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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Vernon Jordan, for years an influential power broker in Washington and a close advisor to former President Bill Clinton, has died at 85.
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Stories about Black history often focus on struggle and suffering—but Beverly Jenkins, the author of more than 40 historical romance novels, has spent her career telling stories about Black love. -
After the Capitol was cleared of insurrectionists on January 6, there was work to be done — and it wasn't lost on many that cleaning up the mess would fall largely to Black and Brown people. -
Before 2020, the Karen was known by other names. NPR's Code Switch looks at the evolution of the entitled white woman, how her name has changed, but her behavior – and its consequences – not so much.
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Longtime Vogue editor André Leon Talley has a new memoir out called: The Chiffon Trenches. In it, he describes rifts with Vogue editor Anna Wintour and the late designer Karl Lagerfeld.
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Over the years, the United States census boxes indicating race or ethnicity have changed.
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Born Barbara Elaine Smith, she began her career as a model and went on to gain fame and influence as a restaurateur, celebrity chef, lifestyle doyenne and entertainer. -
Chinese filmmakers began making movies about the lives of the Chinese in America since World War I. And there's a direct line from them to some of Sunday's critically acclaimed Chinese American films.
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In her new memoir, Straight tells the story of the women in her family—her Swiss-German blood relatives and her African American, Indigenous and Creole in-laws who crossed the U.S. to settle in Calif. -
The president and executive director of Romance Writers of America stepped down Thursday. The powerful trade organization has been roiled by weeks of controversy over treatment of writers of color.
