The Newberry Library, one of Chicago’s most historic cultural institutions, has presented its Newberry Library Award to Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Alphonso Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University. The annual award recognizes outstanding achievement in the humanities.
Throughout his career, Dr. Gates has contributed immensely to the research, documentation, and preservation of African American history and culture. His work has illuminated the quest for genealogical and historical research of African Americans in the history of both Africa and America, and beyond. His work has led him to be recognized with dozens of awards including the National Humanities Medal.
“Among the Newberry’s greatest strengths are its collections related to genealogy and local history,” said Astrida Orle Tantillo, Newberry President and Librarian. “Henry Louis Gates keenly understands the importance of such collections to researchers doing the deeply personal work of tracing their family’s history. It was an honor to celebrate his achievements in this area, as well as his acumen as a historian, and to reflect on the importance of institutions such as the Newberry as well as the often-transformative exploration of finding one’s roots.”
Dr. Gates is the editor and author of dozens of books. His most recent publication, The Black Box: Writing the Race (Penguin Press, 2024), discusses the history of Black America through the work of Black authors. It was named one of “100 Best Books of the Year” by The New York Times Book Review. One of his most notable works, The Signifying Monkey, is a complex exploration on the idea of the black vernacular “signifying” in African American literature.
Since 2012, he has hosted the extremely popular “Finding Your Roots” series on PBS. The series has resulted in much-needed documentaries on the lives of African Americans in the United States as well as Africans and African-ancestored persons in South America.
In addition to his endowed professorship, Dr. Gates serves as the director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard, where he has taught for over three decades. He previously served on the faculty at Duke University, Cornell University, and Yale University. He was a former chair of the Pulitzer Prize board.
A native of West Virginia, Dr. Gates is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University. He earned a Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge in England.
