Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University (on leave 2025-26). Gates is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder. He has published numerous books and produced and hosted a range of documentary films. "The Black Church" on PBS and "Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches" on HBO, both executive produced by Gates, received Emmy nominations. "Finding Your Roots," Gates’s genealogy and genetics series, has aired multiple seasons on PBS. He also created the history series "Gospel" for PBS.

Gates has received several honorary degrees, including from the University of Cambridge. He was a member of the first class awarded MacArthur Foundation "genius grants" and became the first African American scholar to receive the National Humanities Medal. Gates discovered "The Bondwoman’s Narrative" by Hannah Craft, recognized as the first novel written by a Black female author.

A native of Piedmont, West Virginia, Gates earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Yale University and a Master of Arts and doctorate in English literature from Clare College at Cambridge, where he is also an honorary fellow. Gates is a former chair of the Pulitzer Prize board and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He serves on boards including New York Public Library, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Aspen Institute, Whitney Museum of American Art, Library of America, and The Studio Museum of Harlem. His portrait by Yuqi Wang is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Gates is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.