An award-winning journalist and one of the most recognized voices in radio, Michele Norris engages audiences in candid discussion about race, culture and communication in America.
From the radio airwaves of NPR and primetime television to leading news publications such as The Washington Post, and author of Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race (January 2024), Norris is one of the most trusted voices in American journalism. On stage, she inspires open and honest dialogue, with memorable stories and fascinating perspectives drawn from her personal journey, investigative research, and interviews with world leaders, Nobel Laureates and influential newsmakers.
For a decade, as host of National Public Radio’s longest-running program, All Things Considered, she captivated audiences nationwide while earning some of journalism’s highest honors. As a Washington Post Opinions Columnist, Norris sparks important dialogue on current events, social issues and the power to make change as she breaks down commonly held beliefs and attitudes on race, diversity and bias. She makes complex and taboo issues remarkably accessible. Her audiences walk away empowered to stimulate discussion around challenging topics within their communities.
Throughout Norris’ accomplished career, her efforts to promote conversation about race have resulted in her critically acclaimed book, The Grace of Silence: A Memoir. She received accolades for a Peabody Award-winning initiative, “The Race Card Project,” which fosters conversation among individuals about their differences. Norris was previously the director of “The Bridge”—the Aspen Institute's program on race, cultural identity and inclusion—which addresses some of America's most complex issues by encouraging people to explore and engage with differing perspectives. Norris is also host of Your Mama’s Kitchen, a new podcast produced by Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama’s media company, which explores the complexities of family life through conversations about guests’ childhood home meals.
Washington Post columnist, former NPR All Things Considered host, founder of The Race Card Project, author of Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race (January 2024)
- The Race Card Project - Eavesdropping on America's Conversation on Race
- Join us for a discussion on race and identity in America, with Peabody Award-winning journalist Michele Norris, founder of The Race Card Project™. The Race Card Project creates sturdy cultural bridges through candid conversation using real stories on race, culture and identity. In 2010, former NPR journalist Michele Norris began inviting people to distill their thoughts on the word race to only six words. Since then, The Race Card Project™ has collected more than 500,000 “postcards” from all 50 states and 96 countries. People often send backstories and photos to share more about what is behind their six-word statements. Many of these essays contain sentiments and hard truths rarely expressed out loud. Today, these powerful six-word memoirs kickstart honest conversations that leave people with a better sense of each other, and themselves, through a variety of tools and resources. The goal is to tap into the stories, people and threads that make up our complex cultural landscape and then engage people to talk across difference, race, inclusion and identity.
- The Grace of Silence and the Power of Words
- Award-winning journalist Michele Norris's 2010 book The Grace of Silence started out as a quest to uncover how America talked about race in the wake of the Obama presidential election. What resulted was what Norris calls an "accidental memoir." Named one of the year's best books by The Christian Science Monitor, the book became an eye-opening family history lesson revealing her own family's racial legacy and the larger conversation surrounding race in America. The book has also led to the spinoff blog "The Race Card Project" and a deeper look at our attitudes and beliefs about race.
- If You Meant It Then You Should Have Put a Stamp On It
- In this unique presentation, Michele Norris examines how old fashioned handwritten letters have helped define what is best about America, and explores how we hold on to that in the age of email, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. This refreshing talk looks at the profound impact and importance of letters written by presidents, CEOs, sportsmen, soldiers, pioneer women and pioneering scientists -- and examines how we communicate today and what it may tell us about our tomorrow.