NPR's Michele Norris speaks in Carroll Hall

Michele Norris, co-host of NPR's All Things Considered spoke in  Carroll Hall on Monday, Dec. 6. She also signed copies of her memoir "The Grace of Silence."

Norris served as a correspondent for ABC News, and has reported for the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times on education, poverty, and numerous other social issues. She is a frequent guest on NBC's Meet the Press and The Chris Matthews Show. And her voice is heard by millions every weekday as co-host of NPR's All Things Considered.

Last year Norris was named "Journalist of the Year" by the National Association of Black Journalists. NABJ recognized her for her body of work and particularly for her coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign, during which she covered both conventions, anchored multi-hour debates, election and inauguration live broadcasts, and, with Steve Inskeep, moderated a series of frank conversations with voters on the intersection of race and politics.

It was that award-winning series, "The York Project: Race and the 2008 Vote," which planted the seed for "The Grace of Silence." Originally intending to write a book that continued those discussions, Norris found herself unexpectedly confronting hard truths about her own family's racial history that had been left unsaid by her parents - from her father's shooting by the Birmingham police within weeks of his discharge from service in World War II to her grandmother's work as an itinerant Aunt Jemima peddling pancake mix.

This event was sponsored by the Bull's Head Bookshop, located in the UNC Student Stores on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.