ancestry, and is connected to the distinctive multiracial West Virginia community of the Chestnut Ridge people. Pointing us away from these facile dichotomies, Gates deftly combines rigorous scholarship with humor, looking back to the roots of cultural studies in order to map out its future course. This trip came 25 years after Gates worked at a hospital in Kilimatinde near Dodoma, Tanzania, as a 19-year-old pre-medical student at Yale University.In September 1995, Gates read a five-part abridgment (by Margaret Busby) of his memoir Colored People on BBC Radio 4.Gates was the host and co-producer of African American Lives (2006) and African American Lives 2 (2008) in which the lineage of more than a dozen notable African Americans was traced using genealogical and historic resources, as well as genealogical DNA testing. WebWriter Henry Louis Gates and his wife Sharon Adams share a quiet moment in their Cambridge garden. "Her being a writer does help her plasticity of the brain because the brain does try to rewire itself," Dr. Henderson said. "If it's left as is I think we are going to rely on what our preconceived notions of race have been for so long," she told "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith in an earlier interview. Maybe its jet lag, or the cold and cough he nurses with lozenges, or the spate of holiday parties for which he and his wife, Sharon Adams, are famous. src="" alt="" class="gallery-slider__content__img" height="", data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525071&cache=false" He met his wife, Sharon Adams, who is white, in 1972, when she was working for Jay Rockefeller's campaign for governor of West Virginia, about which Gates planned For the notion of the unitary black man, Gates argues, is as imaginary as the creature that the poet Wallace Stevens conjured in his poem "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." "My mom was a genius and got me the (language learning software) English Rosetta Stone," Elizabeth said. As a result of research as a MacArthur Fellow, Gates discovered Our Nig, written by Harriet E. Wilson in 1859, and therefore thought to be the first novel written in the United States by a black person. After his 2003 NEH lecture, Gates published his 2003 book, The Trials of Phillis Wheatley.In 1995 Gates presented a program in the BBC series Great Railway Journeys (produced in association with PBS). Through his close reading of the visual culture of this tragic era, Gates reveals the many faces of Jim Crow and how, together, they reinforced a stark color line between white and black Americans. Henry Louis Gates If more people who agreed with us had voted, you wouldnt be asking this question. In 2020, Gates received the Muhammad Ali Voice of HumanityAward. src="" alt="" class="gallery-slider__content__img" height="", data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525081&cache=false" But we need to get some distance from the binary opposition we were raised in: evil white people and good Black people. The televised train ride follows a trend of publicity for the Afro-American Studies Department, Which includes Gates' photo on the cover of a New York Times section last Sunday. Theyre not racist, I know them. The program documents a 3,000-mile journey Gates took through Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania, with his then-wife Sharon Adams and daughters Liza and Meggie Gates. First Republic Bank seized by regulators, then sold to JPMorgan Chase, Reward offered as manhunt for Texas shooting suspect reaches "dead end", Louisiana's health care deserts put women, babies at risk, doctors say, Second convoy of U.S. citizens fleeing Khartoum arrives at Port Sudan, ISIS chief killed by Turkey's intelligence agency, Erdogan says, How a tall Texan became an unlikely Australian rules football star, General Mills issues Gold Medal flour recall over salmonella concerns, Investors sue Adidas over Kanye West Yeezy deal, Shaquil Barrett's 2-year-old daughter dies in drowning accident. WebGates married Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979. src="" alt="" class="gallery-slider__content__img" height="", data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525231&cache=false" By documenting and illuminating the sheer diversity of African American involvement in American history, society, politics, and culture, Gates bracingly disabuses us of the presumption of a single black experience. Life Upon These Shoresis a book of major importance, a breathtaking tour de force of the historical imagination. In his major scholarly work, The Signifying Monkey, a 1989 American Book Award winner, Gates expressed what might constitute a black cultural aesthetic. WebHenry Louis Gates, Jr. is an American treasure. [23] He had known of some European ancestry, but was surprised to learn the high proportion; he also learned that he was descended from John Redman, a mulatto veteran in New England of the American Revolutionary War. Gates Finding Your Roots resumed in January 2016.Gates's critically acclaimed six-part PBS documentary series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, traced 500 years of African-American history to the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. "I wasn't too afraid in the beginning, when the guide said we could just walk up to the animals," Adams said. Additionally, he is the Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. [36] They had two daughters together before they divorced in 1999. [35], Gates married Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979. In the series, he discussed findings with guests about their complex ancestries. Once logged in, you can add biography in the database. After his 2003 NEH lecture, Gates published his 2003 book, The Trials of Phillis Wheatley. In January 2008, he co-founded The Root, a website dedicated to African-American perspectives published by The Washington Post Company. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Gates, his wife Sharon Adams, and his daughters, Maggie and Liza, completed the 3,000-mile train trip from Zimbabwe to Tanzania last August. [1] He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels, long forgotten, and has published extensively on the recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon. So she was severely disabled when we saw her initially," Dr. Galen Henderson, Director of Neuroscience at Brigham and Women's Hospital, explained. It is therefore not known whether he is married or in a relationship. WebGATES, Henry Louis, Jr. 1950-. He has affirmed the value of the Western tradition, but has envisioned a more inclusive canon of diverse works sharing common cultural connections: "Every Black American text must confess to a complex ancestry, one high and low (that is, literary and vernacular) but also one white and black there can be no doubt that white texts inform and influence black texts (and vice versa), so that a thoroughly integrated canon of American literature is not only politically sound, it is intellectually sound as well. This program examined the genealogy of 12 North Americans of diverse ancestry: Elizabeth Alexander, Mario Batali, Stephen Colbert, Louise Erdrich, Malcolm Gladwell, Eva Longoria, Yo-Yo Ma, Mike Nichols, Queen Noor of Jordan, Mehmet Oz, Meryl Streep, and Kristi Yamaguchi. https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Slave-Narratives-Henry-Louis/dp/0451532139/?tag=2022091-20, (Henry Louis Gates, Jr. gives us a corrective yet loving h). American literary critic, professor and historian (born 1950), Critical studies and reviews of Gates' work. Family tree of Henry Louis GATES - Geneastar Henry Louis Gates Jr. conducted research on Oprah Winfrey's genealogy, which he began in the 2006 African American Lives documentary. