When Barack Obama became the nation's first black president, some Americans argued that the United States had ushered in a "post-racial" period.

But Michele Norris, co-host of NPR's All Things Considered, felt that there were still many important conversations to be had about race in America. So she set out to write a book that would bring to light the feelings many Americans are still afraid to say aloud.

Norris never expected that she would uncover difficult secrets in her own family. Her father, Belvin Norris Jr., had been shot by a white police officer in Jim Crow Alabama -- and kept it a secret.

In researching her memoir, The Grace of Silence, Norris discovered family revelations that changed the course of her book -- and her life.

Norris joins NPR's Neal Conan to discuss her memoir, The Grace of Silence, along with Jim Baggett, the archivist who helped Norris unlock her family's difficult past in Birmingham, Ala.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.