Literary critic, scholar, and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. will discuss, "Genetics, Genealogy, and African-American History," during his address at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum on Thursday, Jan. 22, commemorating the birthdate of Martin Luther King Jr. The public portion of the program begins at 6:45 p.m., with free seating on a first-come basis.
Every year since 1988 the Athenaeum has invited a distinguished guest to speak in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This year's guest is one of the country's most well known literary critics, scholars, and intellectuals. From topics ranging from African literary traditions to slave narratives to Oprah's roots, Henry Louis Gates Jr. has dedicated his career to a multitude of intellectual pursuits.
Gates is the editor-in-chief of the Oxford African-American Studies Centerthe first comprehensive scholarly online resource in the field of African-American studies and Africana studies and The Root, an online news magazine. His books include the 1989 American Book Award winner The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism. Among the many works he has edited, he is well known for publishing Our Nig, the first novel published by an African-American woman. He also wrote and produced the PBS documentaries, African American Lives, Wonders of the African World, and America Beyond the Color Line, and has written for Time Magazine, the New York Times, and the New Yorker.
Gates currently is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research at Harvard University. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1991, having previously taught at Cornell and Duke universities, as well as his alma mater, Yale, where he graduated summa cum laude and was appointed a "Scholar of the House" during his final year.
Gates was the first African-American to be awarded a Mellon Foundation Fellowship, and went on to earn his MA and Ph.D. in English Literature from Clare College at the University of Cambridge. His numerous honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Humanities Medal, and the George Polk Award for social commentary. He also was recently awarded the Jay B. Hubbell Medal by the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association "for a lifetime of meritorious service to the study of American literature."
In 2002 Gates was named by the National Endowment for the Humanities to give the Jefferson Lecture, the federal government's highest honor for distinguished achievement in the humanities. He has received more than 40 honorary degrees.