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. -
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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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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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. -
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. -
Decades ago, few cosmetic companies manufactured make-up for women of color. Changing demographics has changed this, and now even high-end companies have adjusted to a new, more colorful reality.
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The prolific author tackled difficult issues of race in novels and poetry. He used his writing to challenge assumptions about African-Americans, including civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. -
The murders of parishioners at an AME church in Charleston are the most recent example of violence visited upon an African-American church — but it's not the only instance.
