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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,"[13] adding, "It's as ridiculous as if someone said I couldn't appreciate Shakespeare because I'm not Anglo-Saxon. The Native American writer Erdrich refuses to assent to genetic ancestry testing, because she understands her DNA to belong to her community. If the findings of conventional genealogical research produce fireworks, the results of the DNA analysis generate shock and awe. The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. He earned his B.A. And the last thing I did before I went to bed on July 2, 1960, was to look up the word estimable. Graduated from Piedmont High School in 1968, Gates attended Potomac State College of West Virginia University before transferring to Yale University, from which, in 1973, he earned a bachelor of arts degree in history, summa cum laude, and he gained membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Gates currently serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the W.E.B. And my mother used to write the eulogies, the obituaries for all the black people in the Potomac Valley, where I grew up. I don't think that's true for very many people in this room or any - or many people who are watching this show. GATES: Otherwise they wouldn't be in a database. Ostensibly one familys illness narrative, the story is also an allegory about how the experience of migrationwhether forced through slavery, pogroms, or economic vulnerability, or motivated by hope for a better futuremay generate a latent or conscious yen for community. It's a horrible way to start, in a way. GATES: But then they did another special test. And I loved the news. So everybody knew that this whole thing was building to the climax when Delilah - is her name - the character. GROSS: It's mind-boggling. His work has rooted African-American literary criticism in the African-American vernacular tradition.[12]. And most DNA companies in the United States will tell you that they have never tested an African-American who is 100 percent from sub-Saharan Africa. You know, we used to say tribe, but now that's not politically correct - so the Yoruba ethnic group in Western Nigeria. As of February 2022, Gates, 71, serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and as the Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.. And the geneticists have found the identity finally of Jane Gates's paramour, the man GATES: Yes. They had kids, and they're buried next to each other. Daughter Elizabeth Gates interviews her dad about . So I know that moment of transcendence is real.". And that is the lesson of "Finding Your Roots. It measures your ancestry back 500 years approximately. Today's most compelling personalities discover the surprising stories in their own family trees. You know, no matter how different we appear phenotypically, under the skin we're 99.99 percent the same. GATES: And I gave it to my mother once. However, in the 60s amid the Civil Rights Movement, Vivian had been the target of attention from white supremacists since they believed she looked Black. I can do it. And what's the real showstopper for me is the fact that my three sets of my fourth great grandparents lived 18 miles from where I was born. These American faces, we learn, are the descendants of colonialists, aboriginals, overseers, bondspeople, interned citizens, and religious pilgrims. American literary critic, professor and historian (born 1950), Critical studies and reviews of Gates' work. GATES: The Gateses all looked - my father looked white. GATES: Yeah, I loved books. As soon as the Civil War ended, they became common law husband and wife GATES: Which was illegal in Mississippi. In the early 1980s Gates rediscovered the earliest novel by an African American, Harriet E. Wilsons Our Nig (1859), by proving that the work was in fact written by an African American woman and not, as had been widely assumed, by a white man from the North. GATES: And they said, OK, we won't tell you. Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. What does Henry Louis Gates, Jr., see as the most important form of resistance against hate? GATES: I go, yeah, I got a brother who's a dentist, you know? And that night - and then daddy showed my brother and me, Dr. Paul Gates now, chief of dentistry at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital GATES: Well, it's the spirit of my mother. Even if you were free and you were black GATES: In most states, you weren't allowed to vote. A Letter from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to his daughters Maggie and Lisa I enjoy the unselfconscious moments of a shared cultural intimacy, whatever form they take, when no one else is watching, when no white people are around. It's beautiful. Gates collaborates with genetic scientists, including Eric Lander and David Altshuler, of the Broad Institute of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the Harvard professor George Church, progenitor of the Personal Genome Project; and personal genomics companies such as 23andMe and Knome Inc. And she and Claudette Colbert are both unmarried mothers. And then it was a property requirement. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. He maintains that it is "ridiculous" to think that only Blacks should be scholars of African and African-American literature. Well, I'll tell you a funny story. The world just isn't like that. 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 historical resources, as well as genealogical DNA testing. He loved the news. I think you know where I'm heading here. At the time, only Vivians European background had been known, and this discovery in her ancestryresurfaced thanks to a profile on Johnnys first wife in The Washington Poston May 16. GATES: OK. He draws on structuralism, post-structuralism, and semiotics to analyze texts and assess matters of identity politics. