Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives inaugural Anisfield-Wolf/SAGES lecture at Case in conjunction with the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards®
August 24, 2005 | For more information: Susan Griffith 216-368-1004
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Humanities and jury chair of The Cleveland Foundation's Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, will address the incoming first-year class at Case Western Reserve University through its SAGES program Thursday, September 15, at 11:30 a.m. in Severance Hall. His talk, "Pursuing a Dream: W.E.B. Du Bois and His Encyclopedia," is free and open to the general public
Gates' talk is co-sponsored by Case's Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities and the SAGES program (Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship) and The Cleveland Foundation's Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. Now in its 70th year, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recognizes recent books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures.
SAGES students are expected to attend the event in Severance Hall, 11000 Euclid Ave., with the remaining seats open to the public. Because of limited seating, registration is recommended by visiting http://www.case.edu/events/hlgates/.
The topic of Gates' talk addresses issues of interest to the Cleveland community as well as topics tailored to incoming Case students in SAGES, an undergraduate experience that fosters interdisciplinary inquiry, experiential learning and effective communication.
"The SAGES curriculum places a strong emphasis on writing as well as on encouraging racial, ethnic and cultural diversity," said Timothy Beal, co-director of the Baker-Nord Center for Humanities and a SAGES seminar leader. "We hope that these Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards annual lectures will give students an opportunity to hear innovative writers from different backgrounds talk about their own writing lives and how their work address matters of racism and human diversity."
"This is a real gift for our students," Beal said about Dr. Gates' visit to campus.
Gates is internationally known for research into the literary and cultural contributions of African Americans. He is the author of many books, including The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism (winner of the American Book Award); Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars; The African American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century (co-authored with Cornel West); Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man; and his memoir, Colored People.
The day before speaking at Case, Gates and the leadership of The Cleveland Foundation will recognize the 2005 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winners at a ceremony on September 14 at the Cleveland Play House, 8500 Euclid Ave. The 2005 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards recipients are Geoffrey C. Ward for Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson for non-fiction; Edwidge Danticat for The Dew Breaker and A. Van Jordan for M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A for fiction. The playwright August Wilson will receive recognition for his lifetime achievements in the field of drama.
The Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards was established in 1935 by Cleveland philanthropist and poet Edith Anisfield Wolf. Passionately committed to social justice, she used literature as a means to explore racial prejudice and to celebrate human diversity. The Cleveland Foundation, the country's original and second largest community foundations, administers the awards.
Serving alongside Gates in selecting the award-winning books are other American literary greats. Among those jury members are writers Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate and the Commonwealth Professor of English at the University of Virginia; Joyce Carol Oates, a recognized novelist and the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor of Humanities, Princeton University; Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; and Simon Schama, Old Dominion Foundation Professor of Humanities, Columbia University. For additional information, visit http://www.anisfield-wolf.org.
For more information about Gates' talk at Case, contact Linda Gilmore in the Baker-Nord Center at 216-368-1040.
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