Henry Louis Gates Jr.
American literary critic and public intellectual who recovered the African American literary tradition, editing major anthologies and running Harvard's Du Bois Institute. The Signifying Monkey is his major theoretical work. His television series on African American genealogy and African history reached massive audiences.
Works
- The Signifying MonkeyPoststructuralist analysis of African American literary tradition and signification practice
- Loose CanonsEssays on the African American literary canon, criticism, and critical methodology
- Colored PeopleGates' memoir of growing up black in segregated West Virginia and becoming intellectual
- Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black ManBiographical essays on thirteen important African American intellectual and cultural figures
- Figures in BlackEssays examining African American literature, history, and intellectual contributions