| Melissa Harris-Perry | |
|---|---|
| Born | Melissa Victoria Harris October 2, 1973 [1] Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Residence | New Orleans, Louisiana[1] |
| Other names | Melissa Harris-Lacewell |
| Education | Wake Forest University (B.A.) Duke University (Ph.D.) |
| Occupation | professor, author |
| Spouse | Dennis Lacewell (1999–2005) James Perry (2010–present) |
| Children | one daughter |
| Website | |
| melissaharrisperry.com | |
Melissa Victoria Harris-Perry (born October 2, 1973; formerly known as Melissa Harris-Lacewell)[1] is an American author and political commentator with a focus on African-American politics.
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]
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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. She was the youngest of five children of a black father, William M. Harris Sr., the dean of Afro-American affairs at the University of Virginia, and a white mother, Diana Gray, who taught at a community college and worked for nonprofits that helped poor communities.[3][4] “I’ve never thought of myself as biracial,” Harris-Perry says. “I’m black.”[5]
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]
Harris-Perry is the author of Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought[6] 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.
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.[7]
She was married to Dennis Lacewell from 1999 to 2005, with whom she has a daughter.[5][8] She currently lives in New Orleans and is married to James Perry,[2] who was a 2010 candidate for mayor in New Orleans.[4]
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