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111-572: American Heritage is a magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes . Since that time, Edwin S. Grosvenor has been its editor and publisher. Print publication was suspended early in 2013, but the magazine relaunched in digital format with the Summer 2017 issue after a Kickstarter campaign raised $ 31,203 from 587 backers. The 70th Anniversary issue of
222-447: A 1989 American Book Award winner , Gates expressed what might constitute an African-American cultural aesthetic . The work extended application of the concept of " signifyin ' " to analysis of African-American works. "Signifyin(g)" refers to the significance of words that is based on context, and is accessible only to those who share the cultural values of a given speech community. His work has rooted African-American literary criticism in
333-604: A George Polk Award for his social commentary in The New York Times . Gates's prominence led to his being called as a witness on behalf of the controversial Florida rap group 2 Live Crew in an obscenity case. He argued that the material, which the government charged was profane, had important roots in African-American Vernacular English , games, and literary traditions, and should be protected. When asked by National Endowment for
444-705: A New York Times op-ed last year, that the folks who captured and sold Blacks into slavery in the first place were also Africans, working for profit. "People wanted to kill me, man," Gates says of the reaction to that op-ed. "Black people were so angry at me. But we need to get some distance from the binary opposition we were raised in: evil white people and good Black people. The world just isn't like that." The Letters page of The New York Times of April 25, 2010, featured criticism and examination of Gates's views in response to his op-ed. Eric Foner , professor of history at Columbia University , considered Gates's emphasis on there being "little discussion" of African involvement in
555-657: A Northwest Passage to Asia in 1609. New Netherland was established in 1621 by the company to capitalize on the North American fur trade . Growth was slow at first due to mismanagement by the Dutch and Native American conflicts. After the Dutch purchased the island of Manhattan from the Native Americans, the land was named New Amsterdam and became the capital of New Netherland. The town rapidly expanded and in
666-615: A Yoruba man who was trafficked to America from Ouidah in present-day Republic of Benin . The two series demonstrated the many strands of ancestry, cultural heritage, and history among African Americans. Gates hosted Faces of America , a four-part series presented by PBS in 2010. This program examined the genealogy of 12 North Americans of diverse ancestry: Elizabeth Alexander , Mario Batali , Stephen Colbert , Louise Erdrich , Malcolm Gladwell , Eva Longoria , Yo-Yo Ma , Mike Nichols , Queen Noor of Jordan , Mehmet Oz , Meryl Streep , and Kristi Yamaguchi . Since 1995, Gates has been
777-551: A Black intellectual and public figure, Gates has been an outspoken critic of the Eurocentric literary canon. He has insisted that Black literature must be evaluated by the aesthetic criteria of its culture of origin, not criteria imported from Western or European cultural traditions that express a "tone deafness to the Black cultural voice" and result in "intellectual racism". In his major scholarly work, The Signifying Monkey ,
888-524: A Catholic haven in 1632. The economy of these two colonies was built entirely on yeoman farmers and planters. The planters established themselves in the Tidewater region of Virginia, establishing massive plantations with slave labor. In 1670, the Province of Carolina was established, and Charleston became the region's great trading port. While Virginia's economy was also based on tobacco, Carolina
999-448: A broad group of tribes. Their most important city was Cahokia , near modern-day St. Louis, Missouri . At its peak in the 12th century, the city had an estimated population of 20,000, larger than the population of London at the time. The entire city was centered around a mound that stood 100 feet (30 m) tall. Cahokia, like many other cities and villages of the time, depended on hunting, foraging, trading, and agriculture, and developed
1110-496: A cane when he walks. After graduating from Piedmont High School in 1968, Gates attended Potomac State College of West Virginia University for one year before transferring to Yale University , from which he graduated in 1973 with a B.A. , summa cum laude , in history with membership in Phi Beta Kappa . Gates then became the first African American to be awarded a Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He sailed to England on
1221-818: A class system with slaves and human sacrifice that was influenced by societies to the south, like the Mayans . In the Southwest , the Anasazi began constructing stone and adobe pueblos around 900 BCE. These apartment-like structures were often built into cliff faces, as seen in the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde . Some grew to be the size of cities, with Pueblo Bonito along the Chaco River in New Mexico once consisting of 800 rooms. The indigenous peoples of
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#17327647514321332-439: A complex ancestry, one high and low (that is, literary and vernacular) but also one white and black ... there can be no doubt that white texts inform and influence black texts (and vice versa ), so that a thoroughly integrated canon of American literature is not only politically sound, it is intellectually sound as well. Gates has argued that a separatist, Afrocentric education perpetuates racist stereotypes. He maintains that it
1443-607: A dominant commercial center in a few short years. While Quakers populated the city, German immigrants began to flood into the Pennsylvanian hills and forests, while the Scots-Irish pushed into the far western frontier. The overwhelmingly rural Southern Colonies contrasted sharply with the New England and Middle Colonies. After Virginia, the second British colony south of New England was Maryland , established as
