Join us for a book talk highlighting Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity by Peabody Award–winning journalist Michele Norris. The author offers a transformative dialogue on race and identity in America, unearthed through her decade-long work at The Race Card Project. The prompt seemed simple: Race. Your Thoughts. Six Words. Please Send. The answers, though, have been challenging and complicated. In the twelve years since Norris first posed that question, over half a million people have submitted their stories to The Race Card Project inbox. The stories are shocking in their depth and candor, spanning the full spectrum of race, ethnicity, identity, and class. Our Hidden Conversations is a unique compilation of stories, richly reported essays, and photographs providing a window into America during a tumultuous era. This powerful book offers an honest, if sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about race and identity, permitting us to eavesdrop on deep-seated thoughts, private discussions, and long submerged memories. 

Norris will be joined in conversation by Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress. Signed books will be available courtesy of Smithsonian Enterprises.