Henry Louis Gates

Collaborating on The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, editors Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Nellie Y. McKay have compiled what may be the definitive collection of its kind. Organized chronologically, the massive work gathers writings from six periods of black history: slavery and freedom; Reconstruction; the Harlem Renaissance; Realism, Naturalism and Modernism; the Black Arts Movement and the period since the 1970s. The work begins with...

When a company of black Union soldiers tells L'il Dan that he is no longer a slave, he follows them, and uses his beloved drum to save them from attack.

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. turns again to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of eleven renowned celebrities including Meryl Streep and Queen Noor. Looking to the wider immigrant experience, Professor Gates follows the threads of his guests' lives back to their origins. Along the way, the many stories he uncovers illuminate the American experience

Renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. weaves together genealogical detective work with cutting-edge DNA analysis to trace the ancestry of a diverse array of trailblazing public figures. The result is a captivating cross-section of history, illustrating that diversity is both America's strength and its constant.

In light of the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, this documentary focuses on many of the controversial aspects of Lincoln's life--race, equality, religion, politics and depression. Interviews re-enactors, relic hunters, authors, scholars and Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to gain perspectives on Lincoln's life and thoughts.

Rap has emerged as one of the most influential cultural forces of our time. In this work, the editors demonstrate that rap is also a wide reaching and vital poetic tradition born of beats and rhymes. This pioneering anthology brings together more than three hundred lyrics written over thirty years, from the "old school" to the "golden age" to the present day. Rather than aim for encyclopedic coverage, the editors render through examples the richness...

Henry Louis Gates Jr. travels to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico and Peru to discover the African influence on Latin America. He examines the shared legacy of colonialism and slavery in a region that imported ten times as many slaves as the United States, and kept them in bondage far longer. Gates finds that the influence of people of African descent has had a massive influence on the history and culture of Latin America and the Caribbean,...