Henry Louis Gates Jr

Henry Louis (Skip) Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, as well as director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. He received a B.A. in English Language and Literature, summa cum laude, from Yale University in 1973. Professor Gates earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature from Clare College at the University of Cambridge. Before joining the faculty of Harvard in 1991, he taught at Yale, Cornell and Duke Universities. Professor Gates has received 51 honorary degrees, as well as a 1981 MacArthur Foundation "Genius Award," the 1993 George Polk Award for Social Commentary, and the 2008 Ralph Lowell Award, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's highest award.