Celebrated artist and activist John Legend joined renowned Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Sept. 8, 2025, on Loyola Marymount University’s Drollinger Family Stage for a riveting, wide-ranging dialogue in the latest chapter of the Global Conversation Series.
The ostensible topic of the afternoon was Legend’s family history, which was researched by Gates’ team for an episode of the PBS series “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr.,” yet the deeply personal story also touched on nuances of U.S. history, colorism, “good hair,” and the “historical advantages of whiteness.”
The sun-drenched crowd of nearly 400 students, faculty, staff, and visitors watched the episode, which included the family history of comedian Wanda Sykes, then were held in rapt attention as Gates and Legend exchanged anecdotes, stories and insights.
“At the end of the day, we’re all human; it’s hard to deny humanity,” Legend said in response to a poignant discovery in his family tree: his ancestors in Ohio were free Black people, but eight children had been kidnapped by racist marauders and taken to Kentucky and Tennessee and sold into slavery. The Ohio state government took legal action to recover the Polly children and became a cause célèbre in its day. Gates and Legend wondered why this story had never become part of the Legend family lore. “No one knows their family history,” Gates said. “Stories often get lost because we are “running away from something.”
Legend, a powerhouse entertainer who has been awarded Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards – a rare EGOT holder – was making his second visit to campus: in 2024, he addressed the Undergraduate Commencement and received an honorary doctorate of humane letters. Legend said during his conversation that he grew up admiring civil rights heroes and that he was deeply moved when he learned that he was descended from the Polly family that was at the center of a legal rights battle. “This story was not part of the family folklore,” he said, “and our whole family is grateful to have learned this.”
LMU’s Global Conversations Series has become a signature event in the academic calendar. With Gates as host, he leads powerful discussions on race, family, heritage, identity, and much more. The series is presented by the Office of the Provost, the Marymount Institute for Faith, Culture, and the Arts, and the Division of Student Affairs.
As part of the festivities for Family Weekend, the next subject will be Sheryl Lee Ralph, an Emmy-winning actress and singer, who joins Gates in conversation on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. Joe Manganiello, actor, producer, director, author, and philanthropist, joins Gate on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025. Both conversations will take place on the Drollinger Family Stage in Lawton Plaza.
Past guests include actor Ed O’Neill, Grammy-winner Anthony Ramos, entertainer and education activist LaVar Burton, memoirist and English Professor Julia Lee, David Chang, founder of Momofuku and Majordomo Media, Damon Lindelof, a three-time Emmy-winner, creator of “Lost,” “The Leftovers” and “Watchmen,” writer and producer of “Star Trek,” American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author Angela Davis, philosopher and public intellectual Cornel West, and Nobel Laureate, writer, and activist Wole Soyinka.
The final question Gates posed to Legend was about the current state of the world and how Legend responds – how he stays hopeful. “Hope is a strategy,” Legend said, returning to a recurring theme of the afternoon. “Humanity wins out.”
