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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A love story between a black Army nurse and a German POW during World War II? You couldn't make that story up — and Alexis Clark, author of the upcoming book, Enemies in Love, didn't. -
A group of black women gathered in Los Angeles to watch Meghan Markle marry her prince. They discussed their joy and pride in seeing a biracial Angeleno become a royal.
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National Geographic has released an issue on race. Which, considering the magazine's history on race, is either intriguing or ironic. Maybe both.
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"Whoever thought that 50 years later, we'd still be talking about the same things? That's kinda sad," Kerner Commission member Fred Harris said. -
Tayari Jones' new novel tells a story of love, race, justice and what happens when "normal" people come face-to-face with the unthinkable. -
A survey looks at who feels discriminated against in America. The short answer: everyone, but for different reasons. And for some, it's nothing new. NPR's Code Switch team reports.
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Victoria & Abdul is based on a true story about Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim. He started as a servant. She made him her teacher and trusted confidante, much to the dismay of her inner circle.
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Ebony Magazine held a beloved place in black households for more than seven decades. But like a lot of magazines, it was feeling pinched between rising costs and falling subscriptions. Ebony was sold last year to a black private equity firm that was very slow to pay its writers what they were owed. Some responded with a scathing social media campaign, EbonyOwes.
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An exhibit at the Huntington Library shows visitors how famed science fiction writer Octavia Butler created a career for herself in a genre that had few women and even fewer African-Americans. -
The 1992 Los Angeles riots left more than 50 people dead and destroyed an estimated $1 billion in property all over the city. NPR explores how people in LA think of the riots 25 years later and why the event is still relevant.