1554-409: A dozen notable African Americans was traced using genealogical and historical resources, as well as genealogical DNA testing . In the first series, Gates learned that he has 50% European ancestry and 50% African ancestry. He had known of some European ancestry, but was surprised to learn the high proportion; he also learned that he was descended from John Redman, a mulatto veteran in New England of
1665-457: A food source, and later foraging for berries and seeds became an important alternative to hunting. Paleo-Indians in central Mexico were the first in the Americas to farm, around 8,000 BCE. Eventually, the knowledge began to spread northward. By 3,000 BCE, corn was being grown in the valleys of Arizona and New Mexico , followed by primitive irrigation systems and, by 300 BCE, early villages of
1776-463: A hospital in Kilimatinde , near Dodoma , Tanzania , when he was a 19-year-old pre-medical student at Yale University . In September 1995, Gates narrated a five-part abridgement (by Margaret Busby ) of his memoir Colored People on BBC Radio 4 . Gates was the host and co-producer of African American Lives (2006) and African American Lives 2 (2008) in which the lineage of more than
1887-526: A large degree of ethnic and religious diversity. At the same time, the Iroquois of New York, strengthened by years of fur trading with Europeans, formed the powerful Iroquois Confederacy. The last colony in this region was Pennsylvania , established in 1681 by William Penn as a home for religious dissenters, including Quakers , Methodists , and the Amish . The capital of the colony, Philadelphia , became
1998-472: A novel from the same period that scholars believe may have been written as early as 1853. If that date is correct, it would have precedence as the first-known novel written in the United States by an African American. (Note: Clotel (1853) by William Wells Brown is recognized as the first novel published by an African-American author, but it was both written and published in London.) The Bondwoman's Narrative
2109-500: A special 70th Anniversary issue on "What Makes America Great" (Winter 2020) and an issue on the history of gun control with essays by historian Joseph J. Ellis , law professor Adam Winkler , and gun rights advocate Robert A. Levy . Some historians have criticized the magazine for what they say is a lack of seriousness. Reviewing David McCullough's book on John Adams in The New Republic , Sean Wilentz stated that during
2220-434: A steady flow of immigrants, especially teenagers who arrived as indentured servants. Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants . Typically, people would sign a contract agreeing to a set term of labor, usually four to seven years, and in return would receive transport to America and a piece of land at the end of their servitude. In some cases, ships' captains received rewards for
2331-596: A trip to China, Gates returned home to his residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts , near Harvard Square on July 16, 2009. The front door was jammed. His taxi driver attempted to help him gain entrance. A passerby called police, reporting a possible break-in after describing to 911 "an individual" forcing the front door open. Cambridge police officers were dispatched. The confrontation resulted in Gates being arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Prosecutors later dropped
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#17327647514322442-503: A white mouth." As a mediator between those advocating separatism and those believing in a Western canon , Gates has been criticized by both. Some critics suggest that adding Black literature will diminish the value of the Western canon, while separatists say that Gates is too accommodating to the dominant white culture in his advocacy of integration of the canon. Gates has been criticized by John Henrik Clarke , Molefi Kete Asante , and
2553-405: Is "ridiculous" to think that only Blacks should be scholars of African and African-American literature. He argues, "It can't be real as a subject if you have to look like the subject to be an expert in the subject," adding, "It's as ridiculous as if someone said I couldn't appreciate Shakespeare because I'm not Anglo-Saxon . I think it's vulgar and racist whether it comes out of a Black mouth or
2664-636: Is an American literary critic , professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University . He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels and has published extensively on
2775-467: Is descended in part from the Yoruba people of West Africa. He also learned that he has 50% European ancestry, including Irish forebears; he was surprised his European ancestry turned out to be so substantial. Having grown up in an African-American community, however, he identifies as Black. He has learned that he is also connected to the multiracial West Virginia community of Chestnut Ridge people . At
2886-537: Is the former editor of the fine arts magazine, Portfolio . Grosvenor was also the editor of the literary magazine, Current Books , and magazines for Marriott and Hyatt Hotels . He was also the CEO of KnowledgeMax, Inc., an online bookseller. After suspending print publication in 2013, the magazine relaunched digitally in 2017 with a new website and subscriber management system. For a magazine that has lasted seven decades, its way of covering history has changed much over
2997-640: The Queen Elizabeth 2 and used the fellowship to pursue graduate study in English literature at Clare College, Cambridge , receiving an M.A. in 1974 and a Ph.D. in 1979. After a month at Yale Law School , Gates withdrew from the program. In October 1975, he was hired by Charles Davis as a secretary in the Afro-American Studies department at Yale. In July 1976, Gates was promoted to the post of lecturer in Afro-American Studies, with
3108-528: The Delaware River . Over the following seventeen years, 12 more expeditions brought settlers from the Swedish Empire to New Sweden. The colony established 19 permanent settlements along with many farms, extending into modern-day Maryland , Pennsylvania , and New Jersey . It was incorporated into New Netherland in 1655 after a Dutch invasion from the neighboring New Netherland colony during
3219-686: The European theater . In the Pacific War , America defeated Imperial Japan after using nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki . The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as rival superpowers during the Cold War ; the two countries confronted each other indirectly in the arms race , the Space Race , propaganda campaigns, and proxy wars . In the 1960s, in large part due to
3330-551: The First Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance. The Congress called for a boycott of British trade , published a list of rights and grievances , and petitioned the king to rectify those grievances. This appeal had no effect. The Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2, 1776. The Declaration of Independence presented arguments in favor of the rights of citizens, stating that all men are created equal , supporting
3441-878: The Grand Canyon , and the Great Plains . In 1539, Hernando de Soto extensively explored the Southeast, and a year later Francisco Coronado explored from Arizona to central Kansas in search of gold. Escaped horses from Coronado's party spread over the Great Plains, and the Plains Indians mastered horsemanship within a few generations. Small Spanish settlements eventually grew to become important cities, such as San Antonio , Albuquerque , Tucson , Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The Dutch East India Company sent explorer Henry Hudson to search for
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3552-682: The Hohokam . One of the earlier cultures in the present-day United States was the Clovis culture (9,100 to 8,850 BCE), who are primarily identified by the use of fluted spear points called the Clovis point . The Folsom culture was similar, but is marked by the use of the Folsom point . A later migration around 8,000 BCE included Na-Dene -speaking peoples, who reached the Pacific Northwest by 5,000 BCE. From there, they migrated along
3663-738: The Hopewell tradition , a powerful people who traded tools and goods across a wide territory. They continued the Adena tradition of mound-building and pioneered a trading system called the Hopewell Exchange System, which at its greatest extent ran from the present-day Southeast up to the Canadian side of Lake Ontario . By 500 CE, the Hopewellians had been absorbed into the larger Mississippian culture . The Mississippians were
3774-593: The Ice Age , and then spread southward. This migration may have begun as early as 30,000 years ago and continued to about 10,000 years ago, when the land bridge became submerged by the rising sea level. These early inhabitants, called Paleo-Indians , soon diversified into hundreds of culturally distinct groups. By 10,000 BCE, humans were relatively well-established throughout North America. Originally, Paleo-Indians hunted Ice Age megafauna like mammoths , but as they began to go extinct, people turned instead to bison as
3885-638: The Industrial Revolution , or those simply seeking adventure and opportunity. Between the late 1610s and the Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000 to 120,000 convicts to their American colonies. In some areas, Native Americans taught colonists how to plant and harvest the native crops. In others, they attacked the settlers. Virgin forests provided an ample supply of building material and firewood. Natural inlets and harbors lined
3996-659: The Ortoiroid culture , successive generations of native migrations arrived replacing or absorbing local populations. By the year 1000 Arawak people had arrived from South America via the Lesser Antilles ; these settlers would become the Taíno encountered by the Spanish in 1493. Upon European contact a native population between 30,000 and 60,000 was likely, led by a single chief called a Cacique . Colonization resulted in
4107-517: The Osage , Kaw , Ponca , and Omaha peoples. The exact date for the settling of Hawaii is disputed but the first settlement most likely took place between 940 and 1130 CE. Around 1200 CE, Tahitian explorers found and began settling the area as well establishing a new caste system. This marked the rise of the Hawaiian civilization, which would be largely separated from the rest of the world until
4218-634: The Oxford Dictionary of African American English , a new glossary of language that will contain popular phrases used by historical Black figures and modern-day Black Americans. In 1995, Gates presented a program in the BBC series Great Railway Journeys (produced in association with PBS ). The program documents a 3,000-mile journey Gates took through Zimbabwe , Zambia , and Tanzania , with his then-wife, Sharon Adams, and daughters, Liza and Meggie Gates. This trip came 25 years after Gates worked at
4329-597: The Pacific Coast and into the interior and constructed large multi-family dwellings in their villages, which were used only seasonally in the summer to hunt and fish, and in the winter to gather food supplies. Another group, the Oshara tradition people, who lived from 5,500 BCE to 600 CE, were part of the Archaic Southwest . The Adena began constructing large earthwork mounds around 600 BCE. They are
4440-678: The Powhatan attack of 1622 , King James I revoked the Virginia Company's charter and made Virginia a royal colony. New England was initially settled primarily by Puritans fleeing religious persecution. The Pilgrims sailed for Virginia on the Mayflower in 1620, but were knocked off course by a storm and landed at Plymouth , where they agreed to a social contract of rules in the Mayflower Compact . About half died in
4551-546: The Second Northern War . Giovanni da Verrazzano landed in North Carolina in 1524, and was the first European to sail into New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay . In the 1540s, French Huguenots settled at Fort Caroline near present-day Jacksonville , Florida. In 1565, Spanish forces led by Pedro Menéndez destroyed the settlement and established the first Spanish settlement in what would become
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4662-659: The Stamp Act of 1765 , imposing a tax on the colonies without going through the colonial legislatures. Crying " No taxation without representation ", the colonists refused to pay. The Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a direct action to protest the new tax on tea. Parliament responded the next year with the Intolerable Acts , stripping Massachusetts of its historic right of self-government and putting it under military rule, which sparked outrage and resistance in all thirteen colonies. Patriot leaders from every colony convened
