Henry Louis Gates Jr. Named Honorary Citizen Of Benin

Jet, August 27, 2001

Noted Harvard University professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. recently was made an honorary citizen of

Benin and named Commander of the National Order of Benin by the President. of Benin, Mathieu Kerekou, in a ceremony in Cotonou, Benin.

These honors recognized his celebrated work of editing the Encarta Africana CD-ROM and the book Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience and his exploration of African civilization in the BBC program and book Wonders of the African World.

Gates also received an honorary degree at the University of Benin.

Gates, chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies and the W.E.B. DuBois professor of humanities at Harvard, said, "To be made a citizen of an African nation and to receive an honorary degree from an African university are two of the greatest honors of my life. As an African-American and a descendant of African slaves, these honors are quite humbling."

In his remarks at the university, he commended President Kerekou for his candor in exploring the African role in the slave trade that depopulated West Africa and forced approximately 12 million men, women and children into bondage--a theme that Gates explored in his film series.

He also called on the U.S. government to accept its own responsibility to address the legacy of slavery. He suggested that in the short-term, reparations can be effectively linked to the urgent need to provide U.S. assistance to the Global Fund against AIDS recently proposed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Gates urged the Bush administration to commit $2 billion to the annual fund.