Karen Grigsby Bates
Karen Grigsby Bates is the Senior Correspondent for Code Switch, a podcast that reports on race and ethnicity. A veteran NPR reporter, Bates covered race for the network for several years before becoming a founding member of the Code Switch team. She is especially interested in stories about the hidden history of race in America—and in the intersection of race and culture. She oversees much of Code Switch's coverage of books by and about people of color, as well as issues of race in the publishing industry. Bates is the co-author of a best-selling etiquette book (Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times) and two mystery novels; she is also a contributor to several anthologies of essays. She lives in Los Angeles and reports from NPR West.
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A new book, Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, explores how faith brought two African-American icons together and eventually tore their relationship apart.
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After a tumultuous season, the NFL condemned domestic violence in its ranks, and put a spotlight on the issue during the last Super Bowl. A year later, it's unclear whether that has made a difference.
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Once Morris Robinson dreamed of fame on the football field. Now, he's moving audiences across the world with the power of his voice, and changing the face of opera. -
The veteran singer, songwriter and producer recently released The Reverend Shawn Amos Loves You, which combines old-fashioned blues music with new technology. -
The second mystery by Mette Ivie Harrison boasts details about contemporary Mormon life that most of us aren't privy to. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates says His Right Hand is is her "one that got away."
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ABC will air the final episode of its hit comedy Black-ish Wednesday night before the season ends for holiday break. Although the show focuses on the upper-middle class Johnson family, its storylines cross race, ethnicity, gender, geography and age. And it's acquired a real following that reflects that. NPR talks with showrunner Kenya Barris and his writers about making a specific experience universal.
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A new young adult book tells the story of a police beating from two perspectives: the black boy who was beaten, and a white boy who witnessed it.
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Sweet potato pies are such a deep cultural touchstone, most black cookbooks will include one in their recipe index. Here are a few good recipes you can try while Wal-Mart restocks the shelves. -
"If you want to stand there and put your hands up, I respect that. That is your right. But shoving people is not a right," said Tim Tai, student photographer.
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Advertising for products to treat symptoms of menopause is becoming much more upfront about issues like painful sex. But more than a few of the remedies are solutions in search of a problem.
