The award-winning journalist and founder of The Race Card Project will speak at Elon on Jan. 10.
Michele Norris, “The Race Card Project: Eavesdropping on America’s Conversation on Race”
McCrary Theatre, 6 p.m.
Center for the Arts Box Office
10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday
On Jan. 10, box office will be open until 6 p.m.
Ticket orders by credit card: (336) 278-5610
Tickets: $13 or free with Elon ID
Award-winning journalist Michele Norris will deliver the Martin Luther King Keynote Address on January 10, 2017, in McCrary Theatre. She is founder of The Race Card Project and the author of “The Grace of Silence,” a memoir that looks at how America talks about race.
Norris is one of the most recognized voices in radio. She was host of National Public Radio’s longest-running national program, All Things Considered, until 2012. Norris and “All Things Considered” received many of journalism’s highest honors, including a Peabody Award, duPont Award, an Overseas Press Club Award, and she was named the 2009 Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists, solidifying her as an in-demand speaker on current events and American culture.
In 2013, Norris was named host and special correspondent for NPR. While on sabbatical, Norris spent a time traveling the country and developing two successful initiatives: “The Race Card Project” and NPR’s “Backseat Book Club.”
Before joining NPR, she served as a correspondent for ABC News, where she reported extensively on education, inner city issues, the national drug problem, and poverty. While at ABC, she earned an Emmy Award and Peabody Award for her contribution to the network’s coverage of 9/11.
In her 2010 book, “The Grace of Silence: A Memoir,” Norris focuses on how America talks about race in the wake of the Obama presidential election, and explores her own family’s racial legacy. Tom Brokaw says the memoir makes her personal story a universal one: “Michele Norris takes us on a riveting personal journey from north to south and back again through the tangled landscape of race in America — and teaches anew about the pain and possibilities of our past and future.” It was named one of the year’s best books by The Christian Science Monitor.
Elon is mounting a Race Card Project of its own. The installation is in the Isabella Cannon Room during winter term and will remain on view until mid-February. It has been organized through the Residential life communities across campus with the support of faculty/staff team of Terry Tomasek and Cristina Vega. Elon’s Race Card Project is also featured On Location on Ms. Norris’ national campaign website — http://theracecardproject.com/on-location/.