4773-618: The United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. After European colonization of North America began in the late 15th century, wars and epidemics decimated Indigenous societies. Starting in 1585 , the British colonized the Atlantic Coast , and by the 1760s, the thirteen British colonies were established. The Southern Colonies built an agricultural system on slave labor , enslaving millions from Africa . After defeating France ,
4884-506: The civil rights movement , social reforms enforced the constitutional rights of voting and freedom of movement to African Americans. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan 's presidency realigned American politics towards reductions in taxes and regulations. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 , leaving the United States as the world's sole superpower. Foreign policy after the Cold War has often focused on many conflicts in
4995-620: The potlatch . In present-day upstate New York , the Iroquois formed a confederacy of tribal peoples in the mid-15th century, consisting of the Oneida , Mohawk , Onondaga , Cayuga , and Seneca . Each tribe had seats in a group of 50 sachem chiefs . It has been suggested that their culture contributed to political thinking during the development of the United States government. The Iroquois were powerful, waging war with many neighboring tribes, and later, Europeans. As their territory expanded, smaller tribes were forced further west, including
5106-471: The 1950s, " [Bernard] DeVoto 's style of seriousness [was] eclipsed by the more journalistic and sentimentally descriptive style of American Heritage , whose influence is everywhere." Wilentz claimed that McCullough and film maker Ken Burns followed the American Heritage style: "popular history as passive nostalgic spectacle" marching "under the banner of 'narrative ' ". The magazine's editor at
5217-565: The African-American vernacular tradition. While Gates has stressed the need for greater recognition of Black literature and Black culture, he does not advocate a "separatist" Black canon. Rather, he works for greater recognition of Black works and their integration into a larger, pluralistic canon. He has affirmed the value of the Western tradition, but has envisioned a more inclusive canon of diverse works sharing common cultural connections: Every Black American text must confess to
5328-521: The American Heritage Publishing Company in 1969. Samuel P. Reed acquired the magazine in 1978. By 1980, costs made the hardcover version prohibitive for a regular subscription. Subscribers could choose the new regular newsstand high-quality softcover or the "Collector's Edition", even plusher and thicker than the previous hardcover. Each is usually about 80 pages and has more "relevant" features and shorter articles than in
5439-684: The American Revolutionary War. Gates has joined the Sons of the American Revolution . In the series, he discussed findings with guests about their complex ancestries. In the second season of the program, Gates learned that he is part of a genetic subgroup that may be descended from or related to the fourth-century Irish king, Niall of the Nine Hostages . He also learned that one of his African ancestors includes
5550-525: The American colonies had a slightly different governmental structure. Typically, a colony was ruled by a governor appointed from London who controlled the executive administration and relied upon a locally elected legislature to vote on taxes and make laws. By the 18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly as a result of low death rates along with ample supplies of land and food. The colonies were richer than most parts of Britain, and attracted
5661-418: The Americas. However, the effects of new Eurasian diseases carried by the colonists, especially smallpox and measles, were much worse for the Native Americans, as they had no immunity to them. They suffered epidemics and died in very large numbers, usually before large-scale European settlement began. Their societies were disrupted by the scale of deaths. Spanish explorers were the first Europeans, after
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#17327647514325772-725: The Awakening added a new emphasis on divine outpourings of the Holy Spirit and conversions that implanted new believers with an intense love for God. Revivals encapsulated those hallmarks and carried the newly created evangelicalism into the early republic, setting the stage for the Second Great Awakening in the late 1790s. In the early stages, evangelicals in the South, such as Methodists and Baptists , preached for religious freedom and abolition of slavery. Each of
5883-399: The British Parliament imposed a series of taxes; resistance to these taxes, especially the Boston Tea Party in 1773, led to Parliament issuing the Intolerable Acts designed to end self-government. In 1776, the United States declared its independence . Led by General George Washington , it won the Revolutionary War in 1783. The Constitution was adopted in 1789, and a Bill of Rights
5994-408: The Cambridge officer who was involved to share a beer with them at the White House, which they accepted. Gates married Sharon Lynn Adams in 1979. They had two daughters together before they divorced in 1999. As of 2021, Gates is married to historian Dr. Marial Iglesias Utset. In 1974, Gates learned the Transcendental Meditation technique. He reported: "I had this spiritual event where it
6105-459: The Humanities Chairman Bruce Cole to describe his work, Gates responded: "I would say I'm a literary critic. That's the first descriptor that comes to mind. After that I would say I was a teacher. Both would be just as important." After his 2003 NEH lecture, Gates published in the same year a book entitled The Trials of Phillis Wheatley , about the early African-American poet. In July 2022, Gates announced that he would serve as editor-in-chief of
6216-428: The Middle East , especially after the September 11 attacks . In the 21st century, the country was negatively affected by the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic . It is not definitively known how or when Native Americans first settled the Americas . The prevailing theory proposes that people from Eurasia followed game across Beringia , a land bridge that connected Siberia to present-day Alaska during
