Melissa Harris-Lacewell is Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University.

She is the author of the award-winning book, BARBERSHOPS, BIBLES, AND BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, (Princeton, 2004). And she is currently at work on a new book: Sister Citizen: A Text For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough.

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 academic research has been published in scholarly journals and edited volumes and her writings have been published in newspapers throughout the country.

She has provided expert commentary on U.S. elections, racial issues, religious questions and gender issues for many television, radio and print sources both in the United States and around the world. She was a regular contributor on NPR, theroot.com, and she keeps a political web log titled The Kitchen Table.

Professor Harris-Lacewell 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. She is currently a student at Union Theological Seminary in New York. She is the mother of a terrific daughter, Parker Lacewell.