Henry Louis Gates Jr.

This is a story about America during and after Reconstruction, one of history's most pivotal and misunderstood chapters. In a stirring account of emancipation, the struggle for citizenship and national reunion, and the advent of racial segregation, the renowned Harvard scholar delivers a book that is illuminating and timely. Real-life accounts drive the narrative, spanning the half century between the Civil War and Birth of a Nation. Here, you will...

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s “Tradition and the Black Atlantic” is both a vibrant romp down the rabbit hole of cultural studies and an examination of the discipline's roots and role in contemporary thought. In this conversational tour through the halls of theory, Gates leaps from Richard Wright to Spike Lee, from Pat Buchanan to Frantz Fanon, and ultimately to the source of anticolonialist thought: the unlikely figure of Edmund Burke. Throughout...

In 1773, the slave Phillis Wheatley literally wrote her way to freedom. The first person of African descent to publish a book of poems in English, she was emancipated by her owners in recognition of her literary achievement. For a time, Wheatley was the most famous black woman in the West. But Thomas Jefferson, unlike his contemporaries Ben Franklin and George Washington, refused to acknowledge her gifts as a writer, a repudiation that eventually...

Who are we, and where do we come from? The fundamental drive to answer these questions is at the heart of Finding Your Roots, the companion book to the PBS documentary series seen by 30 million people. As Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. shows us, the tools of cutting-edge genomics and deep genealogical research now allow us to learn more about our roots, looking further back in time than ever before. Gates's investigations take on the personal...

Selected as a 2012 Outstanding Title by AAUP University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries The history of how six Latin American countries acknowledge-or deny-their African past 12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World during the Middle Passage. While just over 11.0 million survived the arduous journey, only about 450,000 of them arrived in the United States. The rest-over ten and a half million-were taken to the Caribbean...

The series will dissect the myths that have grown up around Abraham Lincoln, and in doing so, will address outstanding questions surrounding him – questions about race, equality, religion, depression, and sexuality – by carefully interpreting the evidence provided by people who actually knew him.

Henry Louis Gates helps actors Pamela Adlon and Kathryn Hahn decode scandals and secrets hidden within their roots, traveling from small-town England to the American frontier, revealing stories that their ancestors went to great lengths to conceal-and celebrating the virtues of accepting one's family members, whoever they may be.

Henry Louis Gates traces the roots of actors Terry Crews and Tony Danza, two men who overcame adversity, revealing they aren't the first in their families to beat the odds through sheer force of will. From impoverished Italian villages to slave plantations in rural Georgia, long-lost records reveal individuals who came from nothing and built a better life for their families.

Henry Louis Gates uncovers the long-hidden roots of Broadway stars Nathan Lane and Leslie Odom, Jr., introducing them to relatives whose names and birthplaces they've never heard before. With only a handful of clues to guide him, Gates leads his guests back to unexpected places in Ireland, Barbados, and Africa, uncovering the stories of ancestors who laid the groundwork for their success.

Henry Louis Gates explores the deep Mexican roots of talk show host Mario Lopez and comedian Melissa Villaseñor, uncovering ancestors stretching back to the 1500s. Weaving together stories of migratory farmers, Spanish Conquistadors and Native Americans, Gates conjures up personal histories of diverse, sometimes conflicting, elements.