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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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. -
What's old is new. From ingredients to techniques, chefs are playing with that most traditional of comfort foods: lasagna. We dig in to what's between the layers from nonna to nouveau.
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"I did it to show my appreciation to America ... I love this country." Jose Feliciano, on singing the national anthem his way. His performance at the 1968 World Series sparked a national controversy. -
Morrison was the author of Beloved, Song of Solomonand The Bluest Eye. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. -
100 years ago this week, some of the bloodiest race riots this country has ever experienced erupted in more than two dozen cities, including Chicago. It was known as the Red Summer. -
For people of color, "civility" is often a means of containing them, preventing social mobility and preserving the status quo. -
Nosrat is that rare thing: a woman of color in the upper echelons of the hypercompetitive food world. She is acutely aware of her unicorn status — and taking steps to try to change that. -
Looks like this year, April showers brought April flowers. As in, a bouquet of outstanding poets. So stop and smell the roses, my friends. -
For millions of African-Americans who did not otherwise see themselves in the mainstream media, Ebony was more than a magazine. It was a public trust. This week marks its final chapter. -
The Chicago publishing giant that launched Ebony and Jet magazines, and made them a touchstone in African-American life, is closing its doors. It plans a court- supervised sale of its assets.
