Henry Louis Gates Jr
Medium
United States
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Past articles by Henry Louis:
Why Businesses Choose Ruby on Rails and Tips to Hire Ruby on Rails Developer
Many of questions in your mind or you must be getting into a brain-storming session with your technology professionals to develop your new big application with a strong platform such as “ruby on… → Read More
Tracing Your Roots: Help! My Great-Granddad’s Trail Ran Cold
Sometimes, following the paper trail left by a close relative of the person you’re tracing will yield better results. → Read More
Tracing Your Roots: Why Did My Family Bury the Past?
Silence shrouded information about a family’s past, and those who could provide answers are deceased. Fortunately, there’s a paper trail. → Read More
Tracing Your Roots: When Was My ‘Freedman’ Ancestor Freed?
A message board posting listing “freedmen” kin raises questions. → Read More
Tracing Your Roots: My Confederate Ancestor Is on Monuments; Who Did He Own?
The debate over Confederate monuments inspires one woman to find the descendants of people her memorialized ancestor enslaved. → Read More
Tracing Your Roots: Were My Enslaved Ancestors East African?
Separating fact from fiction in a family’s oral tradition. → Read More
Cultivating Roots – Words That Matter –
Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr., host of PBS’s Finding Your Roots, explains how knowing our past is crucial to navigating the present. → Read More
Can Genetic Testing Be Done on My Late Mother’s Hair?
Dear Professor Gates: Is there a DNA test that can be done on hair that will lead to the same genetic ancestry-test results as those derived from saliva? I have hair from my deceased mother that I wish to have analyzed for this purpose. → Read More
Can You Help My Dad Find His Father?
Dear Professor Gates: I’ve been trying to help my dad, Samuel D. Jones, locate his father. His mother, Amolene Hughes Jackson, passed in 2000; however, she wouldn’t provide any information on who his father is. → Read More
Did My Black Ancestor Move Farther South During Slavery?
Dear Professor Gates: I am trying to trace the roots of my paternal great-great-grandfather, Lucien Joshua. He relayed to the census taker in 1900 that his parents were born in South Carolina. At the time of the census, he lived in Ascension Parish. → Read More
I Know Who Owned My Ancestors. What Now?
Dear Professor Gates: I’ve managed to trace my family ancestry back to an Adalin and Alex Vinson. The records I have state that Adalin (the spellings of her name vary) was born around 1825 and died around 1915. → Read More
Who Were My Enslaved Ancestor’s Parents?
Dear Professor Gates: How do I go about finding the parents of my maternal second great-grandfather Spencer Mott, born about 1820 in Georgia? He was listed in the 1880 census as mulatto, living in Brandywine Claiborne, Miss. → Read More
Am I Related to President Andrew Jackson?
Dear Professor Gates: I just discovered an interview with my ancestor in the Aug. 10, 1935, edition of the Chicago Defender, which states my ancestor Burrell Jackson was the grandson of President Andrew Jackson. → Read More
Was My Black Ancestor Named After a Confederate General?
Dear Professor Gates: I visited Charleston, S.C., last week and walked past a statue of Wade Hampton III and stopped dead in my tracks. You see, my great-grandfather’s name was Wade Hampton Shields. → Read More
Was My Ancestor a Free Afro-Hispanic of Color?
Dear Professor Gates: I am wondering if you can give me any advice on how to research one of my family lines: the Driggerses. I have learned that the Driggers family was one of a few free African-American families in the South during slavery. → Read More
I Want to Find a Slave’s Descendants and Apologize
Dear Professor Gates: I’m Australian, and hoping to trace living relatives of a slave owned by a relative of my uncle in Trinidad. I want to apologize for my ancestor’s actions. → Read More
Is My Family’s ‘Slave Name’ the Wrong One?
Dear Professor Gates: I have been working on my family tree for years, and cannot find anyone on my father’s side earlier than my great-grandparents Texas Williams, 1871-1951, and his wife, Nettie Howard Williams, 1875-1912. → Read More
My Family Is West Indian. How Did I Get Melanesian DNA?
Dear Professor Gates: I have been watching your show and cannot remember anyone having Melanesian in their DNA ethnicity results. I did the Ancestry.com DNA test and it showed 1 percent Pacific Islander-Trace Region: Melanesia. → Read More
Did My Black Ancestors Enter the US via Ellis Island?
Dear Professor Gates: My maternal grandparents immigrated from St. Kitts between 1899 and 1901. They are Albena Denham (Daveron), born on Oct. 17, 1872, and Alexander Taylor, born on March 7, 1879. Both were born in St. Kitts. → Read More
How Do I Save a Family Bible That Is Falling Apart?
Dear Professor Gates: I am reaching out to you on behalf of a neighbor. She has a family Bible that takes her family history back to their time in slavery. → Read More