Randall Kennedy & Touré

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has published numerous books and produced and hosted an array of documentary films. The Black Church (PBS) and Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches (HBO), which he executive produced, each received Emmy nominations. In January 2024, Finding Your Roots, Gates’s groundbreaking genealogy and genetics series, returned for its tenth season on PBS. His most recent history series for PBS, Gospel, premiered in February 2024.

Photo credit: Peter Simon

Randall Kennedy

Randall Kennedy obtained his schooling at St. Albans School, Princeton University, and Yale Law School.  He served as a law clerk for Judge J. Skelly Wright of the United States Court of Appeals and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court.  Kennedy is a professor at Harvard Law School, a member of the Bars of the District of Columbia and the United States supreme Court, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the American Philosophical Society.  A contributor to a wide range of publications, Kennedy has also written several books, the most recent of which is Say it Loud! On Race, Law, History and Culture.

Touré

Touré is the author of the novel Soul City, the story collection The Portable Promised Land, and the essay collection Never Drank the Kool Aid. A contributing editor at Rolling Stone, his writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Tennis Magazine, The Best American Essays, and Da Capo Best American Music Writing, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.