6327-496: The New World, settled the strip of land along the east coast in the 1600s. The first British colony in North America was established at Roanoke by Walter Raleigh in 1585, but failed. It would be twenty years before another attempt. The early British colonies were established by private groups seeking profit, and were marked by starvation, disease, and Native American attacks. Many immigrants were people seeking religious freedom or escaping political oppression, peasants displaced by
6438-445: The New World. Captain John Smith held the fledgling Jamestown together in the first year, and the colony descended into anarchy and nearly failed when he returned to England two years later. John Rolfe began experimenting with tobacco from the West Indies in 1612, and by 1614 the first shipment arrived in London. It became Virginia's chief source of revenue within a decade. In 1624, after years of disease and Indian attacks, including
6549-472: The Norse Vinland sagas . The strongest archaeological evidence of the existence of Norse settlements in America is located in Canada; there is significant scholarly debate as to whether Norse explorers also made landfall in New England . Europeans brought horses, cattle, and hogs to the Americas and took back maize, turkeys, tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, beans, and squash to Europe. Many explorers and early settlers died after being exposed to new diseases in
6660-401: The Norse, to reach the present-day United States, after the voyages of Christopher Columbus (beginning in 1492) established possessions in the Caribbean , including the modern-day U.S. territories of Puerto Rico , and parts of the U.S. Virgin Islands . Juan Ponce de León landed in Florida in 1513. Spanish expeditions quickly reached the Appalachian Mountains , the Mississippi River ,
6771-410: The Pacific Northwest were likely the most affluent Native Americans. Many distinct cultural groups and political entities developed there, but they all shared certain beliefs, traditions, and practices, such as the centrality of salmon as a resource and spiritual symbol. Permanent villages began to develop in this region as early as 1,000 BCE, and these communities celebrated by the gift-giving feast of
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#17327647514326882-424: The South in 1877, often using paramilitary suppression of voting and Jim Crow laws to maintain white supremacy , as well as new state constitutions that legalized racial discrimination. The United States became the world's leading industrial power in the 20th century, largely due to entrepreneurship, industrialization , and the arrival of millions of immigrant workers and farmers . A national railroad network
6993-579: The United States — St. Augustine . Most French lived in Quebec and Acadia (modern Canada), but far-reaching trade relationships with Native Americans throughout the Great Lakes and Midwest spread their influence. French colonists in small villages along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers lived in farming communities that served as a grain source for Gulf Coast settlements. The French established plantations in Louisiana along with settling New Orleans , Mobile and Biloxi . The English, drawn in by Francis Drake 's raids on Spanish treasure ships leaving
7104-403: The age of 14, Gates was injured playing touch football , fracturing the ball and socket joint of his right hip, resulting in a slipped capital femoral epiphysis . The injury was misdiagnosed by a physician, who told Gates' mother that his problem was "psychosomatic". When the physical damage finally healed, his right leg was two inches shorter than his left. Because of the injury, Gates now uses
7215-436: The arrival of the British 600 years later. Europeans under the British explorer James Cook arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, and within five years of contact, European military technology would help Kamehameha I conquer most of the island group, and eventually unify the islands for the first time, establishing the Hawaiian Kingdom . The island of Puerto Rico has been settled for at least 4,000 years. Starting with
7326-491: The benefit of the mother country in a policy known as mercantilism . Colonial America was defined by a severe labor shortage that used forms of unfree labor , such as slavery and indentured servitude. The British colonies were also marked by a policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, known as salutary neglect . This permitted the development of an American spirit distinct from that of its European founders. The French and Indian War (1754–1763), part of
7437-420: The charges. The incident spurred a politically charged exchange of views about race relations and law enforcement throughout the United States. The arrest attracted national attention after U.S. President Barack Obama controversially declared that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly" in arresting the 59-year-old Gates. Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden eventually extended an invitation to Gates and
7548-410: The children of slave women were born slaves ( partus sequitur ventrem ). By the 1770s African slaves comprised a fifth of the American population. The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support against the French and Spanish powers. Those threats were gone by 1765. However, London continued to regard the American colonies as existing for
7659-430: The coast, providing easy ports for essential trade with Europe. Settlements remained close to the coast due to this as well as Native American resistance and the Appalachian Mountains in the interior. The first successful English colony, Jamestown , was established by the Virginia Company in 1607 on the James River in Virginia . The colonists were preoccupied with the search for gold and were ill-equipped for life in
7770-434: The colonies, as reflected in the Albany Congress and symbolized by Benjamin Franklin 's call for the colonies to " Join, or Die ." King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 , to organize the new North American empire and protect the Native Americans from colonial expansion west of the Appalachian Mountains. Strains developed in the relations between the colonists and the Crown. The British Parliament passed
