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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As the situation quiets down in Ferguson, Mo., some political observers are asking why it took President Obama so long to publicly weigh in on events there. -
Twenty years ago, Diana Gabaldon's time-travel epic Outlander shot to the top of the best-seller lists — and stayed there. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates digs into the enduring potency of Gabaldon's magic. -
In her new book, Rachel Howzell Hall introduces Elouise "Lou" Norton, a fiercely ambitious homicide detective who patrols the same Los Angeles streets that she — and Hall — grew up on. -
Paul Mazursky earned his first Oscar nomination for his debut feature film, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, in 1969. His An Unmarried Woman was nominated for Best Picture.
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It's the end of an era, as Johnson Publishing Co. announced plans to cease printing Jet. The magazine, which started some 63 years ago, was long a staple for many African-Americans.
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Cleaves' rich, dreamy alto was transformed later in her career when she sang with George Clinton and Parliment Funkadelic. Clinton wrote on her memorial website, "It was an honor to funk with you." -
The death of journalist Ruben Salazar was a catalyst for the nascent Chicano-rights movement. It is still at the center of deeply held belief that he was purposely killed by LA law enforcement.
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The skirmish continues between Sriracha and Irwindale, Calif. Irwindale's city council declared that owner David Tran must curb his hot sauce factory's smelly fumes or they'll do it themselves. Tran is considering relocating, and he has already received several offers.
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"Nobody from hip-hop was supposed to go to Harvard without a degree," says 9th Wonder, a respected producer who's turned out to be a born teacher. -
As racial tensions were rising in 1964, Mary Peabody, the mother of the Massachusetts governor, went to St. Augustine, Fla., to protest segregation.
