How Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Helped Remake the Literary Canon
The scholar has changed the way Black authors get read and the way Black history gets told.
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The scholar has changed the way Black authors get read and the way Black history gets told.
The scholar most of us know from "Finding Your Roots" plans a series of books in which authors reflect on the influence of Black thinkers and artists. The point: to upend the historical "underestimation of Black intellect."
A book series from Penguin will feature leading writers on the legacy of Black figures including W.E.B. Du Bois, John Hope Franklin, Toni Morrison and Stevie Wonder.
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences named University Professor Henry Louis âSkipâ Gates, Jr. a recipient of its Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies on Wednesday, making him the seventh honoree since the awardâs inception in 1975. The Don M. Randel Award was established to recognize intellectuals for âsuperior humanistic scholarship,â according to the Academyâs website. Previous recipients include University of Chicago Law School professor Martha C. Nussbaum and Harvard English professor emerita Helen H. Vendler, who is also a University Professor. Th...