7881-427: The colony of Providence Plantations , later Rhode Island , on the basis of freedom of religion. Other colonists established settlements in the Connecticut River Valley, and on the coasts of present-day New Hampshire and Maine . Native American attacks continued, with the most significant occurring in the 1637 Pequot War and the 1675 King Philip's War . New England became a center of commerce and industry due to
7992-734: The controversial FBI informant Maulana Karenga , each of whom has been questioned by others in academia. As a literary historian committed to the preservation and study of historical texts, Gates has been integral to the Black Periodical Literature Project, a digital archive of Black newspapers and magazines created with financial assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). To build Harvard's visual, documentary, and literary archives of African-American texts, Gates arranged for
8103-402: The decimation of the local inhabitants due to the harsh Encomienda system and epidemics caused by Old World diseases. Puerto Rico would remain a part of Spain until American annexation in 1898. The earliest recorded European mention of America is in a treatise by the medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen , circa 1075, where it is referred to as Vinland . It is also extensively referred to in
8214-424: The delivery of poor migrants, and so extravagant promises and kidnapping were common. The first African slaves arrived in 1619. Initially regarded as indentured servants who could buy their freedom, the institution of slavery began to harden and the involuntary servitude became lifelong as the demand for labor on tobacco and rice plantations grew in the 1660s. Slavery became identified with brown skin color, and
8325-524: The earliest known people to have been Mound Builders , however, there are mounds in the United States that predate this culture. Watson Brake is an 11-mound complex in Louisiana that dates to 3,500 BCE, and nearby Poverty Point , built by the Poverty Point culture , is an earthwork complex that dates to 1,700 BCE. These mounds likely served a religious purpose. The Adenans were absorbed into
8436-653: The early 1960s, American Heritage sponsored a series of popular military board games produced by the Milton Bradley Company . Beginning in 1973, and presumably as part of the then-current national lead-up to the Bicentennial , American Heritage teamed up with producer David L. Wolper for a series of four hour-long television specials (broadcast every few months between late 1973 and early 1975) based on events and people in American history, in documentary-like filmed dramatizations with actors taking
8547-531: The early years, but the scope and direction and purpose had not changed. Forbes bought the magazine in 1986. On May 17, 2007, the magazine, published on a bimonthly basis, announced that it had stopped publication, at least temporarily, with the April/May 2007 issue." On October 27, 2007, Edwin S. Grosvenor , purchased the magazine from Forbes for $ 500,000 in cash and $ 10 million in subscription liabilities. Grosvenor, who serves as president and editor-in-chief,
8658-567: The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 , the southern states seceded from the Union to form the pro-slavery Confederate States of America , and started the Civil War . The Confederates' defeat in 1865 led to the abolition of slavery . In the subsequent Reconstruction era , the national government emerged much stronger, and gained explicit duty to protect individual rights . White southern Democrats regained their political power in
8769-514: The first winter. Like Jamestown, Plymouth suffered from disease and starvation, but local Wampanoag Indians taught the colonists how to farm maize. Plymouth was followed by the Puritans and Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. They maintained a charter for self-government separate from England, and elected founder John Winthrop as governor. Roger Williams opposed Winthrop's treatment of Native Americans and religious intolerance, and established
8880-572: The general public, but keeping certain features geared to educators and historical societies. In 1954, AASLH sold the magazine to a quartet of writers and editors from Time, Inc. including James Parton, Oliver Jensen, Joseph J. Thorndike and founding editor Bruce Catton , the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Civil War . They formed the American Heritage Publishing Company and introduced
8991-676: The hardcover, 120-page advertising-free "magazine" with Volume 6, Number 1 in December 1954. Though, in essence, an entirely new magazine, the publishers kept the volume numbering because the previous incarnation had been indexed in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature . Each year begins in December and continues through the following October, published every other month. For example, Volume XXV issues are December 1973, February 1974, April 1974, June 1974, August 1974, and October 1974. December 1974 begins Volume XXVI. Bruce Catton remained with
9102-552: The historian Samuel Eliot Morison . It had the goal of annually honoring an American author whose work shows "that good history is literature as well as high scholarship." The first award was presented on September 28, 1977, by Henry A. Kissinger at the Pierpont Morgan Library , valued at $ 5,000. It ran for two years. History of the United States The history of the lands that became
9213-485: The jury chair for the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award , which honors written works that contribute to society's understanding of racism and the diversity of human culture. Gates was an Anisfield-Wolf prize winner in 1989 for The Schomburg Library of Women Writers . Since 2012, he has hosted a PBS television series, entitled Finding Your Roots – with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. . The second season of
9324-641: The larger Seven Years' War , was a watershed event in the political development of the colonies. The influence of the French and Native Americans, the main rivals of the British Crown in the colonies and Canada, was significantly reduced and the territory of the Thirteen Colonies expanded into New France in Canada and Louisiana . The war effort also resulted in greater political integration of
