Michele Norris

Michele Norris was born on September 7, 1961, in Hennepin County, Minnesota. She pursued her education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, initially studying electrical engineering, before transferring to the University of Minnesota, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and mass communications. Early in her career, Norris wrote for the student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily, and worked as a reporter for WCCO-TV. Her print journalism career began with contributions to notable publications such as The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times. In 1990, while at The Washington Post, Norris received the Livingston Award for her detailed articles on the life of a six-year-old child living in a crack house, highlighting her early commitment to investigative and impactful reporting.

From 1993 to 2002, Norris served as a news correspondent for ABC News, where she was recognized with an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award for her contributions to the network’s coverage of the September 11 attacks. She then transitioned to public radio, joining National Public Radio (NPR) as a co-host of its evening news program, All Things Considered, on December 9, 2002. This appointment marked a significant milestone, as she became the first African-American female host for NPR. During her tenure at NPR, Norris interviewed numerous influential figures, including President Barack Obama, Susan Rice, Quincy Jones, and Joan Rivers, and played a key role in the program’s widely acclaimed coverage of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

In 2010, Norris launched The Race Card Project, an initiative that invited individuals to share their experiences of race in the United States using six-word submissions. This project garnered widespread recognition and earned Norris and her collaborators a Peabody Award in 2014. She authored “The Grace of Silence,” a memoir and reported non-fiction book that emerged from The Race Card Project, exploring personal and national narratives on race. After temporarily stepping down from her NPR hosting duties in 2011 due to her husband’s role in the 2012 presidential election campaign, Norris officially left NPR in 2015 to dedicate more focus to The Race Card Project. She later became an opinion columnist for The Washington Post from 2019 to 2024 and currently serves as a senior contributing editor at MSNBC. In 2023, she launched “Your Mama’s Kitchen” podcast with Higher Ground Audio, and her book “Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity” was released in January 2024, based on her extensive work with The Race Card Project.