Author, Journalist, Industrialist, Businessman, American filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Born on September 16, 1950 Members get extended access to PBS video on demand and more. So you GATES: Because of this white man. And GATES: Yeah. Listen 9:01. Reader, ed. And then it was a property requirement. GROSS: So you know your medical background and if you're GATES: Yeah. pic.twitter.com/1fYFMj9eYC. Accuracy and availability may vary. And he fought in - for the Continental Army. FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., Season Nine is a production of McGee Media, Inkwell Media, Kunhardt Films and WETA Washington, D.C. Corporate support for FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH . The show tends to highlight only a couple of ancestors for televisiona smart strategy, because it allows the shows researchers to allocate larger chunks of time towards researching the most interesting people. Gates has said back then that he and the producers decided not to include the information about Affleck's slave-owning history because they focused on other stuff they found more interesting about his family history. As soon as the Civil War ended, they became common law husband and wife GATES: Which was illegal in Mississippi. And we'd have the chess board set up. GATES: Well, I was on "The View." The Arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. By Emily Guskin, Mahvish Shahid Khan and Amy Mitchell. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Those same tens of thousands of American who saw the show are also unlikely to distinguish "soldier" from a one who is a member of a "regiment", "troop", "militia" or the "Native Guard". They begin their conversation by discussing how Henry's upbringing and the . And it's just crazy. Nobody knows about their heritage, and that's been the biggest surprise.". It is astonishing," he says, "that I have a kinship with someone (Niall of the Nine Hostages) dating back to the fourth century A.D.". His father worked in a paper mill and moonlighted as a janitor, while his mother cleaned houses, as described in his memoir Colored People (1994). One important distinction between the Books of Life on Finding Your Roots and a book that you might get from a genealogist is that the books from the show are scrapbooks with relatively little context written down. So you're saying I should have been an undertaker. GROSS: Totally stunned. Yeah. This is FRESH AIR. It is the first known work of its kind and has great historical and literary significance. GATES: admixture, I'm 50 percent sub-Saharan African and 50 percent European and virtually no Native American ancestry, which really pisses my family off. I love you being black. So lets look at some numbers! He grew up in neighboring Piedmont. GATES: So obviously somebody gave her that money. Finding Your Roots is partnered with the genealogy company Ancestry.com, which recently found in a survey that most people (over 50%) know more about fictional TV families like the Roys in Succession, than they do about their own family history. GATES: Yeah. I asked a PBS representative that question many times, and she would only repeat back the language that's from this statement. Biology matters. Research reports are great! James Crowley, both trace their ancestry back to the legendary Niall of the Nine Hostages. And I couldn't imagine what, but two sets of those fourth great-grandparents are from my mother's line. If so, youre in luck! I was more of a bookworm. Some books have a lot of pictures, while others have zero or very few images. One thing that your real-life book probably will not contain is photographs of your ancestors that youve never seen before. You can read more about genealogists specialties in my blog post on the subject. His expertise and experience eventually led him to TV, where he started working as a contributor, narrator and host of a number of history shows, before he eventually worked on the PBS miniseries African American Lives. DAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. This is . Race is a social construction. The conclusions wouldnt exist without research, citations, and analysis, but those structural underpinnings arent emphasized the way that they are in a research report. But mutations exist. **This blog post was updated on 6 April 2022**So, youve been watching the amazing stories about celebrities family histories on the TV show Finding Your Roots on PBS, and after a few episodes, youve started to wonder, Can Henry Louis Gates research my family tree?. That the emotional apex would not be around them discovering where in Africa their mother's mother's line came from. A family history book can also be expensive, as weve covered, so its worth doing your research to find the best genealogist for your project. 