The Newberry Library, one of Chicago’s most venerable cultural institutions, honored Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonso Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, with the Newberry Library Award for his outstanding achievement in the humanities.
Dr. Gates has been instrumental in research, documentation, and preserving the African American history and culture throughout his career. He is known for providing information on the quest for the history and genealogical research of African Americans, not only in the African continent but also in America, and beyond. He has been honored with dozens of awards, including the National Humanities Medal.
“One of the Newberry’s strongest assets is its collections of genealogy and local history,” said Astrida Orle Tantillo, President and Librarian of the Newberry. “Henry Louis Gates has a deep understanding of how important these collections are to people researching their family’s past. It was an honor to celebrate his accomplishments in that area, as well as his talents as a historian, and the power of an institution like the Newberry and the possibility of transformation that comes from digging deep to find your roots.”
Dr. Gates has written and edited dozens of books. His most recent work, The Black Box: Writing the Race (Penguin Press, 2024), is a discussion of the history of Black America through the work of Black authors. The book was listed as one of the “100 Best Books of the Year” by The New York Times Book Review. His most famous work, The Signifying Monkey, was an in-depth study on the concept of the black vernacular “signifying” in African American literature.
Dr. Gates has been hosting the popular PBS show Finding Your Roots since 2012. The series has led to the making of several vital documentaries about African Americans in the United States, as well as Africans and people of African ancestry in South America.
In addition to his endowed professorship, Dr. Gates is the director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard, where he has taught for more than three decades. He was previously on the faculty at Duke University, Cornell University, and Yale University. He was the chair of the Pulitzer Prize board at one point.
Dr. Gates was born in West Virginia. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University. He also earned a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England.