GROSS: Have you been medically DNA tested? Discomfort is also experienced by the viewer. These American faces, we learn, are the descendants of colonialists, aboriginals, overseers, bondspeople, interned citizens, and religious pilgrims. The Native American writer Erdrich refuses to assent to genetic ancestry testing, because she understands her DNA to belong to her community. I hope you never come back, you know? And he mustered in in Winchester, Va., on Christmas Day, 1778, and was mustered down the Continental Army in April of 1784. Malcolm Gladwell hears some shocking news in Gates's latest PBS show. And that night - and then daddy showed my brother and me, Dr. Paul Gates now, chief of dentistry at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital GATES: Well, it's the spirit of my mother. According to a police report, Gates refused to cooperate when he was later questioned in his home, which resulted in his arrest. GATES: Yeah, I was 15 years old. This is FRESH AIR. And I was just overwhelmed with emotion. So reading this - that she's a mulatto; she'd been a slave - the first question that comes to my mind - and I don't know if it was the first question that came to yours - was, was she raped by the man who owned her? 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. He was 97, as you said. And you don't have a Y DNA, so that's why you're a woman. The series is the latest iteration of Gatess innovative, fascinating foray into the nexus of genealogy and genetic ancestry testing that began four years ago with African American Lives (and continued with African American Lives 2 and Oprahs Roots). The fifth season of "Finding Your Roots" is currently showing on PBS. GROSS: But you also wanted to know who were your African ancestors. My mother would say, tell them about your brother who's a dentist. Henry Louis Gates Daughters Elizabeth is in her twenties and suffered a severe stroke in May 2010. 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. I said, well, I've never met Donald Trump. Still, as the sociologist Troy Duster wrote in The Chronicle Review (Deep Roots and Tangled Branches, February 3, 2006) regarding the use of this analysis in the first African American Lives, these tests rel[y] excessively on the idea of 100-percent purity, a condition that could never have existed in human populations. We learn, too, that Yo-Yo Ma is 100 percent Asian, that Streep is 100 percent European, and, in a nod to comedy and to how quickly ancestry can become racial classification, that Colbert is 100 percent white man! What is one to make of an admixture test that reveals no mixture at all? I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross. Henry Louis Gates Bio, Wiki, Age, Wife, Finding Your Roots, and Net Worth Henry Louis Gates' Daughter: "Now It's An Issue Of Race - YouTube And at this point, I'd run over to my mother and say, Mama, I'll never pass for white, Mama. In 2021, Gates received the PBS Beacon Award. And my mother used to write the eulogies, the obituaries for all the black people in the Potomac Valley, where I grew up. The "You. GATES: So if you were a Martian and came down to look at my DNA results, you'd think I was a white boy, you know? GROSS: But it's making me think of how much death figured into your formative thoughts - the death of your grandfather, which led you to see the picture of your great-great-grandmother, everybody's deaths through your mother memorialized in those obituaries. August 22, 2013, 12:00 a.m. Based on admixture testing, Longoria is told that she is 70 percent European, 27 percent Native American, and 3 percent African. I killed my mama. That's a long time when you're young. Such information forces you to contemplate your own history, he observes. DAVIES: Henry Louis Gates spoke with Terry Gross before a live audience in Philadelphia last May. And I was shocked by that. If the findings of conventional genealogical research produce fireworks, the results of the DNA analysis generate shock and awe. And I wanted to be from them. GROSS: Totally stunned. And the reason I wanted to be a writer is that my mother wrote so beautifully and read so beautifully. As a child, Gates said he wanted to be a Rhodes Scholar. Henry Louis Gates reveals celebrities' family history in 'Finding Your Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. GATES: Don't you? The surprising reveals, coupled with the celebrities raw reactions to the information conveyed by the host, deliver moments of high drama and genuine emotion. "[7], Gates has argued that a separatist, Afrocentric education perpetuates racist stereotypes. So I would say, you know, no, I don't think so. And she throws herself on the casket. Gates was born in Keyser, West Virginia,[2] to Pauline Augusta (Coleman) Gates (19161987) and Henry Louis Gates Sr. (c. 19132010). He reflects on his own history and some of the more controversial aspects of DNA testing. GATES: Terry Gross speechless - first time in 35 years. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. For example, while haplogroupssets of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are gene-sequence variants that are inherited together and categorized by letter and number (A, L3D, R, U5b, etc. He was a free negro, as we would have said then. It feels heartbreaking, Rosanne Cash admitted through tears after finding out that an ancestor of her mother, Vivian Liberto Cash the first wife of singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, who both received threats from the KKK was enslaved. [34] They had two daughters together before they divorced in 1999. After a month at Yale Law School, Gates withdrew from the program. GROSS: So when you had your DNA done, did you have a wish for a certain area of Africa or a certain group of African people who you wanted to be your ancestors? Gates traced the practice of signifyin to Esu, the trickster figure of Yoruba mythology, and to the figure of the signifying monkey, with which Esu is closely associated. Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. And we'd have the chess board set up. And we filmed the whole thing. And another person to interpret my genetic data because it's 6 billion base pairs, right? Gates is the host of the TV genealogy series "Finding Your Roots." He introduced the notion ofsignifyinto represent Black literary and musical history as a continuing reflection and reinterpretation of what has come before. Race is a social construction. And by in traction, I mean on my back with my foot up with weights. In 2009, when I did "Faces Of America," a retail value of full genomic sequencing was $300,000. In the early 1980s Gates rediscovered the earliest novel by an African American, Harriet E. Wilsons Our Nig (1859), by proving that the work was in fact written by an African American woman and not, as had been widely assumed, by a white man from the North. He reported:[37], "I had this spiritual event where it was like the top of my head opened up. 266. And they would be published in the newspaper. Before the PBS episode, the world only knew that Vivian was reported to be of Sicilian heritage on her dads side, and German/Irish on her mothers side. I have a couple black friends - I went to Yale with Ben Carson and with Ben's wife. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is an American treasure. More than anyone else, the historian is responsible for "entertaining the idea remotely" that Gates could become a writer. 35 (1): 212227. It's a gift - and for my mom. Episode 1409A -- Pictured in this screengrab: Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. During an interview on February 22, 2021 -- I could've won the Nobel Prize, and somebody would say congratulations. Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is FRESH AIR. You know, no matter how different we appear phenotypically, under the skin we're 99.99 percent the same. Today's most compelling personalities discover the surprising stories in their own family trees. Barack Obama understood that and, I think, certainly helped our nation to heal. Gat. Gates' Daughter Speaks Out - YouTube You get your Y DNA from your father, and that's what makes me a man. No one's ever asked me that, but the answer's yes because I studied with a person who has been on your show, Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, when I went to the University of Cambridge. African-Americans all think that they're a descendant from a Native American. GROSS: Your father died not too long ago - a few years ago. GATES: He wasn't even out the door, and I moved into his bedroom. And my father would just make up stories and tell my brother and me. His work has rooted African-American literary criticism in the African-American vernacular tradition.[12]. Gates' Daughter Speaks Out CBS 2.04M subscribers Subscribe 53K views 13 years ago Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest continues to cause controversy after President Obama. In some instances, we are left wanting to know much more. PDF University of Washington School of Law If you remember, it was called "African-American Lives." And I loved the news. GROSS: Huge story. However, in the 60s amid the Civil Rights Movement, Vivian had been the target of attention from white supremacists since they believed she looked Black. [33], Gates married Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979. 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. Elizabeth Gates, the daughter of prominent Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, is in her twenties and suffered a severe stroke just four months ago. And tears just streamed down my face. And he fought in - for the Continental Army. This kind of research has been especially important for African-Americans whose ancestors had their names and families taken away when they were enslaved. And she burst into tears because she used to read me that book all the time. GROSS: Let's look at your ancestry and see who's really in it. American literary critic, professor and historian (born 1950), Critical studies and reviews of Gates' work. For $50,000, they sequenced my father, me and then 12 of the guests who were in "Faces Of America" - not a full genome but a dense genotyping. I think you know where I'm heading here. We cant hold a documentary for a general audience responsible for not presenting a complex metanarrative