1. Thank you so much for accepting this award. He reflects on his own history and some of the more controversial aspects of DNA testing. I'm going to be black. Department of English Barker Center 12 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Hours: M-F 9:00 am-5:00 pm Phone: 617-495-2533 Fax: 617-496-8737 You might have breast cancer. After a break, he'll talk about his childhood and about how DNA evidence demonstrates there's no such thing as racial purity. GROSS: And I read you talking about this. As you can imagine, there's a bit of you get what you pay for here, with the most expensive books being the most customized (although there are some grifters out there, which I explain how to spot below). GROSS: Is that too personal? And the obituary said, died this day in Cumberland, Md., January 6, 1888; Aunt Jane Gates, an estimable colored woman. *48.6% Sub-Saharan African. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. If youve found this blog post helpful, please consider buying me a coffee to say thanks. GROSS: Yeah. But we have a disproportionately higher risk of sickle cell. So I'm out there. This is FRESH AIR. If you hadnt already guessed, family history books tend to be expensive. Watching a list of 26 titles created 26 Jan 2019 It's the damnedest thing I ever heard. And I think that that's sad. What percent would be from Europe? The Finding Your Roots host said discoveries about families like Cox's is a welcome lesson. Memories, Mean, People. Old photographs are usually kept in families and passed down through the generations, so family albums and attics are the most logical place to look for them. GROSS: I've interviewed many people over the years. The short answer is that genealogical research is charged by the hour, and research like that on Finding Your Roots takes a lot of hours. There he found that he shared 10 of the 11 DNA matches with offspring of Niall of the Nine Hostages, the fourth century warlord who created one of the dominant strains of Irish genealogy because he had so many offspring. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. "My wife, Marial Iglesias Utset, is a Cuban citizen and a historian of slavery and the slave trade to Cuba," he explained. Gates was born in Keyser, West Virginia, to Henry Louis Gates Sr. (c.1913-2010) and his wife Pauline Augusta (Coleman) Gates (1916-1987). (Read Henry . This is called an admixture test. If you enjoy genealogical research or history yourself and you want to take a peek at how the pros do it, you might actually enjoy a research report as much as (or more than!) Henry Louis Gates Jr. doesn't seem too worried about "critical race theory" or "white fragility" or "woke warriors" or any of those ridiculous buzzwords . Preview E. Larry is joined by professor, historian, and host of the PBS series Finding Your Roots Henry Louis Gates Jr. July 28, 2009 -- Henry Louis Gates Jr., the black professor at the center of the racial story involving his arrest outside his Harvard University-owned house, has spoken proudly of his Irish roots . I love you. And at the time, the airwaves were so segregated, they only put black films on "The Late Late Show." After more than 500 years of skewed, racist, Euro-centric interpretations of African history and culture, Wonders of the African World with Henry Loius Gates Jr. was to be a bold step towards reclaiming the oft-overlooked and minimized splendor of African civilization. Published February 4, 2023 at 1:25 PM AKST. DEGGANS: Yeah, that's true. GROSS: And it made me think about - because I was just reading this - it made me think about how a president can set the tone for the country on so many things, including, you know, racial issues, immigration. GROSS: OK, for two weeks. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Dozens of your favorite THIRTEEN and PBS programs are available to watch on-demand on many popular platforms. She loved nicknames (my brother Paul Edward is Rocky). The researchers also found that as many as one in 12 men in Ireland have the same DNA as the Irish king -- and in Ireland's northwest, that figure rises to one in five. Presented and written by Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., this series journeys deep into the ancestry of a group of remarkable individuals and provides new understanding of personal identity and American history. But then President Obama called you both together. January 16, 2018. I regret we are out of time. GROSS: So given this kind of really rich mix that you've just described and all the surprises that you've just described, what does race mean to you? Thank God. Well, I'll tell you a funny story. A plaque was unveiled in Cambridge in honour of Crummell and two other black pioneers: Gloria Carpenter . He is a Trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. However, it is perfectly acceptable to ask to view some sample pages or images to give you an idea of what youre getting. The controversy centered on an episode about the family history of star Ben Affleck. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters, Watch: Ed Norton reacts to slave-owning ancestors in "Finding Your Roots". So I thought that I had a pretty good chance. In his 2016 book, Finding Your Roots, Season 2: The Official Companion to the PBS Series, and in an article at The Huffington Post, Henry wrote that his 23andme DNA test results state his genetic ancestry to be: *50.1% European. Woodson was "keenly aware of the role of politics in the classroom," said Gates . And the last thing I did before I went to bed was - we always had a desk in our bedrooms and had a bookcase. GATES: And we - they only put - remember "The Late Show"? Thank you for being you. But I also watched TV. Brian Cox's family history in Scotland is investigated by host Henry Louis Gates Jr. on a Season 9 episode of "Finding Your Roots. He looked white. Things change. GATES: You know, I'm totally exposed. So I would say, you know, no, I don't think so. Long before he became the comforting presence on TV, Gates Jr. had a successful tenured career as an academic across several prestigious universities. In the latest episode of Finding Your Roots, Cox discovers previously lost information about James McCann, his grandfather who died before he was born, and his military service for Great Britain in World War I. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. - Part 01 HD Watch. Henry Louis Gates Jr. hosts the program, butas I understand ithe does not do the research into the guests family histories himself. "What's really changed our series and distinguishes it from Who Do You Think You Are? GROSS: Huge story. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, . "militia" and "Native Guard" which all seem "soldier related" even if inaccurate. Does race exist? But the ancestry is being investigated against the will of the people being outed. Black people came here - not willingly, of course. There are a couple of ways that your real-life book might differ from those the show, which Ive outlined below, but on the whole, books are pretty fabulous. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. S9 E2 - 52m 11s. We'll hear more after a short break. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker . Family history books can vary widely from one genealogist to the next, but they may resemble chapter- or coffee-table books with sections devoted to your ancestors. Discover Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Yeah. I have a couple black friends - I went to Yale with Ben Carson and with Ben's wife. Henry Louis Gates Jr., 72, is a professor, historian and documentary filmmaker. Henry Louis Gates Jr. was born on 16 September, 1950 in Keyser, West Virginia, United States, is an American professor. Even if you were free and you were black GATES: In most states, you weren't allowed to vote. GATES: Yeah, yeah. Weaving together stories of soldiers, settlers, immigrants and entrepreneurs, Gates travels from World War I battlefields to Civil War prison camps to America's most infamous . The headline read " DEATH OF 'AUNT JANE GATES ' ": Last night at 11 o'clock "Aunt Jane Gates," colored, a . The supposedly fearless leader battled the English, the Scots, the French and even the Romans, and struck fear into the heart of his enemies. On Finding Your Roots, researchers may spend upwards of 100 hours or more on a single guests tree and DNA analysis combined (or so Ive heard). He is well-known as a literary critic, an editor of literature, and a proponent of black literature and black cultural studies. GATES: I said, thank God. Be sure to watch Finding Your Roots on PBS on Tuesday nights! If youve enjoyed this blog post, you can hire me to create your family history book or research report. GATES: And I gave it to my mother once. I killed my mama. And most DNA companies in the United States will tell you that they have never tested an African-American who is 100 percent from sub-Saharan Africa. And when this little girl's passing for - she passes for white and breaks her mother's heart. And so then they came in - this is a big deal back in 2008. I am descended from - on my father's side - from a white man who impregnated a black woman and, on my mother's side, from a white woman who was impregnated by a black man. GROSS: And then your slightly more contemporary ancestors not having any rights in the country, you know, or very few rights - not being able to vote, having to live in segregation. GATES: But I have an announcement to make GATES: For you. And before I started school - I started school when I was, well, 5, turning 6 - I would get dressed up, and I would go to church with my mom. I'm here to ask, on behalf of our production staff, if you will be a guest in next season GATES: Of "Finding Your Roots." And my grandfather was so white, we called him Casper behind his back. CORNISH: And they said that they found the show's producers violated PBS standards by failing to shield the creative and editorial process from improper influence. They - but you're absolutely right. GROSS: So you assume it was not a consensual relationship, but she managed to own her own home five years after being freed from slavery. GATES: Maybe for Christmas, OK, that's fine (laughter). That's not the way it was. In my experience, cousins are usually more receptive to requests for pictures from known family members (as opposed to friendly but unfamiliar genealogists). Research report how henry & # x27 ; s upbringing and the PBS Tuesday! Damnedest thing I ever heard about their heritage, and she would only back! One thing that your real-life book probably will not contain is photographs of your ancestors that youve seen! 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