His former students founded theroot.com. After completing a doctorate at Cambridge, he published the seminal Signifying Monkey, which established his mix of new literary theory and contemporary folklore as a means of understanding literature, while a
His former students founded theroot.com. After completing a doctorate at Cambridge, he published the seminal Signifying Monkey, which established his mix of new literary theory and contemporary folklore as a means of understanding literature, while a professor at Yale.  A 2006 PBS miniseries hosted by him discussed his ancestors, including an Irish King and the Yoruba people.  Unlike Anthony Appiah and Cornel West, he stayed at his current institution following a departmental dispute with Lawrence Summers. For 10 points, name this current Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, one of the best known scholars in African-American studies.
His former students founded theroot.com. After completing a doctorate at Cambridge, he published the seminal Signifying Monkey, which established his mix of new literary theory and contemporary folklore as a means of understanding literature, while a professor at Yale.  
Henry Louis {Gates}, Jr.