
Person
Gerald Early
Acting · Born 1952-04-21 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Biography
Gerald Lyn Early is an American essayist and American culture critic, appearing and serving as a consultant on Ken Burns' documentary films Baseball, Jazz, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, The War, and Muhammad Ali. Currently, Early is the Merle Kling Professor of Modern letters, of English, African studies, African-American studies, American culture studies, and Director, Center for Joint Projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a regular commentator on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, and his essays have appeared in numerous editions of Best American Essays series. He writes on topics as diverse as American literature, the Korean War, African-American culture, Afro-American autobiography, non-fiction prose, baseball, jazz, prizefighting, Motown, Miles Davis, Muhammad Ali and Sammy Davis Jr.
Known for

Baseball
Self

Baseball: The Tenth Inning
Self

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
Self - Writer

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Self - writer
Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel
Self - Cultural Historian

Jackie Robinson
Self

Dean Martin: King of Cool
Self

The Journey of the African-American Athlete
Self - Writer / Historian

Joe Louis: America's Hero Betrayed
Self
Filmography
- 2021Dean Martin: King of CoolSelf
- 2019Miles Davis: Birth of the CoolSelf - Writer
- 2016Jackie RobinsonSelf
- 2010Baseball: The Tenth InningSelf
- 2008Joe Louis: America's Hero BetrayedSelf
- 2005Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack JohnsonSelf - writer
- 2001Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDanielSelf - Cultural Historian
- 1996The Journey of the African-American AthleteSelf - Writer / Historian
- 1994BaseballSelf
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