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Soyinka persuaded Gates to study literature instead of history; he also taught him much about the culture of the Yoruba, one of the largest Nigerian ethnic groups. At Yale University in 1973, he was one of 12 students selected as a Scholar of the House, a program that allows seniors to write a book or compose a symphony or follow a similar passion instead of taking classes. They spoke in front of an audience last May when Gates received WHYY's annual Lifelong Learning Award. Was this an equal sexual relationship? Other TV credits included the documentary miniseries Wonders of the African World (1999), Black in Latin America (2011), The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (2013), and Reconstruction: America After the Civil War (2019). He was a free negro, as we would have said then. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. [1] He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels, long forgotten, and has published extensively on appreciating African-American literature as part of the Western canon. GROSS: Your father died not too long ago - a few years ago. Terry will be one of the guests whose family history is explored next year in the sixth season of the show. In the series, he discussed findings with guests about their complex ancestries. After turning that corner, Sharon gave birth to Maggie, their first daughter, in July 1980, and Liza was born 18 months later. Cambridge police officers were dispatched. And when this little girl's passing for - she passes for white and breaks her mother's heart. Some critics suggest that adding 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. Jakes and Chris Tucker. In addition to Rosanne, Vivian and Johnny welcomed three other daughters: Cindy, Kathy and Tara. GATES: Well, I think that you should have the right to - you have to ask someone. GROSS: So given this kind of really rich mix that you've just described and all the surprises that you've just described, what does race mean to you? In Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars (1992) and elsewhere, Gates argued for the inclusion of African American literature in the Western canon. Vivian filed for divorce in 1967, and Johnny went on to marry singer June Carter Cash. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is an American treasure. In 2021, the National World War Two Museum recognized Gates with its American Spirit Award. javascript and allows content to be delivered from c950.chronicle.com and chronicle.blueconic.net. 5. It's incredible that the mystery to my family tree - I'm looking toward Africa, and it was 18 miles away in Moorefield, W.Va., County Courthouse. And then when we go - when you were buried, she would stand up. GATES: Right after the Beer Summit, it all went away. GROSS: OK. It's a lot of data to process. In Wednesday's press conference, President Obama called the Cambridge Police Department "stupid" for arresting Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gates was also involved with various television documentaries that were aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). But I think that Donald Trump's rhetoric and some of his actions - for instance, after Charlottesville - encourage unfavorable race relations in the United States. Ozzy & Sharon Osbournes Grandkids: Meet Their Grandchildren, Click to Subscribe to Get Our Free HollywoodLife Daily Newsletter, Rosanne Cash: 5 Things To Know About Johnnys Daughter Whos Speaking Out About His June Carter Affair, 'Finding Your Roots' Preview: Jeff Goldblum Reveals How His Mom Helped Him Fight A Bully, Ozzy & Sharon Osbournes Grandkids: Meet Their Grandchildren, Beautiful Nature-Inspired Baby Names Used By Celebrity Parents, Did Vanderpump Rules Tom Cheated on Ariana With Raquel? He argued that the material, which the government charged was profane, had important roots in African-American Vernacular English, games, and literary traditions, and should be protected. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is an American literary critic Credit: Getty What is Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s net worth? GATES: And then when they did my admixture, I'm 50 percent sub-Saharan African and 50 percent European and virtually no Native American ancestry, which really pisses my family off. He introduced the notion of signifyin to represent African and African American literary and musical history as a continuing reflection and reinterpretation of what has come before. He rediscovered the earliest African-American novels . And it's just crazy. He has learned that he is also connected to the multiracial West Virginia community of Chestnut Ridge people. And it turned out - my father used to say, you know, your mother's family is really distinguished, too? Yeah. 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. They had two geneticists. DAVIES: Henry Louis Gates speaking with Terry Gross in May of last year. Moreover, these genetic techniques may be inconsistent with the aims of conventional genealogy. And when they analyzed my mitochondrial DNA, it went to England. GROSS: Terry Gross interviewed Henry Louis Gates last May when he was in Philadelphia to accept the WHYY Lifelong Learning Award. In 2021, Gates was honored by PEN America with its Audible Literary Service Award. Speaks onstage during the 'Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise' panel discussion at the PBS portion of the 2016. Crockett Jr., Stephen A. What percent would be Native American? I told them that I did not want to know if I had any of the sort of - I don't know - the slam-dunk genes for Alzheimer's disease. And I hope they are. I mean, they know Donald Trump. His mother. [25][26][27] Finding Your Roots resumed in January 2016.[28]. Gates graduated as valedictorian of his high school class in 1968 and attended a local junior college before enrolling at Yale University, where he received a bachelors degree in history in 1973. GATES: That's true. In 1974, Carol Stacks important ethnography All Our Kin (Harper & Row) suggested the plasticity of the designation cousin well beyond consanguinity. In July 2009 Gates was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct: After returning from traveling abroad, Gates had forced open the door to his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which precipitated a call to police from a neighbour who believed a robbery might be underway. Gates also notes that it is equally difficult to decide who should get such reparations and who should pay them, as slavery was legal under the laws of the colonies and the United States. He reported:[37], "I had this spiritual event where it was like the top of my head opened up. This is FRESH