English Department dedication set for April 7-8

Henry Louis Gates Jr. will present the keynote lecture.

by Mary Jo Curtis

Noted historian and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. will give a keynote lecture in a series of events set for April 7 and 8 to celebrate the dedication of the new English Department.

The department, which previously was scattered among four buildings, took up residency in its new building upon completion of a construction project that began in August 2000. That project included restoring much of Carr House – the 19^th-century building at 107 Angell St. – and demolishing the rear of that building to accommodate an addition and a separate building across Fones Alley. The 37,100-square-foot facility includes classrooms, offices, and the theater.

The trees planted on Angell, Brown and Waterman streets surrounding the new facility were donated by the Providence Neighborhood Planting Program (PNPP) and the City of Providence. The PNPP works with Brown on many tree projects each year.

Gates, the chairman of Harvard’s Afro-American studies department and director of its W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research, will speak on “W.E.B. Du Bois and the Encyclopedia Africana” on April 7 at 5 p.m. in Salomon Center. The lecture is open to the public.

Gates is a world-renowned scholar and teacher of African and African-American history and culture. He has written several books and numerous essays and reviews on a broad range of African and African-American issues, including slavery, race, feminism, dialect and identity. In 1989 he won the American Book Award for "The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism." He recently completed his second major documentary, "America Beyond the Color Line."

In 2000, Gates and Cornel West authored the acclaimed "The African American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century." That came on the heels of the authoritative and groundbreaking "Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience," a collaboration with K. Anthony Appiah. More recently, Gates authenticated the first novel by a female fugitive slave, "The Bondwoman's Narrative" by Hanna Crafts.

Professors Paula Vogel and C.D. Wright on April 8 at 8 p.m. in the McCormack Family Theater, located in the English Department at 70 Brown St. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis for that event. Other events are listed here.

For more information, call 863-3683.