9435-469: The lives and histories of their ancestors. Gates was born on September 16, 1950, in Keyser, West Virginia , to Pauline Augusta (Coleman) Gates (1916–1987) and Henry Louis Gates Sr. ( c. 1913 –2010). He grew up in neighboring Piedmont . His father worked in a paper mill and moonlighted as a janitor, while his mother cleaned houses. Later in life, Gates learned through DNA analysis that his family
9546-486: The magazine (Winter 2020) on the subject "What Makes America Great?" includes essays by such historians as Fergus Bordewich , Douglas Brinkley , Joseph Ellis , and David S. Reynolds . From 1947 to 1949 the American Association for State and Local History published a house organ , American Heritage: A Journal of Community History . In September 1949, AASLH launched the magazine with broader scope for
9657-411: The magazine for 25 years until his death in 1979 and published over 100 essays. He warned historians against "regarding the past so fondly we are unable to get it in proper focus, and we see virtues that were not there.” In 1964, David McCullough began his writing career as an editor and writer for American Heritage , which he sometimes calls "my graduate school". McCullough wrote numerous articles for
9768-546: The magazine. He turned his article for the June 1966 issue on the Johnstown Flood , Run for Your Lives , into a full-length book titled, The Johnstown Flood . When it became an unexpected bestseller, McCullough left the magazine in 1968 to commit full-time to writing. Later American Heritage articles by McCullough on the transcontinental railroad and Harry Truman also became bestselling books. McGraw-Hill purchased
9879-614: The main compensator". Lolita Buckner Inniss, a professor at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law , argued that notwithstanding African involvement as "abductors", it was Western slave-owners, as "captors", who perpetuated the practice even after the import trade was banned. "Up until that recent piece, people would have thought of him as someone who took a cautious and nuanced approach to questions like reparations. Gates has such an eminent reputation", she said, "and so much gravitas. Many of us were troubled." Following
9990-544: The mid-1600s it became an important trading center. Despite being Calvinists and building the Reformed Church in America , the Dutch were tolerant of other religions and cultures and traded with the Iroquois to the north. The colony served as a barrier to British expansion from New England , and as a result a series of wars were fought. The colony was taken over by Britain as New York in 1664 and its capital
10101-504: The poor, mountainous soil making agriculture difficult. Rivers were harnessed to power grain mills and sawmills, and the numerous harbors facilitated trade. Tight-knit villages developed around these industrial centers, and Boston became one of America's most important ports. In the 1660s, the Middle Colonies of New York , New Jersey , and Delaware were established in the former Dutch New Netherland, and were characterized by
10212-556: The purchase of The Image of the Black in Western Art , a collection assembled by Dominique de Ménil in Houston . As a result of research he conducted as a MacArthur Fellow , Gates discovered Our Nig , written by Harriet E. Wilson in 1859 and thought to be the first novel written in the United States by an African American. Later, he acquired and authenticated the manuscript of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts ,
10323-470: The recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon . In addition to producing and hosting previous series on the history and genealogy of prominent American figures, since 2012, Gates has been host of the television series Finding Your Roots on PBS . The series combines the work of expert researchers in genealogy, history, and historical research in genetics to tell guests about
10434-508: The rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness , and demanding the consent of the governed . The Founding Fathers were guided by the ideology of republicanism , rejecting the monarchism of Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was signed by members of the Congress on July 4. This date has since been commemorated as Independence Day . Henry Louis Gates Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950)
10545-502: The role played by Africans in the Atlantic slave trade. His op-ed begins and ends with the observation that it is very difficult to decide whether or not to give reparations to the descendants of American slaves, whether they should receive compensation for the unpaid labor of their ancestors, and their lack of rights. Gates also notes that it is equally difficult to decide who should get such reparations and who should pay them, as slavery
10656-501: The roles of historic figures, and key events re-enacted. The specials, sponsored by Texaco , were narrated by actor Cliff Robertson and broadcast on ABC . American Heritage has been the finalist or winner of several National Magazine Awards , especially between 1985 and 1993: In 1976, the American Heritage Publishing Company founded and sponsored an award called the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, named for
10767-555: The second inauguration of President Barack Obama . Gates wrote, executive-produced, and hosted the series, which earned the 2013 Peabody Award and an NAACP Image Award . In 2022 and 2023, Gates was involved with the creation of AP African American Studies , the new college-level course created by the College Board for high-school students. In 2010, Gates wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that discussed
10878-587: The series, featuring 30 prominent guests across 10 episodes, with Gates as the narrator, interviewer, and genealogical investigator, aired on PBS in fall 2014. The show's third season was postponed after it was discovered that actor Ben Affleck had persuaded Gates to omit information about his slave-owning ancestors. Finding Your Roots resumed in January 2016. Gates's critically acclaimed six-part PBS documentary series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross , traced 500 years of African-American history to
