Melissa V. Harris-Perry is host of MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry." The show airs on Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM to noon ET. Harris-Perry is also professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. She previously served on the faculties of the University of Chicago and Princeton University.

Harris-Perry is author of the well received book, Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America (Yale 2011) which argues that persistent harmful stereotypes-invisible to many but painfully familiar to black women-profoundly shape black women's politics, contribute to policies that treat them unfairly, and make it difficult for black women to assert their rights in the political arena.

Her academic research is inspired by a desire to investigate the challenges facing contemporary black Americans and to better understand the multiple, creative ways that African Americans respond to these challenges. Her work is published in scholarly journals and edited volumes and her interests include the study of African American political thought, black religious ideas and practice, and social and clinical psychology.

Professor Harris-Perry received her B.A. in English from Wake Forest University, her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Meadville Lombard Theological School.

Sponsors include:

• Office of Institute Diversity
• African American Student Union
• Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts
• The Nunn School of International Affairs
• The School of Modern Languages
• The School of Literature, Media and Communication
• The School of History, Technology and Society
• Xi Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority