“In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it” - Henry Louis Gates
(Henry Louis Gates)
Henry Louis Gates was born on September 16th, 1950 in Keyser, West Virginia, USA. He grew up in Piedmont, WV. At 14 years old he injured his ball and socket joint while playing football. Due to a misdiagnosis after the injury healed his right leg was 2 inches shorter than his left. In 1968 he attended Potomac State College of West Virginia University. He then earned a BA in history at Yale. In 1975 he was hired by Charles T. Davis as a secretary in the Afro American Studies department at Yale. In 1976 Gates was promoted to the post of Lecturer in Afro American Studies. He was the 1st African American to be awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He then earned his PhD. at Clare college in England. In 1984 Gates was promoted to associate professor. Also in 1984 Gates was recruited by Cornell University with an offer of tenure. In 1985 he moved to Cornell University.
(Gates in 1985)
In 1989 he published the book The Signifying Monkey. Also in 1989 Gates was an Anisfield-Wolf prize winner. In 1991 he was recruited by Harvard University.
(Gates in 1991)
In 1992 he received a George Polk Award for his social commentary. In 1995 he presented the BBC series “Great Railway Journeys”. Also in 1995 Gates read a 5 part abridgement of his memoir Colored People.
(Gates in 1995)
In 2002 he published the book The Bondwoman's Narrative. In 2003 he published the book The Trials of Phillis Wheatley.
(Gates in 2003)
In 2006 he hosted “African American Lives”. In 2008 he hosted “African American Lives 2”. In 2009 Gates was arrested while trying to get into his own house. This attracted national attention with President Obama making a comment on the situation.
(Gates in 2009)
In 2010 he hosted “Faces of America”. In 2012 he hosted the TV series “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.”
(Gates in 2012)
In 2013 he hosted the series “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross”.
(Gates in 2013)
Today he turns 66 years old and we would all like to say happy birthday Henry Louis Gates.
Books by Henry Louis Gates
- Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the "Racial" Self (1987)
- The Signifying Monkey (1988)
- Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars (1992)
- Colored People: A Memoir (1994)
- The Future of the Race (1996)
- The Norton Anthology of African American Literature (1996)
- Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man (1997)
- Wonders of the African World (1999)
- The African American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century (2000)
- The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's first Black poet and her encounters with the founding fathers (2003)
- In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past (2009)
- Faces of America: How 12 Extraordinary Americans Reclaimed Their Pasts (2010)
- Tradition and the Black Atlantic: Critical Theory in the African Diaspora (2010)
- Black in Latin America (2011)
- Life Upon These Shores: Looking at African American History, 1513–2008 (2011)
- The Henry Louis Gates Jr. (2012)
- The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (2013)
- Finding Your Roots: The Official Companion to the PBS Series (2014)
Videos of Henry Louis Gates
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jtI-ItO6LE “The African-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Trailer" | PBS”
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8sa91Yq-GA “FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES Jr. | Season 2 Preview | PBS”
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tvFAFUbRyQ “BLACK IN LATIN AMERICA | Interview w/ Henry Louis, Gates, Jr. | PBS”
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNCQUsNY0w4 “FACES OF AMERICA WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR | Interview with HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR | PBS”
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC3-Pjxksus “Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. on his arrest”
(P.S. sorry for the late post)
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