News Archive

Former NPR Host Michele Norris Brings The Race Card Project to Nazareth, March 16

Published February 11, 2016

Award-winning journalist Michele Norris is bringing The Race Card Project to Nazareth College.  The former National Public Radio (NPR) host and special correspondent with more than two decades of experience founded the successful initiative to help kick start and encourage public discussion about the difficult topic  during a cross-country book tour in 2010. Norris collects thoughts on race, ethnicity, and cultural identity in six words on postcards, emails or tweets, and has received thousands of submissions from all over the U.S. and the world. The Nazareth College Race Card Project Forum will take place on March 16, at 7 p.m. in the Nazareth College Arts Center.  Nazareth is located at 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, N.Y., 14618.  

The event is open to the public.

The six-word essays were initially compiled on Norris’s website TheRaceCardProject.com, but the descriptions eventually grew into a regular segment on NPR’s Morning Edition. A single six-word description such as “Ask who I am, not what,” “Mexican white girl doesn’t speak Spanish” or “My mixed kids have it differently” opened up complicated, vulnerable and insightful discussions about race that we rarely hear in public spaces. The segments featured enlightening commentary from the authors about their own racial experiences.

Norris served as co-host of NPR's newsmagazine All Things Considered, public radio's longest-running national program, with Robert Siegel and Melissa Block. Norris began hosting the program in December 2002 and stepped away from her All Things Considered duties during the 2012 presidential campaign. While on sabbatical, Norris spent time traveling the country and developing two successful initiatives: The Race Card Project and NPR's Backseat Book Club.

In September 2010, Norris released her first book, The Grace of Silence: A Memoir, which focuses on how America talks about race in the wake of Barack Obama’s presidential election, and explores her own family's racial legacy.  It has been called one of the best books of 2010 by The Christian Science Monitor. Using her memoir as a catalyst for conversation, Norris has addressed thousands of students through campus “One Book” programs, encouraging discussions about the history of race relations in the U.S.

Before coming to NPR, Norris was a correspondent for ABC News, a post she held from 1993 - 2002. As a contributing correspondent for the “Closer Look” segments on World News Tonightwith Peter Jennings, Norris reported extensively on education, inner city issues, the nation's drug problem, and poverty. Norris has also reported for the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. Her Washington Post series about a six-year-old who lived in a crack house was reprinted in the book Ourselves Among Others, along with essays by Václav Havel, Nelson Mandela, Annie Dillard, and Gabriel García Márquez.

For More Information

Julie Long, Nazareth Chief Public Relations Officer: (585) 389-2456; jlong2@naz.edu

Nazareth University is an inclusive community of inspired learners, educators, and changemakers who for nearly 100 years have been driven by a bold commitment to action, empathy, equity, and leading innovation for the common good. Impact experiences are at the heart of a Nazareth education, preparing each student to discover within themselves the potential to cultivate positive change in their life's work, in any career field, and in a world that is constantly evolving and infinitely interconnected.

Our broad academic offerings present a range of study options typical of larger universities, yet achieved in our supportive campus culture. Nearly 2,100 undergrad and 600 graduate students enroll in degree and certificate programs and engage in collaborative, transformative learning experiences, preparing for the professions and society of today and tomorrow. In a learning community that purposefully integrates liberal arts and professional programs, Nazareth University graduates are able to launch a lifetime of impactful leadership in communities and workplaces near and far.