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Educator born - African American Registry doi:10.2307/1208745. Henry Louis Gates The two series demonstrated the many strands of heritage and history among African Americans.Gates hosted Faces of America, a four-part series presented by PBS in 2010. September 2, 2010 / 10:43 AM WebHenry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. with author Wole Soyinka (left) and scholar Cornel West (center). Mother: Pauline Augusta Coleman Wife: Sharon Lynn Adams (m. 1979, two daughters) University: BA History, Yale University University: PhD In 2021, Gates received the PBS Beacon Award. Contemporary Literature. Gates serves as the chair for the Selection Committee for the Alphonse Fletcher Sr. Fellowship Program that is sponsored by the Fletcher Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Fletcher Asset Management. This is how our country works. src="" alt="" class="gallery-slider__content__img" height="", data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525185&cache=false" They had two daughters together before they divorced in 1999. In October 1975 he was hired by Charles Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. Asked by National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Bruce Cole to describe his work, Gates responded: "I would say I'm a literary critic. Clarke, Breena, and Susan Tifft, "A 'Race Man' Argues for a Broader Curriculum: Henry Louis Gates Jr. JSTOR1208745. Henry Louis Gates Jr. Career. He reported:[39], "I had this spiritual event where it was like the top of my head opened up. Henry Louis Gates, Jr In the first series, Gates learned that he has 50% European ancestry[22] and 50% African ancestry. This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history's most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. Henry Louis Gates Sr. and Pauline Augusta (Coleman) Gates, Henry Louis Gates Jr and Sharon Lynn Adams. But those friends, some of whom are black, say that he was a perfectly center of the road, cosmopolitan person. The Thing about Skip Gates That Were Not Supposed to As a literary historian committed to the preservation and study of historical texts, Gates has been integral to the Black Periodical Literature Project, a digital archive of Black newspapers and magazines created with financial assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This information will be updated as soon as it is available. He is a Trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. He first married Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979 and welcomed two children prior to their 1999 divorce. (January 21, 2015), Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Potomac State College of West Virginia University, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross. The former Looking for a job? As a literary theorist and critic, Gates has combined literary techniques of deconstruction with native African literary traditions. ""Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice. Since 1995, Gates has been the jury chair for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, which honors written works that contribute to society's understanding of racism and the diversity of human culture. WebGATES, Henry Louis, Jr. 1950- PERSONAL: Born September 16, 1950, in Keyser, WV; son of Henry Louis and Pauline Augusta (Coleman) Gates; married Sharon Lynn Adams (a potter), September 1, 1979; children: Maude Augusta Adams, Elizabeth Helen-Claire. [34], The incident spurred a politically charged exchange of views about race relations and law enforcement throughout the United States. In the series, he discussed findings with guests about their complex ancestries.In the second season, Gates learned that he is part of a genetic subgroup possibly descended from or related to the fourth-century Irish king Niall of the Nine Hostages. Jobs in the United States >>>, src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525230&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525142&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525185&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525231&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525199&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525071&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525075&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525078&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525081&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525145&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525192&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", src="/web/img/loading.gif" data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525236&cache=false" alt="Other photo of Henry Louis Gates Jr." class="gallery__img" height="167", data-src="/web/show-photo.jpg?id=2525230&cache=false" The result is a captivating cross-section of history. The work extended the application of the concept of "signifyin'" to the analysis of African-American works. Mother: Pauline Augusta (Coleman) Elizabeth had suffered a stroke, her mind irreparably harmed. Father: Henry Louis Gates Sr. In 2010, Gates wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that discussed the role played by Africans in the Atlantic slave trade. In October 1975 Henry Louis Gates Jr. was hired by Charles Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. Jointly appointed to assistant professorships in English and Afro-American Studies in 1979, Gates was promoted to associate professor in 1984. Informed by the latest, sometimes provocative scholarship and including more than seven hundred images - ancient maps, fine art, documents, photographs, cartoons, posters - Life Upon These Shores focuses on defining events, debates, and controversies, as well as the signal achievements of people famous and obscure. It is rooted in African-American literary criticism in the African-American vernacular tradition.As a literary historian committed to the preservation and study of historical texts, Gates has been integral to the Black Periodical Literature Project, a digital archive of black newspapers and magazines created with financial assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The program documents a 3,000-mile journey Gates took through Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Tanzania, with his then-wife, Sharon Adams, and daughters, Liza and Meggie Gates.