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Civil War and Reconstruction: A Conversation with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

May 07, 2019

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Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. joins National Constitution Center President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen to explore the transformative years of the Reconstruction era, as depicted in the Center’s new permanent exhibit, Civil War and Reconstruction: The Battle for Freedom and Equality, and Gates’ documentary for PBS, Reconstruction: After the Civil War, and book, Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow.

This program is presented in conjunction with the National Constitution Center’s permanent exhibit Civil War and Reconstruction: The Battle for Freedom and Equality.


Participants

  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Gates has authored or co-authored 21 books and created 15 documentary films, including Wonders of the African World, African American Lives, Faces of America, Black in Latin America, and Finding Your Roots, his groundbreaking genealogy series now in its third season on PBS. 
     
  • ​​​​​​Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
     

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