An Evening with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Go Big Read looks forward to welcoming Henry Louis Gates, Jr to Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, on March 24th at 7:30 pm. Gates’ talk will contribute to a community-wide discussion of race and ethics, topics which relate strongly to this year’s Go Big Read Selection, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.

Gates, Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, is the director of Harvard’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African-American Research, and is a literary critic, cultural historian, writer, editor, and television producer.

In recent years, Gates wrote and produced a PBS documentary titled “African American Lives,” the first documentary to discuss African American history using genealogy and genetic science, as well as a number of other related documentaries. He is also the author of numerous works of literary criticism, and editor of many anthologies, including The Norton Anthology of African American Literature (W. W. Norton, 1996). A more complete list of his impressive achievements, publications, awards, and honors can be found at his Harvard University faculty bio.

Gates’ talk is sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, the Institute for Research in the Humanities, the Office of the Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate, the Office of the Provost, and the General Library System.

This event is free and open to the public, no tickets required. For more information, click here for the UW Center for the Humanities website.