Melissa Victoria Harris-Perry (born October 2, 1973), formerly known as Melissa Victoria Harris-Lacewell, is an American writer, professor, television host, and political commentator with a focus on

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

politics. Harris-Perry hosted the '' Melissa Harris-Perry'' weekend news and opinion television show on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

from 2012 to February 27, 2016.

Early life

Harris-Perry was born to a white mother and black father. She was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

and grew up in

Chesterfield County, Virginia Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court Ho ...

, one of the counties adjoining the independent city of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, where she attended

Thomas Dale High School Thomas Dale High School is a public high school located in Chester, an unincorporated community in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. It was named for Sir Thomas Dale, a 17th-century leader in the Virginia Colony. The high school is ...

. Her father was the first dean of African-American Affairs at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. Harris-Perry's mother, Diana Gray, taught at a community college and was working on her doctorate when they met. She worked for non-profit organizations that provided services such as day-care centers, health care for people in rural communities, and access to reproductive care for poor women. Harris-Perry graduated from

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in English and earned a PhD in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

. She received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from Meadville Lombard Theological School, and is studying toward a

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and di ...

in theology at Union Theological Seminary of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

Harris-Perry joined the

faculty of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

in 1999 and taught there for seven years, until 2006, when she accepted a tenured appointment at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

as an Associate Professor of

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

and African-American Studies. Harris-Perry left Princeton in 2011 after being denied a full professorship for

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

, where she was Founding Director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project, a center for the study of race, gender, and politics in the South. On July 1, 2014, Harris-Perry returned to Wake Forest as the

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

Presidential Chair Professor of Politics and International Affairs. The Anna Julia Cooper Project is now resident at Wake Forest. She is a regular columnist for the magazine ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', the co-host of the magazine’s podcast System Check with Dorian Warren, and the author of two books (one published under the name Melissa Victoria Harris-Lacewell).

MSNBC television series

On February 18, 2012 Harris-Perry began hosting an

weekend morning show titled ''Melissa Harris-Perry''. In early 2013, Harris-Perry was criticized by some political commentators for statements she made on her program related to collective parenting. On December 31, 2013, she apologized for a "photos of the year" segment on December 28, 2013, that included jokes about a family picture featuring former Republican presidential candidate

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts ...

's family, including his adopted Black grandson.

Departure

On February 26, 2016, Harris-Perry sent an email to co-workers that she would not host her show on MSNBC for the coming weekend, stating: "Our show was taken—without comment or discussion or notice—in the midst of an election season ..I will not be used as a tool for anagement'spurposes ..I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head." Her show was scheduled to air as usual on Saturday, but Harris-Perry chose not to return, saying: "I am only willing to return when that return happens under certain terms." She said she would only return when she could do "substantive, meaningful and autonomous work." NBC responded that "many of our daytime programs have been temporarily upended by breaking political coverage, including M.H.P." The public dispute led to discussions between the network and her representatives about ending her relationship with MSNBC. On February 28, 2016, the network confirmed that Harris-Perry was leaving the network.

ELLE.com editor-at-large

On April 18, 2016, it was announced that Harris-Perry joined

Elle.com ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the wo ...

editor-at-large An editor-at-large is a journalist who contributes content to a publication. Sometimes such an editor is called a roving reporter or roving editor. Unlike an editor who works on a publication from day to day and is hands-on, an editor-at-large co ...

. In the role, Harris-Perry is stated to focus on areas of race, gender, politics, and fashion, "telling the often-overlooked stories of women and girls of color".

''The Takeaway''

On July 23, 2021, Harris-Perry was named as interim host of '' The Takeaway'' following the departure of the show's previous host,

Tanzina Vega Tanzina Vega is an American journalist. After reporting for the ''New York Times'' and CNN, she served as the weekday host of ''The Takeaway'', a public radio show broadcast, until July 2021. Background, education and early career Vega was born i ...

. She was later announced as the permanent host and managing editor on October 18, 2021.

Personal life

In 2008 she underwent a hysterectomy due to

uterine fibroids Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine leiomyomas or fibroids, are benign smooth muscle tumors of the uterus. Most women with fibroids have no symptoms while others may have painful or heavy periods. If large enough, they may push on the bl ...

. In 2010 she married attorney James Perry. He is the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

Urban League. On 14 February 2014, their daughter was born via gestational carrier. She is Harris-Perry’s second child. In April 2015, the ''

Winston-Salem Journal The ''Winston-Salem Journal'' is an American, English language daily newspaper primarily serving Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also covers Northwestern North Carolina. The paper is owned by Lee Enterprises. ''The Journa ...

'' reported that the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

had placed a

tax lien A tax lien is a lien which is imposed upon a property by law in order to secure the payment of taxes. A tax lien may be imposed for the purpose of collecting delinquent taxes which are owed on real property or personal property, or it may be ...

on the property of Harris-Perry and her husband for about $70,000 in delinquent taxes. Harris-Perry said she and her husband paid $21,721 on April 15, 2015, and have a payment plan with the IRS.

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

WebsiteColumn archive
at ''

''
''Melissa Harris-Perry'' on MSNBC
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris-Perry, Melissa 1973 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century Unitarians 21st-century American women writers Black studies scholars African-American television hosts African-American women journalists African-American journalists African-American women writers African-American writers American political commentators American women political scientists American political scientists American social sciences writers American Unitarian Universalists Critical theorists Critical race theory Duke University alumni MSNBC people The Nation (U.S. magazine) people Writers from Charlottesville, Virginia Princeton University faculty Tulane University faculty Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni Unitarian Universalists University of Chicago faculty Wake Forest University alumni Wake Forest University faculty The Century Foundation Political science educators