10989-487: The slave trade to be unfounded, stating that "today, virtually every history of slavery and every American history textbook includes this information". Author Herb Boyd , who teaches African and African-American history at the College of New Rochelle and City College , CUNY , argued that despite the complicity of African monarchs in the Atlantic slave trade, the United States "was the greatest beneficiary, and thus should be
11100-578: The successful Allies . After the prosperous Roaring Twenties , the Wall Street Crash of 1929 marked the onset of the decade-long worldwide Great Depression . President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal programs, including unemployment relief and social security , defined modern American liberalism . Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the United States entered World War II , helping defeat Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in
11211-664: The time, Richard Snow , replied that "this magazine has never taken an overly sentimentalized or simplistic view of the past" and that American Heritage is "a magazine addressed to a lay audience and thus it has the usual fixtures—columns, picture stories, and so forth—and a variety of topics, some of greater consequence than others... but that it publishes many historians "whose work nobody has ever called simplistic, or sentimental, or undemanding. Numerous articles in American Heritage have later been expanded into bestselling books, including: In addition to running four to six articles, American Heritage' s regular features include During
11322-554: The understanding that he would be promoted to assistant professor upon completion of his doctoral dissertation . Jointly appointed to assistant professorships in English and Afro-American Studies in 1979, Gates was promoted to associate professor in 1984. While at Yale, Gates mentored Jodie Foster , who majored in African-American Literature there and wrote her thesis on author Toni Morrison . In 1984, Gates
11433-410: The years. Each issue is still an eclectic collection of articles on the people, places, and events from the entire history of the United States. Today, there is mention of television shows and Web sites, and a greater diversity of articles such as Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates ' recent article, "Growing Up Colored," about life as a young boy in segregated West Virginia. Recent content has included
11544-474: Was added in 1791 to guarantee inalienable rights . Washington, the first president , and his adviser Alexander Hamilton created a strong central government. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 doubled the size of the country. Encouraged by available, inexpensive land and the notion of manifest destiny , the country expanded to the Pacific Coast . The resulting expansion of slavery was increasingly controversial, and fueled political and constitutional battles. After
11655-427: Was appointed to in 2006, and as a professor of English. Additionally, he is the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research . As a literary theorist and critic , Gates has combined literary techniques of deconstruction with native African literary traditions. He draws on structuralism , post-structuralism , and semiotics to analyze texts and assess matters of identity politics . As
11766-510: Was completed, and large-scale mines and factories were established. Dissatisfaction with corruption, inefficiency, and traditional politics stimulated the Progressive movement , leading to reforms including the federal income tax , direct election of Senators, citizenship for many Indigenous people, alcohol prohibition , and women's suffrage . Initially neutral during World War I , the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, joining
11877-568: Was first published in 2002 and became a bestseller. As a prominent Black intellectual, Gates has concentrated on building academic institutions to study Black culture . Additionally, he has worked to bring about social, educational, and intellectual equality for Black Americans. His writing includes pieces in The New York Times that defend rap music and an article in Sports Illustrated that criticizes Black youth culture for glorifying basketball over education. In 1992, he received
11988-530: Was legal under the laws of the colonies and the United States. In an article for Newsweek , journalist Lisa Miller reported on the reaction to Gates' article: The enemy of individuality is groupthink , Gates says, and here he holds everyone accountable. Recently, he has enraged many of his colleagues in the African-American studies field—especially those campaigning for government reparations for slavery —by insistently reminding them, as he did in
12099-566: Was more diversified, exporting rice, indigo, and lumber as well. In 1712, it was divided in two, creating North and South Carolina . The Georgia Colony was established by James Oglethorpe in 1732 as a border to Spanish Florida and a reform colony for former prisoners and the poor. Religiosity expanded greatly after the First Great Awakening , a religious revival in the 1740s led by preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield . American Evangelicals affected by
12210-553: Was recruited by Cornell University with an offer of tenure ; Gates asked Yale whether the university would match Cornell's offer, but they declined. Gates accepted the offer by Cornell in 1985 and taught there until 1989. Following a two-year stay at Duke University , he was recruited to Harvard University in 1991. At Harvard, Gates teaches undergraduate and graduate courses as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor , an endowed chair he
12321-821: Was renamed New York City. In the early years of the Swedish Empire , Swedish, Dutch, and German stockholders formed the New Sweden Company to trade furs and tobacco in North America. The company's first expedition was led by Peter Minuit , who had been governor of New Netherland from 1626 to 1631, and landed in Delaware Bay in March 1638. The settlers founded Fort Christina at the site of modern-day Wilmington, Delaware , and made treaties with Indigenous peoples for land ownership on both sides of
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