Leon Forrest Lecturer: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. presented a very engaging lecture, captured on video by NUAMPS, at Tech Ryan Auditorium on Thursday afternoon, discussing his projects in African-American ancestry tracing.  Invited as this year’s Leon Forrest Lecturer, Professor Gates spoke for well over an hour on topics ranging from his own personal family history back to his great-great grandmother, Jane Gates, born a slave in 1819, to stories of how he managed to secure Oprah as a participant in his 2006 program, African American Lives, for PBS.