AIR. And, although full genome sequencing is becoming more common and affordable, haplotype grouping relies upon the more narrow analysis of mtDNA and Y-DNA. And she throws herself on the casket. Faces expands on those outings in topic and technique, branching out from the genealogies of prominent blacks to those of a multiracial, multiethnic group of notables, including the actors Eva Longoria and Meryl Streep, the writers Louise Erdrich and Malcolm Gladwell, the musician Yo-Yo Ma, the poet and scholar Elizabeth Alexander, the comedian Stephen Colbert, and Gates himself. Director, Hutchins Center, African & African American Research, Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard. GROSS: Whoa. So I would say, you know, no, I don't think so. The Bondwoman's Narrative was first published in 2002 and became a bestseller. When asked by National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman Bruce Cole to describe his work, Gates responded: "I would say I'm a literary critic. Professor Gates is the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research at Harvard and has produced numerous books and documentaries about African-American history. No one's ever asked me that, but the answer's yes because I studied with a person who has been on your show, Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, when I went to the University of Cambridge. And you realize it's Peola, grown up, coming back. They had a medical doctor who specializes in sharing this information. His early life is described in his memoir that is entitled, Colored People (1994). OK. GROSS: Do you know - do you want to know your medical DNA? As a child, Gates said he wanted to be a Rhodes Scholar. Rather, he works for greater recognition of Black works and their integration into a larger, pluralistic canon. As a prominent Black intellectual, Gates has concentrated on building academic institutions to study Black culture. One wishes that Gates, an inimitable literary scholar well before he became a pathbreaking Renaissance man, might have alluded to another of Edward P. Joness works, The Known World, a historical novel exploring life in an antebellum community in which both blacks and whites hold black slaves, by way of even partial explanation. And under the skin, we are almost identical genetically. And before I started school - I started school when I was, well, 5, turning 6 - I would get dressed up, and I would go to church with my mom. It's - remember, it's - my father dragged my brother and me upstairs in his parents' home and made us wait why he'd look through half a dozen of his father's scrapbooks, about which we knew nothing - complete mystery, a secret to us - looking for that obituary. The book tells of Gates's childhood growing up in the 1950s in a close-knit extended family and an equally close-knit small-town community. And I wanted to be from them. And GATES: Yeah. And we're listening to Terry's interview with Henry Louis Gates. 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. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. In the show, notable guests discover their family roots based on genealogical research and DNA results. "Black people were so angry at me. GATES: admixture, I'm 50 percent sub-Saharan African and 50 percent European and virtually no Native American ancestry, which really pisses my family off. He learned the truth when he appeared on an episode of the new PBS series Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, with his fair skin and blue eyes, had long . He wrote his first column (about Little League games) at age 12 for the Piedmont Herald in West Virginia and continued to write for his high school and college newspapers. Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Head Negro In Charge. It's incredible. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Coming up, journalist Brian Palmer talks about how slavery and the Civil War are described at Confederate historic sites in the South. And I don't know if that ruined your sports career forever, but it affected your leg forever. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., (born September 16, 1950, Keyser, West Virginia, U.S.), American literary critic and scholar known for his pioneering theories of African and African American literature. Gates hosted Faces of America, a four-part series presented by PBS in 2010. And I cluster more toward the Yoruba than any - because 50 percent GATES: Of my ancestry is from sub-Saharan Africa. We'd spit in a test tube. This is FRESH AIR. In 2019, Gates received the Anne Izard Storytellers Choice Award, 2019 for "The Annotated African American Folktales," which he edited with Maria Tatar. 1. He received the 2008 Ralph Lowell Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the highest honor in the field of public television. Mama - I'm sorry, Mama. Joness tale offers some insight into the appeal of genealogy, another effort at reconnection with home and kin, and ballast against the tumult of modern living. And so then they came in - this is a big deal back in 2008. Surely, most people of African descent do not expect to find a black slave owner in their family tree. They flew him in from San Francisco. In October 1975, he was hired by Charles Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. In 2020, Gates received the Muhammad Ali Voice of HumanityAward. GATES: So if you were a Martian and came down to look at my DNA results, you'd think I was a white boy, you know? So that was a steal. Alexanders relation to Colbert or Longorias to Ma underscores a central theme of the series: Underlying the many faces of America is a fundamental genetic unity. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and professor at Harvard University, the seriess subtitles"The Promise of America, Making America, Becoming American, and Know Thyself"suggest assimilation, a melting pot rather than a tossed salad notion of the United States. GROSS: Yeah. And tears just streamed down my face. We might think of Faces of America, then, as an allegory of the simultaneous diversity of our experiences and the deep interpenetration of our histories. His name was John Redman. But it's just not those two genetic lines. So I'm out there. [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 was born in Patterson Creek, W.Va., on June 8, 1913.