Top of Mind: Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Photograph by Sadie Dayton

You remember the headlines: A celebrated scholar has trouble getting into his house, and winds up sparking a national uproar over race that culminates in a White House beer summit. Indeed, last summer was a hectic one for Skip Gates—no less so because of the globetrotting project he’d just begun, a PBS series called Faces of America, debuting 2/10. In it, Gates plumbs the mysteries of his genetic roots while helping celebrity guests (Eva Longoria Parker, Stephen Colbert, et al.) do the same, proving we’re all a lot more alike than it sometimes seems.

[sidebar]I had just gotten back from China, from finding Yo-Yo Ma’s ancestors. I had brought back an antique chess set to give to [Harvard professor] Larry Bobo. That’s the only reason I stopped here instead of flying straight to the Vineyard. I was so excited about this chess set.
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I know you have to ask, but I have nothing more to add to what I’ve already said.
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I have a complex life. I don’t dwell on any one event. You gotta keep moving. Satchel Paige said, “Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you.” You could say that’s my motto.
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My fourth great-grandfather, a black man named John Redmond, fought for the Continental Army. Which is why I had Sam Adams at the White House, in his honor.
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I once asked Larry Summers how he got over his divorce and he said, “I strapped myself to that speeding bullet called Harvard.” Well, I strapped myself to this documentary. I threw myself into it.
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Since the day we buried my grandfather when I was nine, I’ve been obsessed with my family tree. Now my family tree hangs in my kitchen. For a black family, it’s quite extraordinary.
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Jane Gates, my great-great-grandmother, was freed by the Civil War. The father of all her children was a white man. We know that he was Irish. It’s a story Jane Gates took to her grave. We’re tracking him down through his DNA, though, and I’m gonna find that sucker. I hope he’s rich!
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How’d I choose people for the series? I just wrote to them and everybody said yes. It was fantastic. Meryl Streep, I thought she might be Jewish—I had read that—it turns out she’s not.
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We had scientists at [Harvard-MIT research collaborative] the Broad Institute do a complete analysis of my guests’ genomes. Having identical stretches of DNA means they share a common ancestor. Malcolm Gladwell and I have a common ancestor.
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Well, the further back you go in time, the fewer people there were. Plus, Charlemagne, he was the king, man. He slept with everyone in France.
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My father is 96 and a half. He’s the oldest human being ever to have his genome sequenced. We decided to do mine so we’d be able to see exactly what I inherited from my father.
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By subtraction, they re-created my mother’s genome. And that was the most moving experience that I’ve ever had doing documentary film.
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According to the most sophisticated genetics test, I’m 56 percent white, 37 percent African, and 7 percent Native American.
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Genetically, if you look at me, I’m a white man.
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I start teaching this month. I didn’t teach first semester because I was afraid of the press and I had death threats and bomb threats to [my] house. The university thought I should move. But I decided I was not going to be driven out of town by some racists.
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Most of the mail I get is enormously positive.
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I’ve had the good fortune of having dreams and then living to see them fulfilled. I mean, bars are full of guys who don’t get one dream fulfilled—and I’ve had many. That’s a gift. I thank God every day.