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Encyclopedia Africana by Misa Dayson Contributing Writer Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., father of Maggie Gates ’03, spoke to students, parents and alumni about his idol, W.E.B DuBois, and the history of the Encyclopedia Africana. Gates is the W.E.B DuBois Professor of Humanities at Harvard University . According to Gates, in 1909 DuBois had the idea to make an Encyclopedia Africana that would help reverse the effects of racism on the African American psyche by giving African Americans knowledge about their own history. DuBois was dedicated to getting the encyclopedia realized, but one of his main problems was that he did not have the money to get it started. Gates proceeded to talk about some of W.E.B DuBois’s flaws that led to the encyclopedia not being created during his lifetime. “They say don’t speak ill of the dead, but if we don’t, who will?,” Gates said, evoking enthusiastic laughter and applause. According to Gates, DuBois’ s major shortcoming was arrogance. “W.E.B. DuBois was the most arrogant Negro on the face of the earth. He slept in a three piece suit,” Gates said. When it looked like DuBois finally would get the funding needed to complete the encyclopedia, his work was undermined by Carter G. Woodson, another African American Harvard alum and rival of DuBois. “Ladies and gentlemen, as you might not know, in the early twentieth century, there was tension among black intellectuals. I’m pleased to announce that in our generation, that does not exist,” Gates said sarcastically, again to the pleasure of the audience. By 1961, at the age of 93, DuBois had renounced his American citizenship, joined the communist party and moved to Ghana. There, he gave his last speech, and said that the Encyclopedia Africana should be done in Africa and about Africans. It was near this time, in 1969, that Henry Louis Gates, Jr. entered Yale as one of the first students admitted under the newly adopted affirmative action policy. Gates said that had it not been for affirmative action, he would not have entered Yale because he did not fit the profile requiring one to be the child of a doctor or lawyer. “This is one African-American who will go to his grave as an ardent and passionate defender of affirmative action,” Gates said of himself. Gates then went on to talk about how he learned of DuBois’s unrealized dream of an encyclopedia about African Americans and the African Diaspora, and how he made the decision to undertake and complete the project himself. It took him years, but finally in 1999, on Martin Luther King’s birthday; a 2.25 million-word encyclopedia on CD-Rom was distributed. It was in memory of DuBois and in honor of Nelson Mandela. “What I found very interesting was that the issues that DuBois had with financing, Gates had too. Things have not changed,” said Christola Pheonix P’05. The last 15 minutes of the lecture was spent showing some features of the interactive CD encyclopedia, such as live footage of Miles Davis and John Coltrane performing, an interactive civil rights history time line, and a multi-media timeline. Gates concluded the presentation with a picture of Aretha Franklin singing “Respect.” “And that’s why we do this, ladies and gentlemen, to bring a little respect to the African American people,” he said. Gates was met with a standing ovation and people clamored to the front to offer questions and comments afterward. “I thought he was teaching a history lesson about W.E.B. DuBois and his idea about the encyclopedia, which was good because you needed to know about that in order to understand why Henry Louis Gates spent so much time and energy on the encyclopedia,” said Kateira Calderon ‘05. “I’m glad that there are still Black intellectuals today who are bringing well needed knowledge to the Black community,” said Rahwa Yebio ’05.
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