What former NPR host Michele Norris learned over years of asking Americans about race

By Steve Kraske,

Published January 24, 2024 at 4:52 PM CST

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A woman wearing an orange blouse gestures with both hands while talks at a microphone inside a radio studio. — Former NPR anchor Michele Norris talks about her new book "Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity" on KCUR's Up To Date on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024.

Michele Norris spent more than a decade asking Americans to describe their experiences with race in six words. Her new book "Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think about Race and Identity" shares those stories, and explores the nuance of how we think about race today.

As she was on tour for her first book, The "Grace Of Silence" in 2010, Michele Norris thought most Americans "would rather eat their toenails than have a conversation about race."

So she decided to talk about it.

In the more than decade since, Norris has received more than 500,000 six-word stories describing individuals' experiences with race. Many of them are documented in her new book "Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think about Race and Identity." Norris was in Kansas City to discuss the book with Rainy Day Books founder Vivien Jennings.

Norris said she's been surprised by how much engagement she's had from people in small towns and flyover states.

"It's interesting when you let people set the agenda, and you say, 'It's just broad. Race. Whatever you want to talk about,'" she said.

Michele Norris, award-winning journalist and author of "Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think about Race and Identity"