JoJo's Blog- Peek into my Life

Week 2 Henry Louis Gates

I attended the Henry Louis Gates speech on Thursday. I was glad I arrived a little bit early since it became crowded relatively quickly. I had heard about him coming to speak within my first week of school and was embarrassed because it was assumed that I knew who he was. I did not know though that people from so many other schools were invited. I think more students from Case should have attended. I was impressed by the introduction he was given since it seemed so sincere.
I am not really good at history so I really enjoyed the manner in which Gates told his story. I had never realized all that W.E.B. Dubois had done. I basically just recognized the name as belonging to an affluent African American because he was only brought up during Black History Month. Unlike Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X that are discussed in Political Science classes, he does not get much attention in my eyes. The parallels shown by the focus of his having a dream was interesting because I always associate such phases with Martin Luther King Jr. I also like how Gates would go back and forth from speaking about Dubois to telling his own personal anecdotes. Unfortunately like I said earlier since I am not much of a historian I got a little confused when I was trying to remember some of the facts he had stated since I mixed up what was from his own life and what referred to Dubois’s.
I had never heard of the Africana Encyclopedia and believed it was a novel idea when he first mentioned it. Every time he mentioned a setback I felt like I was so involved, like when you watch a movie and get really into it. I assumed that his story would end happily but I was not too sure when he got to the part when Dubois died. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that if the encyclopedia would have been invented I would have heard of it by now. It seems as if everything else has been brought to my attention somehow.
When Gates finally showed us the CD-Rom presentation of the encyclopedia I was excited and now I plan on buying my own. In terms of technology I’m shocked it is not available online by subscription or that it has not been advertised to a greater extent. Since the concept of the encyclopedia was created as a means to fight racism by eradicating ignorance it needs to be available to the mass public. If not then it is useless. The comment the student made about having a cell-phone or iPod version is interesting because since this encyclopedia is relatively new compared to its successors, it should not fall behind with technological advances. If anything it should set the pace for others.
I also thought about technology when Gates spoke of all the letters and phone calls that were made. Probably since the encyclopedia was developed in Gates generation instead of Dubois’s e-mails and cell phones were involved. I’m not quite sure though since Gates did not know what a CD-Rom was at first.