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Melissa Harris-Perry

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This article is about the professor, author and TV host. For her eponymous show, see Melissa Harris-Perry (TV program).
Melissa Harris-Perry
Born
Melissa Victoria Harris

(1973-10-02) October 2, 1973 (age 51)[1]
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
EducationWake Forest University (B.A.)
Duke University (Ph.D.)
Occupation(s)Professor, author
Spouse(s)Dennis Lacewell (1999–2005)
James Perry (2010–present)
ChildrenOne daughter
Websitemelissaharrisperry.com

Melissa Victoria Harris-Perry (born October 2, 1973; formerly known as Melissa Victoria Harris-Lacewell)[1] is an American author, television host and political commentator with a focus on African-American politics. Harris-Perry hosts the eponymously named Melissa Harris-Perry weekend news and opinion television show on MSNBC.

She is a professor of political science at Tulane University. Prior to that, she was an associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University from 2006 to 2010 and taught political science at the University of Chicago from 1999 to 2005.[2][3][4]

Life and career

Melissa Victoria Harris was born in Seattle and grew up in the Virginia cities of Charlottesville and Chester, where she attended Thomas Dale High School. Part of a mixed family[citation needed], she is the youngest of five children. Her black father, William M. Harris Sr., was dean of Afro-American affairs at the University of Virginia, and her white mother, Diana Gray, taught at a community college and worked for nonprofits that helped poor communities.[3][4] Her mother was raised in a Mormon working-class family in a racially homogeneous neighborhood and went to college at Brigham Young University. After a failed first marriage, her mother left the LDS Church and was a single mother before she met Melissa's father.[5] Harris-Perry's family later became Unitarian Universalists.[6]

She received a bachelor of arts in English from Wake Forest University in 1994 and a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University in 1999. She also received an honoris causa doctorate from Meadville Lombard Theological School.[2][3] Motivated to better understand the role of the Black church in political movements, she was a Master of Divinity student at Union Theological Seminary of New York City.[7] Harris-Perry considers her Wake Forest mentor, Maya Angelou, to be her most important inspiration for becoming a professor. "As her student I watched as she influenced public discourse, taught students, and shared ideas in a way that seemed to truly matter for people’s lives."[8]

Harris-Perry is the author of Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought[9] on the methods African Americans use to develop political ideas through ordinary conversations in places like barbershops, churches, and popular culture. The work won the 2005 W.E.B. DuBois Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and the 2005 Best Book Award from the Race and Ethnic Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. Her interests include the study of African-American political thought, black religious ideas and practice, and social and clinical psychology. Harris-Perry is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. In 2009, she was the key note speaker for the Unitarian Universalist Association on "Faith and Reason: Race, Justice, and American Political Life".[10]

Harris-Perry was Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University from 2006 to 2010, leaving after being denied a full professorship.[11] Currently she is Professor of Political Science at Tulane University.[12]

She was married to Dennis Lacewell from 1999 to 2005, with whom she has a daughter.[12] She currently lives in New Orleans and is married to James Perry,[2] who was a 2010 candidate for mayor in New Orleans.[4] In 2012, two days after the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Harris-Perry tweeted that the abandoned home in the 7th ward that she and her husband had bought and were restoring was destroyed during Hurricane Isaac.[13]

Media

Her writings have been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Crain's Chicago Business, and Newsday. She regularly provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC and has contributed to other television and print sources. She guest hosts for The Rachel Maddow Show. Harris-Perry has a regular print column for The Nation, Sister Citizen.[14]

MSNBC announced on January 5, 2012 that Harris-Perry would host her own weekend show, which began airing on February 18, 2012 at 10:00 am. The show follows Up with Chris Hayes and leads into Weekends with Alex Witt.[15] According to The New York Times, Perry's schedule of commuting from New Orleans to New York City for each broadcast will be similar to, but less frequent than, fellow MSNBC personality Lawrence O'Donnell's weekly commute from Los Angeles to New York City for daily broadcasts of The Last Word.[16]

Bibliography

  • Harris-Lacewell, Melissa Victoria (2004). Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought (First ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-11405-7.

References

  1. ^ a b c Dougherty, Conor (January 10, 2011). "South Draws U.S. Blacks: Shift by African-Americans to Faster-Growing States Reflects a Broader Trend". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 19, 2011. Melissa Harris-Perry, 37 years old
  2. ^ a b c "About Melissa Harris-Perry". MelissaHarrisPerry.com. 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  3. ^ a b c Levin, Anne (October 10, 2007). "From House to Home". U.S. 1 Newspaper. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c Williams, Michael Paul (February 6, 2011). "Chesterfield native, now MSNBC commentator, speaking at VCU". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved June 19, 2011.
  5. ^ Melissa Harris-Perry (2011-05), Elena Rossini (ed.), "Mother's Day Special: Melissa Harris-Perry", No Country For Young Women, retrieved 2012-02-16 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Peter Montgomery (2011-05-31), "Melissa Harris-Perry: LGBT Advocates Need Public Progressive Faith", Religion Dispatches
  7. ^ Jamal Eric Watson (2011-02-28), "Melissa Harris-Perry Leaving Princeton to Lead Race Center at Tulane", Diverse Issues in Higher Education, retrieved 2012-02-16
  8. ^ Eve Richer, Elena Rossini (ed.), "Melissa, Professor and Writer", No Country For Young Women, retrieved 2012-02-16
  9. ^ Gloria Steinem and Melissa Harris-Lacewell (January 14, 2008). "Race and Gender in Presidential Politics" (video/audio/transcript) (Interview). Interviewed by Amy Goodman. Retrieved April 8, 2011. {{cite interview}}: Unknown parameter |program= ignored (help)
  10. ^ "Faith and Reason: Race, Justice, and American Political Life".
  11. ^ Plump, Wendy (February 12, 2012). "Princeton Center for African American Studies loses two high-profile figures, but gains renewed sense of purpose". The Times of Trenton. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Melissa Harris-Lacewell". NNDB. 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  13. ^ Melissa Locker (August 30, 2012). "MSNBC Anchor Melissa Harris-Perry's Home Destroyed By Hurricane Isaac". Time Newsfeed.
  14. ^ Harris-Perry, Melissa (2011). "Sister Citizen". The Nation. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  15. ^ Tommy Christopher (2012-01-05). "Melissa Harris-Perry To Host MSNBC Weekend Show Starting In February". Mediaite. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
  16. ^ Brian Stelter (January 5, 2012). "MSNBC Adding Another Political Talk Show on Weekends". The New York Times.

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