Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Encyclopedia
Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., (born September 16, 1950) is an American
literary critic
, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American
to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and development of academic institutions to study black culture. In 2002, Gates was selected to give the Jefferson Lecture
, in recognition of his "distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities."
Gates has hosted several PBS
television miniseries, including the history and travel program Wonders of the African World and the biographical African American Lives
and Faces of America
. Gates sits on the boards of many notable arts, cultural, and research institutions. He serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor
at Harvard University
, where he is director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
, to Pauline Augusta Coleman and Henry Louis Gates, Sr. He grew up in neighboring Piedmont
, the inspiration for his best-selling memoir Colored People. At the age of 14, Gates was injured while playing touch football, fracturing the ball and socket joint
of his hip, resulting in a slipped epiphysis. The injury was misdiagnosed by a physician who told Gates's mother that his problem was psychosomatic. When the physical damage finally healed, Gates' right leg was two inches shorter than his left. Because of the injury, Gates uses a cane to help him walk.
Gates graduated from Piedmont High School in 1968 and attended Potomac State College in Keyser, West Virginia before earning his undergraduate B.A. degree at Yale University
, summa cum laude, in History. The first African American to be awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Fellowship, the day after his undergraduate commencement Gates set sail on the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2
for England and the University of Cambridge
. There he studied English literature
at Clare College.
Gates married Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979. They had two daughters. They later divorced.
, Gates withdrew from the program. In October 1975 he was hired by Charles T. Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. In July 1976, Gates was promoted to the post of Lecturer in Afro-American Studies with the understanding that he would be promoted to Assistant Professor upon completion of his dissertation. Jointly appointed to assistant professorships in English and Afro-American Studies in 1979, Gates was promoted to Associate Professor in 1984.
After being denied tenure
at Yale, Gates accepted a position at Cornell University
in 1985, where he taught until 1989. After a two-year stay at Duke University
, he was recruited to Harvard University
in 1991. 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 Professor of English. Additionally, he serves as the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and 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 textual analysis and matters of identity politics
. As a black intellectual and public figure, Gates has been an outspoken critic of the Eurocentric
literary canon. He has insisted that black literature must be evaluated by the aesthetic criteria of its culture of origin, not criteria imported from Western or European cultural traditions that express a "tone deafness to the black cultural voice" and result in "intellectual racism
." In his major scholarly work, The Signifying Monkey
, a 1989 American Book Award
winner, Gates expressed what might constitute a black cultural aesthetic. The work extended application of the concept of "signifyin(g)" to analysis of African-American works; it thus rooted African-American literary criticism in the African-American vernacular tradition.
While Gates has stressed the need for greater recognition of black literature and black culture, he does not advocate a "separatist" black canon. Rather, he works for greater recognition of black works and their integration into a larger, pluralistic
canon. He has affirmed the value of the Western tradition, but has envisioned a more inclusive canon of diverse works sharing common cultural connections:
Gates has argued that a separatist, Afrocentric education perpetuates racist stereotypes. He maintains that it is "ridiculous" to think that only blacks should be scholars of African and African-American literature. He argues, "It can't be real as a subject if you have to look like the subject to be an expert in the subject," adding, "It's as ridiculous as if someone said I couldn't appreciate Shakespeare
because I'm not Anglo-Saxon
. I think it's vulgar and racist whether it comes out of a black mouth or a white mouth." However, Afrocentrics such as Molefi Asante and others have never claimed that the study of Africa should be exclusively Black, but moreover that the weight and the approach of Afrocentricity is critical for setting up black people as agents of their own history.
As a mediator between those advocating separatism and those who believe in a fixed Western canon
, Gates has faced criticisms from both sides. Some critics suggest that the additional black literature will diminish the value of the Western canon, while separatists say that Gates is too accommodating to the dominant white culture in his advocacy of integration of the canon. Gates is occasionally criticized as non-representative, and a detractor, of Black people by many prominent African-American scholars such as John Henrik Clarke
, Molefi Asante and Maulana Karenga.
As a literary historian committed to preservation and study of historical texts, Gates has been integral to the Black Periodical Literature Project, an archive of black newspapers and magazines created with financial assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities
. To build Harvard's visual, documentary, and literary archives of African-American texts, Gates arranged for the purchase of "The Image of the Black in Western Art", a collection assembled by Dominique de Ménil
in Houston, Texas
. Earlier, as a result of his research as a MacArthur Fellow, Gates discovered Our Nig
by Harriet E. Wilson
, written in 1859 and thus the first novel in the United States written by a black person. He followed this discovery by acquiring and authenticating the manuscript of The Bondwoman's Narrative
by Hannah Crafts
, a novel from the same period that scholars believe may have been written as early as 1853, which would give it precedence as the first known novel by a black person. It was first published in 2002 and became a bestseller.
As a prominent black intellectual, Gates has focused throughout his career on building academic institutions to study black culture. Additionally, he has worked to bring about social, educational, and intellectual equality for black Americans. His writing includes pieces in The New York Times
that defend rap
music and an article in Sports Illustrated
that criticizes black youth culture for glorifying basketball
over education. In 1992, he received a George Polk Award for his social commentary in The New York Times. Gates's prominence in this field led to his being called as a witness on behalf of the controversial Florida
rap group 2 Live Crew
in an obscenity
case. He argued that the material the government charged was profane, had important roots in African-American vernacular
speech, games, and literary traditions, and should be protected.
Asked by NEH Chairman Bruce Cole to describe his work, Gates responded, "I would say I'm a literary critic. That's the first descriptor that comes to mind. After that I would say I was a teacher. Both would be just as important." After his 2003 NEH lecture Gates published his 2003 book, The Trials of Phillis Wheatley.
series Great Railway Journeys
(produced in association with PBS
). The programme documents a 3000-mile journey Gates took through Zimbabwe
, Zambia
and Tanzania
, with his then wife Sharon Adams and daughters Liza and Meggie Gates (born 1994). This trip came 25 years after Gates worked at a hospital in Kilimatinde
near Dar es Salaam
, Tanzania
as a 19-year-old pre-medical student at Yale University
.
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 is traced using genealogical
and historic resources, as well as DNA testing
. In the first series, Gates learned that he had more than 50 percent European
ancestry, and was descended from the mulatto
John Redman. In addition, he discussed findings with guests about their complex ancestries.
In the second series of episodes, Gates learned that he is part of a genetic subgroup possibly descended from or related to the 4th-century Irish
king, Niall of the Nine Hostages
. He also learned that his ancestors included the Yoruba people
of Nigeria
. The two programs 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. This program examined the genealogy of 12 North Americans: Elizabeth Alexander
, Mario Batali
, Stephen Colbert
, Louise Erdrich
, Malcolm Gladwell
, Eva Longoria
, Yo-Yo Ma
, Mike Nichols
, Queen Noor, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Meryl Streep
, and Kristi Yamaguchi
Since 1995, Gates has served as jury chair for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
, which honor written works that contribute to society's understanding of racism
and the diversity of human culture
. Gates was an Anisfield-Wolf prize winner in 1989 for The Schomburg Library of Women Writers.
The editorial begins and ends with the observation that it is very difficult to decide whether or not to give reparations to the descendants of American slaves, in other words whether they should receive compensation for their ancestors’ unpaid labor and bondage
. Gates also points out that it is equally difficult to decide who should get these reparations and who should pay them.
to find the door to his house jammed. His driver attempted to help him gain entrance. A passer-by called police reporting a possible break-in after seeing windows being broken. A Cambridge police
officer was dispatched. The resulting confrontation resulted in Gates being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Prosecutors later dropped the charges. The incident spurred a politically charged exchange of views about race relations and law enforcement
throughout the United States. The arrest garnered national attention after U.S. President Barack Obama
declared that the police "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates, a comment which drew criticism from Massachusetts residents and from many law enforcement communities. The President eventually extended an invitation to both Gates and the officer involved to share a beer with him at the White House.
On March 9, 2010, Gates claimed on the Oprah Winfrey Show that he and Sgt. James Crowley, the arresting officer in the Cambridge incident, share a common ancestor
, an ancient Irish
king.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
literary critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and development of academic institutions to study black culture. In 2002, Gates was selected to give the Jefferson Lecture
Jefferson Lecture
The Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities . According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities."-History of...
, in recognition of his "distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities."
Gates has hosted several PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television miniseries, including the history and travel program Wonders of the African World and the biographical African American Lives
African American Lives
African American Lives is a PBS television miniseries hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., focusing on African American genealogical research...
and Faces of America
Faces of America
Faces of America is a four-part Public Broadcasting Service Public television television series hosted by Professor Henry Louis Gates. The series originally aired February 10 – March 3, 2010 from 8–9 p.m. ET. In Australia, this program aired on SBS One each Sunday at 7:30pm from 9 -30...
. Gates sits on the boards of many notable arts, cultural, and research institutions. He serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor
Harvard University Professor
At Harvard University, the title of University Professor is an honor bestowed upon a very small number of its tenured faculty members whose scholarship and other professional work have attained particular distinction and influence. This honor was created in 1935 by Harvard's President and Fellows...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where he is director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
W. E. B. Du Bois Institute
The W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research is located at Harvard University and was established in 1969. It is named after W. E. B. Du Bois who was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University...
Early years
Gates was born in Keyser, West VirginiaKeyser, West Virginia
Keyser is a city in and the county seat of Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,303 at the 2000 census.- History :...
, to Pauline Augusta Coleman and Henry Louis Gates, Sr. He grew up in neighboring Piedmont
Piedmont, West Virginia
Piedmont is a town in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States. It is part of the 'Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 1,014 at the 2000 census. Piedmont was chartered in 1856...
, the inspiration for his best-selling memoir Colored People. At the age of 14, Gates was injured while playing touch football, fracturing the ball and socket joint
Ball and socket joint
A ball and socket joint is a joint in which the distal bone is capable of motion around an indefinite number of axes, which have one common center...
of his hip, resulting in a slipped epiphysis. The injury was misdiagnosed by a physician who told Gates's mother that his problem was psychosomatic. When the physical damage finally healed, Gates' right leg was two inches shorter than his left. Because of the injury, Gates uses a cane to help him walk.
Gates graduated from Piedmont High School in 1968 and attended Potomac State College in Keyser, West Virginia before earning his undergraduate B.A. degree at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, summa cum laude, in History. The first African American to be awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City and Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969...
Fellowship, the day after his undergraduate commencement Gates set sail on the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2
RMS Queen Elizabeth 2
Queen Elizabeth 2, often referred to simply as the QE2, is an ocean liner that was operated by Cunard from 1969 to 2008. Following her retirement from cruising, she is now owned by Istithmar...
for England and the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. There he studied English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at Clare College.
Gates married Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979. They had two daughters. They later divorced.
Career
After a month at Yale Law SchoolYale Law School
Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
, Gates withdrew from the program. In October 1975 he was hired by Charles T. Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. In July 1976, Gates was promoted to the post of Lecturer in Afro-American Studies with the understanding that he would be promoted to Assistant Professor upon completion of his dissertation. Jointly appointed to assistant professorships in English and Afro-American Studies in 1979, Gates was promoted to Associate Professor in 1984.
After being denied tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
at Yale, Gates accepted a position at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in 1985, where he taught until 1989. After a two-year stay at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, he was recruited to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1991. At Harvard, Gates teaches undergraduate and graduate courses as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor
Harvard University Professor
At Harvard University, the title of University Professor is an honor bestowed upon a very small number of its tenured faculty members whose scholarship and other professional work have attained particular distinction and influence. This honor was created in 1935 by Harvard's President and Fellows...
, an endowed chair he was appointed to in 2006, and as Professor of English. Additionally, he serves as the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
W. E. B. Du Bois Institute
The W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research is located at Harvard University and was established in 1969. It is named after W. E. B. Du Bois who was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University...
As a literary theorist and critic
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
, Gates has combined literary techniques of deconstruction
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1967 book Of Grammatology. Although he carefully avoided defining the term directly, he sought to apply Martin Heidegger's concept of Destruktion or Abbau, to textual reading...
with native African literary traditions; he draws on structuralism
Structuralism
Structuralism originated in the structural linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and the subsequent Prague and Moscow schools of linguistics. Just as structural linguistics was facing serious challenges from the likes of Noam Chomsky and thus fading in importance in linguistics, structuralism...
, post-structuralism
Post-structuralism
Post-structuralism is a label formulated by American academics to denote the heterogeneous works of a series of French intellectuals who came to international prominence in the 1960s and '70s...
, and semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
to textual analysis and matters of identity politics
Identity politics
Identity politics are political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of self-identified social interest groups and ways in which people's politics may be shaped by aspects of their identity through race, class, religion, sexual orientation or traditional dominance...
. As a black intellectual and public figure, Gates has been an outspoken critic of the Eurocentric
Eurocentrism
Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective and with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture...
literary canon. He has insisted that black literature must be evaluated by the aesthetic criteria of its culture of origin, not criteria imported from Western or European cultural traditions that express a "tone deafness to the black cultural voice" and result in "intellectual racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
." In his major scholarly work, The Signifying Monkey
The Signifying Monkey
The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism is a work of literary criticism and theory by American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. first published in 1988...
, a 1989 American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
winner, Gates expressed what might constitute a black cultural aesthetic. The work extended application of the concept of "signifyin(g)" to analysis of African-American works; it thus rooted African-American literary criticism in the African-American vernacular tradition.
While Gates has stressed the need for greater recognition of black literature and black culture, he does not advocate a "separatist" black canon. Rather, he works for greater recognition of black works and their integration into a larger, pluralistic
Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...
canon. He has affirmed the value of the Western tradition, but has envisioned a more inclusive canon of diverse works sharing common cultural connections:
Gates has argued that a separatist, Afrocentric education perpetuates racist stereotypes. He maintains that it is "ridiculous" to think that only blacks should be scholars of African and African-American literature. He argues, "It can't be real as a subject if you have to look like the subject to be an expert in the subject," adding, "It's as ridiculous as if someone said I couldn't appreciate Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
because I'm not Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
. I think it's vulgar and racist whether it comes out of a black mouth or a white mouth." However, Afrocentrics such as Molefi Asante and others have never claimed that the study of Africa should be exclusively Black, but moreover that the weight and the approach of Afrocentricity is critical for setting up black people as agents of their own history.
As a mediator between those advocating separatism and those who believe in a fixed Western canon
Western canon
The term Western canon denotes a canon of books and, more broadly, music and art that have been the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. As such, it includes the "greatest works of artistic merit." Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the...
, Gates has faced criticisms from both sides. Some critics suggest that the additional black literature will diminish the value of the Western canon, while separatists say that Gates is too accommodating to the dominant white culture in his advocacy of integration of the canon. Gates is occasionally criticized as non-representative, and a detractor, of Black people by many prominent African-American scholars such as John Henrik Clarke
John Henrik Clarke
John Henrik Clarke , born John Henry Clark, was a Pan-Africanist American writer, historian, professor, and a pioneer in the creation of Africana studies and professional institutions in academia starting in the late 1960s.He was Professor of African World History and in 1969 founding chairman of...
, Molefi Asante and Maulana Karenga.
As a literary historian committed to preservation and study of historical texts, Gates has been integral to the Black Periodical Literature Project, an archive of black newspapers and magazines created with financial assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
. To build Harvard's visual, documentary, and literary archives of African-American texts, Gates arranged for the purchase of "The Image of the Black in Western Art", a collection assembled by Dominique de Ménil
Dominique de Menil
Dominique de Menil was a French-American art collector, philanthropist, founder of the Menil Collection and an heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune...
in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. Earlier, as a result of his research as a MacArthur Fellow, Gates discovered Our Nig
Our Nig
Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black is an autobiographical slave narrative by Harriet E. Wilson. It was published in 1859 and rediscovered in 1982 by professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.. It is considered the first novel published by an African-American on the North American...
by Harriet E. Wilson
Harriet E. Wilson
Harriet E. Wilson is traditionally considered the first female African-American novelist as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent...
, written in 1859 and thus the first novel in the United States written by a black person. He followed this discovery by acquiring and authenticating the manuscript of The Bondwoman's Narrative
The Bondwoman's Narrative
The Bondwoman's Narrative is a 2002 bestselling novel set in the mid-nineteenth century by Hannah Crafts, a self-proclaimed runaway slave from North Carolina. The published novel has a preface by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a literary professor at Harvard University, describing the history of its...
by Hannah Crafts
Hannah Crafts
Hannah Crafts was an African-American slave in the United States during the 19th century. She is the author of The Bondwoman's Narrative, a hand-written manuscript that was discovered in 2002 at the New York Swann Galeries auction house. The work was carefully verified as authentic by Henry Louis...
, a novel from the same period that scholars believe may have been written as early as 1853, which would give it precedence as the first known novel by a black person. It was first published in 2002 and became a bestseller.
As a prominent black intellectual, Gates has focused throughout his career on building academic institutions to study black culture. Additionally, he has worked to bring about social, educational, and intellectual equality for black Americans. His writing includes pieces in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
that defend rap
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
music and an article in Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
that criticizes black youth culture for glorifying basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
over education. In 1992, he received a George Polk Award for his social commentary in The New York Times. Gates's prominence in this field led to his being called as a witness on behalf of the controversial Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
rap group 2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew
2 Live Crew was a hip hop group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.- Early career :...
in an obscenity
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
case. He argued that the material the government charged was profane, had important roots in African-American vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
speech, games, and literary traditions, and should be protected.
Asked by NEH Chairman Bruce Cole to describe his work, Gates responded, "I would say I'm a literary critic. That's the first descriptor that comes to mind. After that I would say I was a teacher. Both would be just as important." After his 2003 NEH lecture Gates published his 2003 book, The Trials of Phillis Wheatley.
Other activities
In 1995 Gates presented a programme in the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Great Railway Journeys
Great Railway Journeys
Great Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television...
(produced in association with PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
). The programme documents a 3000-mile journey Gates took through Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, with his then wife Sharon Adams and daughters Liza and Meggie Gates (born 1994). This trip came 25 years after Gates worked at a hospital in Kilimatinde
Kilimatinde
Kilimatinde is a village in the Singida region of Tanzania....
near Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
, Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
as a 19-year-old pre-medical student at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Gates was the host and co-producer of African American Lives
African American Lives
African American Lives is a PBS television miniseries hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., focusing on African American genealogical research...
(2006) and African American Lives 2 (2008) in which the lineage of more than a dozen notable African Americans is traced using genealogical
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
and historic resources, as well as DNA testing
Genealogical DNA test
A genealogical DNA test examines the nucleotides at specific locations on a person's DNA for genetic genealogy purposes. The test results are not meant to have any informative medical value and do not determine specific genetic diseases or disorders ; they are intended only to give genealogical...
. In the first series, Gates learned that he had more than 50 percent European
European ethnic groups
The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
ancestry, and was descended from the mulatto
Mulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
John Redman. In addition, he discussed findings with guests about their complex ancestries.
In the second series of episodes, Gates learned that he is part of a genetic subgroup possibly descended from or related to the 4th-century Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
king, Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall of the Nine Hostages
Niall Noígíallach , or in English, Niall of the Nine Hostages, son of Eochaid Mugmedón, was an Irish king, the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill kindred who dominated Ireland from the 6th century to the 10th century...
. He also learned that his ancestors included the Yoruba people
Yoruba people
The Yoruba people are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. The majority of the Yoruba speak the Yoruba language...
of Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. The two programs 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. This program examined the genealogy of 12 North Americans: Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander
Elizabeth Alexander is an Australian actress with a number of high profile credits in film, television and theatre.-Personal life:...
, Mario Batali
Mario Batali
Mario Batali is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles,...
, Stephen Colbert
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.Colbert originally studied to be an...
, Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich
Karen Louise Erdrich, known as Louise Erdrich, is an author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American heritage. She is widely acclaimed as one of the most significant writers of the second wave of what critic Kenneth Lincoln has called the Native American Renaissance...
, Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell, CM is a Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. He is currently based in New York City and has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996...
, Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...
, Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
, Queen Noor, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, and Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristine Tsuya "Kristi" Yamaguchi-Hedican is an American figure skater. She is the 1992 Olympic Champion in ladies' singles. Yamaguchi also won two World Figure Skating Championships in 1991 and 1992 and a U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1992. She won one junior world title in 1988 and two...
Since 1995, Gates has served as jury chair for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards are United States literary awards dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture...
, which honor written works that contribute to society's understanding of racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and the diversity of human culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. Gates was an Anisfield-Wolf prize winner in 1989 for The Schomburg Library of Women Writers.
"Ending the Slavery Blame-Game" editorial
In 2010, Gates wrote an editorial in The New York Times which discussed the role played by Africans in the slave trade. In an article for Newsweek, journalist Lisa Miller reported on the reaction to the editorial:The enemy of individuality is groupthink, Gates says, and here he holds everyone accountable. Recently, he has enraged many of his colleagues in the African-American studies field--especially those campaigning for government reparations for slavery--by insistently reminding them, as he did in a New York Times op-ed last year, that the folks who captured and sold blacks into slavery in the first place were also Africans, working for profit. "People wanted to kill me, man," Gates says of the reaction to that op-ed. "Black people were so angry at me. But we need to get some distance from the binary opposition we were raised in: evil white people and good black people. The world just isn't like that."
Gates's critics say he's a provocateur and publicity hound, stretched too thin and puffed up by his celebrity friends. Lolita Buckner Inniss, a professor at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, wrote a letter to The New York Times in response to the Gates piece in which she pointed out the obvious. No matter who did the capturing, it was white people who created the market for African slaves and perpetuated the practice even after the import trade was banned. "My first thought was, he's kidding, right?" she told me. "Up until that recent piece, people would have thought of him as someone who took a cautious and nuanced approach to questions like reparations." Gates has such an eminent reputation, she said, and "so much gravitas. Many of us were troubled."
The editorial begins and ends with the observation that it is very difficult to decide whether or not to give reparations to the descendants of American slaves, in other words whether they should receive compensation for their ancestors’ unpaid labor and bondage
Bondage
Bondage may refer to:*Debt bondage, a modern form of slavery in which people are bound by debt, rather than legal ownership*Bondage , the practice of tying people up for pleasure*Self-bondage, the practice of tying oneself up for pleasure...
. Gates also points out that it is equally difficult to decide who should get these reparations and who should pay them.
Cambridge arrest
On July 16, 2009, Gates returned home from a trip to ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to find the door to his house jammed. His driver attempted to help him gain entrance. A passer-by called police reporting a possible break-in after seeing windows being broken. A Cambridge police
Cambridge Police Department (Massachusetts)
The Cambridge Police Department is the municipal police department for the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The department has 266 police officers and 42 civilian personnel. It was organized in 1859. The Cambridge Police Department completed their headquarters relocation as...
officer was dispatched. The resulting confrontation resulted in Gates being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Prosecutors later dropped the charges. The incident spurred a politically charged exchange of views about race relations and law enforcement
Law enforcement agency
In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...
throughout the United States. The arrest garnered national attention after U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
declared that the police "acted stupidly" in arresting Gates, a comment which drew criticism from Massachusetts residents and from many law enforcement communities. The President eventually extended an invitation to both Gates and the officer involved to share a beer with him at the White House.
On March 9, 2010, Gates claimed on the Oprah Winfrey Show that he and Sgt. James Crowley, the arresting officer in the Cambridge incident, share a common ancestor
Ancestor
An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....
, an ancient Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
king.
Awards and honors
- Gates has been the recipient of 51 honorary degrees and numerous academic and social action awards.
- Gates was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1981.
- He was listed in TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
among its “25 Most Influential Americans” in 1997. Ebony Magazine listed him among its "100 Most Influential Black Americans" in 2005, and in 2009, Ebony included him on its "Power 150" list. - In 2002 the National Endowment for the HumanitiesNational Endowment for the HumanitiesThe National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
selected Gates for the Jefferson LectureJefferson LectureThe Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities is an honorary lecture series established in 1972 by the National Endowment for the Humanities . According to the NEH, the Lecture is "the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities."-History of...
, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanitiesHumanitiesThe humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
. Gates's lecture was entitled "Mister Jefferson and the Trials of Phillis Wheatley." It was the basis of his later book The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers (2003). - Gates received the National Humanities Medal in 1998 and the 2008 Ralph Lowell Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the highest honor in the field of public television, in 2009. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999.
- On October 23, 2006, Gates was appointed the Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor at Harvard University. He has been the Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research since arriving at Harvard in 1991.
