Henry Louis Gates Jr., a nationally known scholar of African-American studies, will speak on campus at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27, for the university's Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance. (The program was rescheduled from Jan. 18 due to a conflict in Gates' schedule.) The observance will begin with a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. on Kaufman Mall, followed by Gates' talk at 7:30 p.m. in the North Cafeteria of Webb Center. A book signing will follow the lecture. The events are free and open to the public.

Gates is the director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for Afro-American Research and the DuBois Professor of Humanities at Harvard University. Under his leadership, Harvard's black studies department was revived after languishing some 20 years.

He is the author of several books, including "13 Ways of Looking at a Black Man" (1997), "Colored People: A Memoir" (1994) and "Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars" (1992).

Gates was a key force behind the creation of Microsoft's Encarta Africana, a CD-ROM encyclopedia featuring more than 3,000 articles and 2,500 videos, audio clips, maps and photos about African-American personalities, history and events. Gates also hosted the PBS program "Wonders of the African World."

He is the general editor of the "Norton Anthology of African-American Literature" and has edited and co-edited many other books and journals. Gates also is a staff writer for The New Yorker and has published pieces in many other magazines.