Jacobs, Lawrence R.2020-10-272020-10-272010-10-01https://hdl.handle.net/11299/216931NPR's Michele Norris talked about her new book, The Grace of Silence, with Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Crann. In the wake of talk of a "postracial" America upon Barack Obama’s ascension as president of the United States, Michele Norris, cohost of National Public Radio’s flagship program All Things Considered, set out to write, through original reporting, a book about "the hidden conversation" on race that is unfolding nationwide. She would, she thought, base her book on the frank disclosures of others on the subject, but she was soon disabused of her presumption when forced to confront the fact that “the conversation” in her own family had not been forthright. In what became a profoundly personal and bracing journey into her family’s past, Norris traveled from her childhood home in Minneapolis to her ancestral roots in the Deep South to explore the reasons for the “things left unsaid” by her father and mother when she was growing up, the better to come to terms with her own identity. Along the way she discovered how her character was forged by both revelation and silence. Michele Norris hosts NPR's news magazine All Things Considered, public radio's longest-running national program, with Robert Siegel and Melissa Block. Before coming to NPR in 2002, Norris was a correspondent for ABC News, from 1993 to 2002. As a contributing correspondent for the "Closer Look" segments on World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Norris reported extensively on education, inner city issues, the nation's drug problem, and poverty. In 2009, Norris was named "Journalist of the Year" by the National Association of Black Journalists. A four-time Pulitzer Price entrant, Norris has also been honored with NABJ's 2006 Salute to Excellence Award, the University of Minnesota's Outstanding Achievement Award, and the 1990 Livingston Award. Norris attended the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in electrical engineering, and graduated from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she studied journalism. Tom Crann has been the host of “All Things Considered” for Minnesota Public Radio News since 2005. He has interviewed a wide range of public figures, including every member of Minnesota's congressional delegation, as well as politicians, experts, writers, and artists. He has been a host, producer, and interviewer for Minnesota Public Radio since 1995.enPresentation