Henry Louis Gates Jr.

This full-length biography explores the multifacetedand altogether fascinatinglife opinions and accomplishments of African American scholar and writer Henry Louis Gates Jr.Henry Louis Gates Jr.: A Biography is the first comprehensive volume about a man hailed as one of America''s most influential scholars. Tracing Gates''s life from his West Virginia birth the book follows him through his undergraduate education at Yale and then to Cambridge where he became the first African American to receive a doctorate. His current activities as a Harvard University professor director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research and editor-in-chief of TheRoot a daily online magazine focusing on issues of interest to the African American community are explored as well.The biography also provides insights into Gates''s groundbreaking work as a critic scholar and author probing his wide-ranging interests his many accomplishments and his invaluable revelations about the contributions of African Americans to the nation''s literature and history. Most important the book provides readers with a fuller understanding of African American history and literatureand of the nature of today''s racial politics.