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estern tradition but has envisioned a more inclusive canon of diverse works sharing common cultural connections every black american text must confess to a complex ancestry one high and low that is literary and vernacular but also one white and black there can be no doubt that white texts inform and influence black texts and vice versa so that a thoroughly integrated canon of american literature is not only politically sound it is intellectually sound as well 12 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 14 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 15 as a mediator between those advocating separatism and those believing in a western canon gates has been criticized by both 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 citation needed gates has been criticized by john henrik clarke molefi kete asante and maulana karenga each of whom has been questioned by others in academia 16 17 18 as a literary historian committed to the preservation and study of historical texts gates has been integral to the black periodical literature project a digital archive of black newspapers and magazines created with financial assistance from the national endowment for the humanities neh 19 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 external videos washington journal interview with gates on the bondswoman s narrative april 18 2002 c span as a result of research he conducted as a macarthur fellow gates discovered our nig written by harriet e wilson in 1859 and thought to be the first novel written in the united states by an african american later he acquired and authenticated 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 if that date is correct it would have precedence as the first known novel written in the united states by an african american note clotel 1853 by william wells brown is recognized as the first novel published by an african american author but it was both written and published in london the bondwoman s narrative was first published in 2002 and became a bestseller as a prominent black intellectual gates has concentrated 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 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 which the government charged was profane had important roots in african american vernacular english games and literary traditions and should be protected 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 that s the first descriptor that comes to mind after that i would say i was a teacher both would be just as important 14 after his 2003 neh lecture gates published in the same year a book entitled the trials of phillis wheatley about the early african american poet in july 2022 gates announced that he would serve as editor in chief of the oxford dictionary of african american english a new glossary of language that will contain popular phrases used by historical black figures and modern day black americans 20 other activities edit gates speaks on a panel about race in america on the understanding our world stage at the national book festival on august 31 2019 gates accepts the peabody award for the african americans many rivers to cross in 1995 gates presented a program in the bbc series great railway journeys produced in association with pbs 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 this trip came 25 years after gates worked at a hospital in kilimatinde near dodoma tanzania when he was a 19 year old pre medical student at yale university 21 in september 1995 gates narrated a five part abridgement by margaret busby of his memoir colored people on bbc radio 4 22 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 in the first series gates learned that he has 50 european ancestry 23 and 50 african ancestry 24 he had known of some european ancestry but was surprised to learn the high proportion he also learned that he was descended from john redman a mulatto veteran in new england of the american revolutionary war gates has joined the sons of the american revolution in the series he discussed findings with guests about their complex ancestries in the second season of the program gates learned that he is part of a genetic subgroup that may be descended from or related to the fourth century irish king niall of the nine hostages he also learned that one of his african ancestors includes a yoruba man who was trafficked to america from ouidah in present day republic of benin the two series demonstrated the many strands of ancestry cultural 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 of diverse ancestry elizabeth alexander mario batali stephen colbert louise erdrich malcolm gladwell eva longoria yo yo ma mike nichols queen noor of jordan mehmet oz meryl streep and kristi yamaguchi since 1995 gates has been the jury chair for the anisfield wolf book award which honors 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 since 2012 he has hosted a pbs television series entitled finding your roots with henry louis gates jr 25 the second season of the series featuring 30 prominent guests across 10 episodes with gates as the narrator interviewer and genealogical investigator aired on pbs in fall 2014 the show s third season was postponed after it was discovered that actor ben affleck had persuaded gates to omit information about his slave owning ancestors 26 27 28 finding your roots resumed in january 2016 29 gates s critically acclaimed six part pbs documentary series the african americans many rivers to cross traced 500 years of african american history to the second inauguration of president barack obama gates wrote executive produced and hosted the series which earned the 2013 peabody award and an naacp image award in 2022 and 2023 gates was involved with the creation of ap african american studies the new college level course created by the college board for high school students 30 31 in 2026 gates would interview media mogul barry diller on finding your roots 32 ending the slavery blame game op ed edit in 2010 gates wrote an op ed in the new york times that discussed the role played by africans in the atlantic slave trade 33 his op ed 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 whether they should receive compensation for the unpaid labor of their ancestors and their lack of rights 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 in an article for newsweek journalist lisa miller reported on the reaction to gates s article 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 the letters page of the new york times of april 25 2010 featured criticism and examination of gates s views in response to his op ed eric foner professor of history at columbia university considered gates s emphasis on there being little discussion of african involvement in the slave trade to be unfounded stating that today virtually every history of slavery and every american history textbook includes this information author herb boyd who teaches african and african american history at the college of new rochelle and city college cuny argued that despite the complicity of african monarchs in the atlantic slave trade the united states was the greatest beneficiary and thus should be the main compensator lolita buckner inniss a professor at the cleveland marshall college of law argued that notwithstanding african involvement as abductors it was western slave owners as captors who perpetuated the practice even after the import trade was banned 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 34 35 cambridge arrest edit main article henry louis gates arrest controversy on july 16 2009 following a trip to china gates returned home to his residence in cambridge massachusetts near harvard square the front door was jammed his taxi driver attempted to help him gain entrance a passerby called police reporting a possible break in after describing to 911 an individual forcing the front door open cambridge police officers were dispatched following a confrontation gates was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct prosecutors later dropped the charges 36 the incident spurred a politically charged exchange of views about race relations and law enforcement throughout the united states the arrest attracted national attention after u s president barack obama declared that the cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting the 59 year old gates obama and then vice president joe biden eventually extended an invitation to gates and the cambridge officer who was involved to share a beer with them at the white house which they accepted 37 personal life edit gates married sharon lynn adams in 1979 38 they had two daughters together before divorcing in 1999 39 as of 2021 gates is married to historian dr marial iglesias utset 40 in 1974 gates learned transcendental meditation he reported 41 i had this spiritual event where it was like the top of my head opened up and i was just overwhelmed with emotion and tears just streamed down my face and i was exhilarated it was astonishing so i know that moment of transcendence is real gates is a distant relative of the actor john lithgow 42 awards and honors edit gates has received numerous honorary degrees including a doctor of letters from his alma mater the university of cambridge 43 gates was named a macarthur fellow in 1981 44 on april 19 1989 gates was elected a member of the american antiquarian society 45 in 1989 gates won an anisfield wolf book award for editing the 30 volumes of the schomburg library of nineteenth century black women writers 46 in 1993 gates was elected to the american academy of arts and sciences 47 in 1995 gates received the golden plate award of the american academy of achievement presented by awards council member quincy jones 48 gates was elected to the american philosophical society in 1995 49 gates was listed in time among its 25 most influential americans in 1997 50 ebony magazine listed gates among its 100 most influential black americans in 2005 and in 2009 included him on ebony s power 150 list as well as on its 2012 power 100 list of the most influential african americans 51 in 2002 the national endowment for the humanities selected gates for the jefferson lecture the u s federal government s highest honor for achievement in the humanities 52 his lecture was entitled mister jefferson and the trials of phillis wheatley 53 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 54 gates received the national humanities medal in 1998 55 gates was elected to the american academy of arts and letters in 1999 56 gates received the 2008 ralph lowell award from the corporation for public broadcasting the highest honor in the field of public television 57 on october 23 2006 gates was appointed the alphonse fletcher jr university professor at harvard university 58 in january 2008 gates co founded the root a website dedicated to african american perspectives published by the washington post company 59 gates serves as the chair for the selection committee for the alphonse fletcher sr fellowship program that is 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 library american repertory theater jazz at lincoln center the aspen institute the brookings institution the studio museum of harlem the naacp legal defense and educational fund heaf the harlem educational activities fund and the center for advanced study in the behavioral sciences located in stanford california 11 gates is a member of the council on foreign relations 60 in 2006 gates was inducted into the sons of the american revolution after tracing his lineage to john redman a free african american who fought in the revolutionary war 23 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...