Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Known for Acting

9/16/1950(Age 75)

Keyser, West Virginia, USA

Biography

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr. is an American historian, literary critic, filmmaker and public intellectual who currently serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University.

Known For (40 credits)

Movie

The Gettysburg Address

2025

In the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln went to Gettysburg. "The Gettysburg Address" investigates the five extant copies of Lincoln's famous speech, separating fact from fiction along the way. Lincoln's greater journey to Gettysburg is chronicled, from his early anti-slavery sentiments as a poor farmer's son to his rousing orations as one of America's greatest leaders.

Great Migrations: A People on the Move

2025

Explores the transformative impact of Black migration on American culture and society. From the waves of Black Americans to the North—and back South—over the last century to the growing number of immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean today, movement is a defining feature of the Black experience.

Movie

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - The Fabric of America

2024

Explore the work of one of the most renowned, respected and popular cultural historians with this new retrospective documentary, which explores his work and how it has made history come alive for tens of millions of Americans.

Gospel

2024

Dig deep into the origin story of Black gospel music, coming out of slavery, blending with the blues tradition, and soaring to new heights during the Great Migration. From Mahalia to Kirk Franklin, in the last century, gospel music has become the dominant form of African American religious expression and provided a soundtrack of healing and uplift to those at the front lines of protest and change.

Movie

Gospel Live! Presented By Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

2024

A one-of-a-kind musical celebration that honors the legacy and influence of Gospel music in America. Contemporary artists join celebrated gospel singers to perform their favorite gospel classics in this live companion to the Gospel docuseries.

6.0

Making Black America

2022

A chronicle of the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people—beyond the reach of the “White gaze.” Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. sits with noted scholars, politicians, cultural leaders, and old friends to discuss this world behind the color line and what it looks like today.

6.0

Movie

Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches

2022

Acclaimed actors draw from five of Douglass’ legendary speeches, to represent a different moment in the tumultuous history of 19th century America as well as a different stage of Douglass’ long and celebrated life, while famed scholars provide context for the speeches, and remind us that Frederick Douglass’ words about racial injustice still resonate deeply today.

The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song

2021

The 400-year-old story of the black church in America, the changing nature of worship spaces, and the men and women who shepherded them from the pulpit, the choir loft, and church pews.

4.6

Movie

John Lewis: Good Trouble

2020

The timely biopic focuses on John Lewis’ longstanding prominence as a civil rights champion and his continuing crusade for racial and social equality. The documentary illuminates the 80-year-old Congressman’s life as it chronicles the moments on the extraordinary journey that have shaped his place in history and make him such a galvanizing figure today as protests circle the globe. Lewis’ schedule has increased ten-fold as he has become the go-to figure for TV news shows, podcasts and newspapers and magazines from the Washington Post to Vanity Fair, commenting on and leading the way forward through today’s worldwide protests and demonstrations.

America's Great Divide: From Obama to Trump

2020

A deep look into the growing divide in America from the Barack Obama era through the presidency of Donald Trump.

7.7

Watchmen

2019

Set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, “Watchmen” embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own.

Reconstruction: America After the Civil War

7.0

Movie

Reconstruction: America After the Civil War

2019

The series explores the transformative years following the American Civil War, when the nation struggled to rebuild itself in the face of profound loss, massive destruction, and revolutionary social change. The twelve years that composed the post-war Reconstruction era (1865-77) witnessed a seismic shift in the meaning and makeup of our democracy, with millions of former slaves and free black people seeking out their rightful place as equal citizens under the law. Though tragically short-lived, this bold democratic experiment was, in the words of W. E. B. Du Bois, a ‘brief moment in the sun’ for African Americans, when they could advance, and achieve, education, exercise their right to vote, and run for and win public office.