Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Acclaimed as an eloquent commentator and formidable intellectual force on multicultural and African American issues, Gates has held additional appointments at Yale, Cornell, and Duke. Born and raised in Piedmont, West Virginia, Gates grew up during a period of racial transition in the 1950s and 1960s.
Currently, Professor Gates is Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford African American Studies Center, the first comprehensive scholarly online resource in the field of African American Studies and Africana Studies. He is co-editor with K. Anthony Appiah of the encyclopedia Encarta Africana published on CD-ROM by Microsoft. His latest book is Finding Oprah’s Roots, Finding Your Own, a meditation on genetics, genealogy, and race. His other recent books include America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans, African American Lives, and The Annotated Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
In 2006, Professor Gates wrote and produced the PBS documentary called African American Lives, the first documentary series to employ genealogy and science to provide an understanding of African American history. In 2007, a follow-up one-hour documentary, “Oprah’s Roots: An African American Lives Special,” aired on PBS, further examining the genealogical and genetic heritage of Oprah Winfrey, who had been featured in the original documentary. Professor Gates is currently at work on a four-hour sequel to “African American Lives,” which is scheduled to air in February 2008.
In addition to writing, Professor Gates has had a profound impact on the literary world by authenticated and facilitated the publication of Our Nig, or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, by Harriet Wilson, the first novel published by an African American woman. As well as The Bondwoman’s Narrative by Hannah Crafts, dating from the early 1850s and now considered one of the first novels written by an African American woman. Through out his long and decorated career, Gates has been a part of many writing, publishing and editorial endeavors.
Professor Gates earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from Clare College at the University of Cambridge, and his B.A. summa cum laude in History from Yale University. He became a member of Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year at Yale.
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