- In January 2008, he co-founded The Root, a website dedicated to African-American perspectives and published by The Washington Post Company.
- Gates serves as the Chair for the Selection Committee for the Alphonse Fletcher, Sr., Fellowship Program, sponsored by the Fletcher Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Fletcher Asset Management.
- He is on the boards of many notable institutions including the New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
, Jazz at Lincoln CenterJazz at Lincoln CenterJazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. JALC's performing arts complex, Frederick P. Rose Hall, is located at West 60th Street and Broadway in New York City, slightly south of the main Lincoln Center campus and directly adjacent to Columbus Circle. Frederick P....
, the Aspen InstituteAspen InstituteThe Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. The organization is dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues." The...
, the Brookings InstitutionBrookings InstitutionThe Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...
, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the NAACP Legal Defense FundNAACP Legal Defense and Educational FundThe NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City....
, HEAF (the Harlem Educational Activities Fund), and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral SciencesCenter for Advanced Study in the Behavioral SciencesThe Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is an American interdisciplinary research body in Stanford, California focusing on the social sciences and humanities . Fellows are elected in a closed process, to spend a period of residence at the Center, released from other duties...
, located in Stanford, CaliforniaStanford, CaliforniaStanford is a census-designated place in Santa Clara County, California, United States and is the home of Stanford University. The population was 13,809 at the 2010 census....
. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. - In 2006, Gates was inducted into the Sons of the American RevolutionSons of the American RevolutionThe National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is a Louisville, Kentucky-based fraternal organization in the United States...
after tracing his lineage back to John Redman, a free African American who fought in the Revolutionary War. - In 2010, Gates became the first African American to have his genome fully sequenced. He is also half of the first father-son pair to have their genomes fully sequenced. KnomeKnomeKnome is an American personal genomics company that sells human whole genome and exome analysis and sequencing services to researchers and consumers...
performed the analysis as part of the "Faces of AmericaFaces of AmericaFaces of America is a four-part Public Broadcasting Service Public television television series hosted by Professor Henry Louis Gates. The series originally aired February 10 – March 3, 2010 from 8–9 p.m. ET. In Australia, this program aired on SBS One each Sunday at 7:30pm from 9 -30...
" project.
Filmography
- Black in Latin America, PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, Executive Producer, Writer and Presenter, PBS, April 19-May 10, 2011. - From Great Zimbabwe to Kilimatinde, BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
/PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, Great Railway JourneysGreat Railway JourneysGreat Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television...
, Narrator and Screenwriter, BBC/PBS, 1996. - The Two Nations of Black America, Host and Scriptwriter, Frontline, WGBH-TVWGBH-TVWGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
, February 11, 1998. - Leaving Eldridge Cleaver, WGBH, 1999
- Wonders of the African World, PBS, October 25–27, 1999 (six-part series) (Shown as Into Africa on BBC-2 in the United Kingdom and South Africa, Summer, 1999)
- America Beyond the Color Line, Host and Scriptwriter, (four part series) PBS, 2004.
- African American LivesAfrican American LivesAfrican American Lives is a PBS television miniseries hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr., focusing on African American genealogical research...
, Host and Narrator, PBS, February 2006 - African American Lives 2, Host and Narrator, PBS, February 2008
- Looking For Lincoln, Host and Narrator, PBS, February 2009 (CD-Rom)
- Credited for his involvement in Unchained MemoriesUnchained MemoriesUnchained Memories is a 2003 documentary films about the stories of former slaves interviewed during the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project. This HBO film interpretation directed by Ed Bell and Thomas Lennon is a compilation of slave narratives, narrated by actors, emulating the...
(2003)
External links
- Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Harvard Faculty webpage
- The Root
- Wonders of the African World Program with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for PBS
- Article from Harvard Gazette on Gates after C. West and K.A. Appiah left for Princeton
- Articles from the Harvard Crimson on Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
- Maya Jaggi, "Henry the first", profile of Gates in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, July 6, 2002 - Archive of contributions to The New Yorker
- The 2009 Cambridge police arrest report
- Gates speaking at the Library of Congress
- Public School Insights Interview with Henry Louis Gates, Jr August 19, 2008