The US academic and TV historian’s rejection of racial categories has drawn criticism from some but his sense of mischief and underlying belief in American decency remains undimmed
he first time I met Henry Louis Gates Jr raised more questions than it answered. It was the year 2000, I was still a teenager, and he – already a distinguished Harvard professor – was hosting a launch for his new BBC and PBS seriesI remember the occasion as a series of firsts – my first TV launch party, first documentary series I’d seen on African civilisations, first encounter with a real-life Harvard professor. I remember wondering whether the circumstances were normal.
A scholarly passion for this contrariness has become something of a trademark for Gates. “When the humanity of African Americans was questioned, they fought back by producing art and literature that their lives depended on,” he tells me. “They accepted the premise that there was a place in what called the ‘kingdom of culture’ for them as well. Resurrecting that tradition, explicating it, that is my life’s work.
“I have never tested an African American who didn’t have white ancestry,” Gates says. “And that’s quite remarkable to me.” The current climate, in which political tribes are more polarised than ever, has only deepened his resolve to push back against the idea that black people should all agree. In this, he sometimes comes across as a man from another age – a more charming one, real or imagined – in which everyone could sit down together and work it all out.
Beers with a well-intentioned black president and messages of racial conciliation seem a lifetime away in the current political climate. Yet Gates says his own teaching practice remains unthreatened by fears of censorship or backlash. “Fortunately, I have the freedom to teach, whatever way that I want and whatever content that I want,” he says.