on the philosophy of genetic science. All that was on still in 1965 in syndication. The injury was misdiagnosed by a physician, who told Gates' mother that his problem was 'psychosomatic'. One episode this season explores Gates' own DNA and family history. In October 1975, he was hired by Charles Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. Tune in for all-new episodes as Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores fascinating ancestries and family mysteries for an array of . People might remember the Beer Summit, when you were stopped in your own home trying to unjam a lock after a long trip. It's the damnedest thing I ever heard. And the obituary said, died this day in Cumberland, Md., January 6, 1888; Aunt Jane Gates, an estimable colored woman. Or they stayed home, and they listened to or played music. In 1980 Gates became codirector of the Black Periodical Literature Project at Yale. And we have a wall of degrees at home. This is FRESH AIR. And she would stand up and read their obituary, their eulogy. Jr. (Design School Visiting Committee 1984-89) in honor of their daughters, Brooke Higgins Bing Williams, Harvard College 1988, and Eden Branford Bing Williams, Harvard . Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. GROSS: So you assume it was not a consensual relationship, but she managed to own her own home five years after being freed from slavery. Gates' Daughter Speaks Out - YouTube It's beautiful. Gatess father, Henry Louis Gates, Sr., worked in a paper mill and moonlighted as a janitor; his mother, Pauline Coleman Gates, cleaned houses. GROSS: Yeah. (Rockefeller lost in 1972 but later served two terms as governor.). American playwright, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director. In 2020, Gates was named a Walter Channing Cabot Fellow by Harvard University. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and professor at Harvard University, the seriess subtitles"The Promise of America, Making America, Becoming American, and Know Thyself"suggest assimilation, a melting pot rather than a tossed salad notion of the United States. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [25][26][27] Finding Your Roots resumed in January 2016.[28]. You have to get permission. GROSS: And it's a way of outing people as not being who they think they are and not recognizing that we're all descended from so many different people. You know, I try to - doing "Finding Your Roots" is a way to paying homage to my mother and father every year. Was Johnny Cash's first wife, Vivian, Black? Roseanne Cash learned the And she was a beautiful woman. In 2012, The Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Police arrested Gates on July 16 on charges of disorderly conduct after a confrontation with an officer at his home in Cambridge, Mass. On April 19, 1989, he was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society. Time will tell. He loved the news. Amid discussion of Malcolm Gladwells roots, Gates discloses that the best-selling authors Jamaican maternal ancestor, a free woman of color, owned slaves of African descent. Yet no lens is provided through which to interpret this genealogical bombshell. GROSS: It's mind-boggling. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The latter, tracing the ancestral history of contemporary figures, was especially popular. So everybody knew that this whole thing was building to the climax when Delilah - is her name - the character. After receiving two fellowships in 1970, he took a leave of absence from Yale to visit Africa, working as an anesthetist in a hospital in Tanzania and then traveling through other African nations. GROSS: I saw his picture in the obituary. In 2021, Gates was honored by PEN America with its Audible Literary Service Award. He maintains that it is "ridiculous" to think that only Blacks should be scholars of African and African-American literature. 7. Henry Louis - The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard They came in slave ships. And a doctor from the Philippines taught me to play chess at West Virginia University Medical Center in Morgantown, W.Va. And he'd come around in rounds. [9] Gates accepted the offer by Cornell in 1985 and taught there until 1989. Also, journalist Brian Palmer talks about how slavery and the Civil War are described at Confederate historic sites in the South. The new season of Gates' TV series "Finding Your Roots" is now running on PBS. In July 2009 Gates was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct: After returning from traveling abroad, Gates had forced open the door to his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which precipitated a call to police from a neighbour who believed a robbery might be underway. Henry Louis Gates Jr. - Wikipedia GROSS: And it was reported as if it was a break-in, and a police officer came and arrested you. Season 8. As Elizabeth Alexander comments in Faces about her own family history, We dont even know the half of it. That profound uncertainty makes it all the more troubling that Gladwell translates the peculiar institution into a personal burden.
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