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 known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

politics. Harris-Perry hosted the '' Melissa Harris-Perry'' weekend news on

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

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 the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and grew up in Chesterfield County, Virginia, one of the counties adjoining the independent city of

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, where she attended Thomas Dale High School. Her father was the first dean of African-American Affairs at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. 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 (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The R ...

with a

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

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 (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

. 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 hon ...

from

Meadville Lombard Theological School The Meadville Lombard Theological School is a Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago, Illinois. History Meadville Lombard is a result of a merger in the 1930s between two institutions, a American Unitarian Associatio ...

, 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 ...

in theology at Union Theological Seminary of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Career

Harris-Perry joined the

faculty of the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

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

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

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 (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and

African-American Studies Black studies or Africana studies (with nationally specific terms, such as African American studies and Black Canadian studies), is an interdisciplinary academic field that primarily focuses on the study of the history, culture, and politics of ...

. Harris-Perry left Princeton in 2011 after being denied a full professorship for

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

, 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, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credi ...

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 a progressive American monthly 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 ...

'', 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 weekend morning news

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 businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

'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 as editor-at-large. 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 ''The Takeaway'' was a weekday radio news program co-created and co-produced by Public Radio International and WNYC. Its editorial partner was GBH; at launch the BBC World Service and ''The New York Times'' were also editorial partners. In a ...

'' following the departure of the show's previous host, Tanzina Vega. She was later announced as the permanent host and managing editor on October 18, 2021. In March 2023, Perry announced

WNYC WNYC is an audio service brand, under the control of New York Public Radio, a non-profit organization. Radio and other audio programming is primarily provided by a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations: WNYC (AM) and WNYC- ...

's decision to abruptly cancel the show effective June 2 of that year, criticizing management of WNYC publicly on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Personal life

In 2008 she underwent a hysterectomy due to

uterine fibroids Uterine fibroids, also known as uterine leiomyomas, fibromyoma or fibroids, are leiomyoma, benign smooth muscle tumors of the uterus, part of the female reproductive system. Most people with fibroids have no symptoms while others may have dysm ...

. In 2010 she married attorney James Perry. He is the CEO of the Winston-Salem Urban League. On February 14, 2014, their daughter was born via surrogate. She is Harris-Perry's second child. In April 2015, the '' Winston-Salem Journal'' reported that the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

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 i ...

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 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers American political commentators American women political scientists American political scientists American social sciences writers American Unitarian Universalists Critical race theorists Duke University alumni MSNBC people The Nation (U.S. magazine) people Writers from Charlottesville, Virginia Princeton University faculty Tulane University faculty Union Theological Seminary alumni University of Chicago faculty Wake Forest University alumni Wake Forest University faculty The Century Foundation Political science educators 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists