Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

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African American Studies scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. was born in Keyser, West Virginia on September 16, 1950, the son of Henry Louis Gates Sr. and Pauline Augusta Coleman. Gates first enrolled in college at Potomac State College in 1968, before transferring to Yale University in 1969. In 1970, he received a fellowship from Yale that would allow him to work and travel in Africa. Gates graduated from Yale in 1973, receiving his B.A. degree in History. Gates was also honored in 1973 with an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Award. The first such grant to be given to an African American, the award allowed Gates to study at the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. At Cambridge, Gates enrolled in the Clare College, and studied English Literature. Gates was able to work with scholars such as Wole Soyinka, the first native of Africa to win a Pulitzer Prize, British Labor scholar Raymond Williams and literary critic George Steiner. While he returned to the United States in 1975, Gates continued his studies, and received PhD. in English Language and Literature from the University of Cambridge in 1979.

Gates enrolled at Yale Law School in 1975, but left after a month. He stayed at the New Haven, CT. institution, becoming a secretary at with the University's unit of African American Studies. In 1976, Gates was appointed as a lecturer in English and African American Studies, and named Director of Undergraduate Studies. Gates was made an Assistant Professor at Yale in 1979, and stayed at the University until 1985 While at Cornell University, where he served as a Professsor of English, Literature and Africana Studies from 1985 to 1990, Gates groundbreaking text Signifying Monkey A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism, was released. A 1989 American Book Award winner, the work extended the application of the concept of "signifyin(g)" to analysis of African American works and thus rooted African-American literary criticism in the African American vernacular tradition. The work gained Gates critical acclaim nationally, and he quickly translated his success into a more mainstream career as a "public intellectual," writing pieces on race and other issues for publications like the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Nation and The New Republic.

After a short stay at Duke University from 1989 to 1991, Gates moved onto Harvard University, where he became a Professor and Director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, a position he still holds today. Gates was also the co-founder of TheRoot.com, an online magazine, and editor of the Oxford African American Studies Center.

From The HistoryMakers™ biography: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/A2013.006

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Wole Soyinka papers, 1966-1996. Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Marlon Riggs Collection, 1957-1994 Cecil H. Green Library. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
referencedIn Wole Soyinka papers, 1966-1996. Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Social Democrats, USA Records, 1937-1994, (Bulk 1970-1994) David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
referencedIn Antioch Review mss., 1940-2007 Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
referencedIn Jean Wagner papers, 1945-1983 (inclusive), 1957-1963 (bulk). Houghton Library
creatorOf Robinson, Armstead L. Papers of Armstead Robinson [manuscript], ca. 1964-1995. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Wole Soyinka papers, 1966-1996. Harvard Theater Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
referencedIn Robert E. Hemenway Personal Papers, 1906-2008 University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library University Archives
referencedIn Jean Wagner papers, 1945-1983 (inclusive), 1957-1963 (bulk). Houghton Library
creatorOf Gates, Henry Louis Jr. Gates, Henry Louis Jr.: Art World Personality Files. Whitney Museum of American Art, Library
referencedIn Biographical Reference Collection, ., 1972 - 2004 University Archives, Duke University.
referencedIn Stephen Jay Gould papers, 1899-2004, 1941-2002 Stanford University. Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf The HistoryMakers Video Oral History with Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr. The HistoryMakers
Relation Name
associatedWith Antioch review. corporateBody
associatedWith Duke University. University Archives. corporateBody
associatedWith Gould, Stephen Jay person
associatedWith Hemenway, Robert E., 1941- person
associatedWith Riggs, Marlon. person
associatedWith Robinson, Armstead L. person
associatedWith Social Democrats, USA corporateBody
correspondedWith Soyinka, Wole. person
correspondedWith Wagner, Jean, 1919- person
associatedWith Whitney Museum of American Art. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
Keyser (W. Va.)
Cambridge (Mass.)
Subject
Occupation
English Professor
Activity

Person

Birth 1950-09-16

Birth 19500916

Americans

English

Information

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