Upcoming Events
2025 Black Faculty Speaker Series: Collective Community Vision
This year’s theme for the Black Faculty Speaker Series is Collective Community Vision featuring renowned historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. This series aims to give a powerful exploration of community building as a collective practice, guided by an inclusive vision that often transcends societal expectations. Based on his groundbreaking PBS series "Finding Your Roots", Dr. Gates shares insights from his influential series about genealogy, genetics, and history’s impact on our lives today. His keynote features a stunning visual presentation, including Professor Gates’ favorite moments from the show, such as the memorable appearance of the late Congressman John Lewis.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. | Postponed to Wed., May 7, 2025
Fireside Chat
For U of A faculty, students, and staff.
Wednesday, May 7
3 - 4 p.m.
Kiva Room, Student Union Memorial Center
Fireside Chat RSVP
Public Talk
Emmy and Peabody Award-Winning Filmmaker, Literary Scholar, Journalist, Cultural Critic, and Institution Builder
New York Times Bestselling Author of Over 30 Books, including 'Stony the Road' and 'The Black Church'
Host, 'Finding Your Roots' on PBS
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor & Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University
Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, and journalist Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is an acclaimed cultural critic and institution builder. Professor Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Among his dozens of books are the recent New York Times bestsellers Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow and The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song. He has also produced and hosted an array of documentary films. The Black Church (PBS) and Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (HBO), which he executive produced, each received Emmy nominations. His latest history series for PBS is Making Black America: Through the Grapevine. Finding Your Roots, Gates’s groundbreaking genealogy and genetics series is now in its tenth season on PBS.
Professor Gates has received countless awards and honors, including a George Polk Award for his social commentary in The New York Times, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Chicago Tribune Literary Award for lifetime achievement, and the prestigious Gold Medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences, among many others. His filmmaking has received Emmy, Peabody, and NAACP Image Awards and an Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award. Recently, he the coveted Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. Professor Gates serves on the boards of many notable institutions, including the New York Public Library, the Aspen Institute, and the Brookings Institution, and is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. A consummate scholar and esteemed public intellectual, Professor Gates is a highly sought-after keynote speaker for his riveting addresses to audiences of all kinds.
Common Reading
We invite University of Arizona affiliates to check out Dr. Gates's e-book, The Black Box: Writing the Race (2024), from the University Libraries. Distilled over many years from Gates's legendary Harvard introductory course in African American studies, The Black Box: Writing the Race is the story of Black self-definition in America through the prism of the writers who have led the way.
Continue the conversation at BLAC
In collaboration with Arizona Arts Live, Blue Lotus Artist Collective (BLAC) will be hosting a moderated conversation to discuss Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Black Box: Writing the Race. BLAC is a non-profit gallery space dedicated to uplifting Black artists. Located in downtown Tucson’s historic Pioneer Building, our gallery provides a space for the community to engage with and celebrate Black art and creativity. Inspired by the resilience of the Blue Lotus—a water lily that flourished in even the harshest conditions of ancient Egypt—BLAC is committed to fostering artistic expression and cultural dialogue.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Black Box: Writing the Race - Conversation at BLAC
Space is limited.
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For sponsorship inquiries and commitment, please contact Nina Bates, Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives at ninaari@arizona.edu.
Planning Team
This series was organized by faculty members:
• Dr. Mamadou Baro, Chair of BARA, Associate Professor, School of Anthropology
• Dr. Jenna Hatcher, Vice Provost, Diversity and Inclusion and Professor, College of Public Health
• Dr. Amy Kraehe, Associate Vice President, Equity in the Arts and Professor, School of Art
• Dr. Tarnia Newton, Assistant Clinical Professor, College of Nursing
Coordination of the series is supported by the Office of the Provost.
Nina Bates, Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives, Office of the Provost
Odette Vargas, Event Planner, Office of the Provost