Melissa Harris-Perry

Melissa Victoria Harris was born in Seattle and raised in Virginia, where her father was Dean of Afro-American Affairs at the University of Virginia. She received an English degree from Wake Forest University, where she studied under poet and activist Maya Angelou, and a Master's degree in political science from Duke University. In 2006, Harris (then going by the name Melissa Harris-Lacewell) published her first book, Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, a study of the role of local community ties in African-American political life. While teaching at Princeton from 2006 to 2010, Harris-Lacewell became a frequent guest on the left-leaning news and opinion channel MSNBC, particularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" (MSNBC 2003-2011) and "The Rachel Maddow Show" (MSNBC 2008-). As she grew more comfortable in her on-camera role, Harris-Perry (who changed her name in 2010 following her second marriage, to New Orleans housing activist and politician James Perry) began substitute hosting for Maddow and fellow MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell. In February 2012, MSNBC debuted a two-hour weekend news discussion show called "Melissa Harris-Perry." Lengthy, in-depth socio-political discussions quickly became the show's trademark, so much that Harris-Perry soon affectionately dubbed her growing Twitter following "Nerdland" and began tweeting links to the articles that would be discussed on upcoming shows so that viewers could read them before watching.