Allison Keyes
Allison Keyes is an award-winning journalist with almost 20 years of experience in print, radio, and television. She has been reporting for NPR's national desk since October 2005. Her reports can be heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition Sunday.
Keyes coverage includes news and features on a wide variety of topics. "I've done everything from interviewing musician Dave Brubeck to profiling a group of kids in Harlem that are learning responsibility and getting educational opportunities from an Ice Hockey league, to hanging out with a group of black cowboys in Brooklyn who are keeping the tradition alive." Her reports include award-winning coverage of the Sept. 11 terror attacks in New York, coverage of the changes John Ashcroft sought in the Patriot Act, and the NAACP lawsuit against gun companies.
In 2002 Keyes joined NPR as a reporter and substitute host for The Tavis Smiley Show. She switched to News and Notes when it launched in January 2005. Keyes enjoyed the unique opportunity News & Notes gave her to cover events that affect communities of color on a national level. "Most news outlets only bother to cover crime and the predictable museum opening or occasional community protest," she said. "But people have a right to know what's going on and how it will affect them and their communities."
In addition to working with NPR, Keyes occasionally writes and produces segments for the ABC News shows Good Morning America and World News Tonight.
Keyes is familiar with public radio, having worked intermittently for NPR since 1995. She also spent a little less than a year hosting and covering City Hall and politics for WNYC Radio. Prior to that, she spent several years at WCBS Newsradio 880.
Keyes' eyewitness reports on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York earned her the Newswoman's Club of New York 2002 Front Page Award for Breaking News, and, along with WCBS Newsradio staff, the New York State Associated Press Broadcast Award for Breaking News and Continuing Coverage. Her report on the funeral of Patrick Dorismond earned her the National Association of Black Journalists' 2001 Radio News Award.
In addition to radio, Keyes has worked in cable television and print. She has reported for Black Enterprise Magazine, co-authored two African-American history books as well as the African American Heritage Perpetual Calendar, and has written profiles for various magazines and Internet news outlets in Chicago and New York.
Keyes got her start in radio at NPR member station WBEZ in Chicago, IL, in 1988 as an assistant news director, anchor, and reporter. She graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with a degree in English and journalism. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Inc. and the National Association of Black Journalists.
When not on the air, Keyes can be found singing jazz, listening to opera, or hanging out with her very, very large cat.
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HIV/AIDs has taken a disproportionate toll on the black community in Washington, D.C. Although the disease still faces a stigma in the faith community, pastors and advocates say things are much better than they were in the past.
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Massachusetts physician Jill Stein won her party's nomination for president of the United States in Baltimore on Saturday. Stein calls her platform the Green New Deal, and it promises a series of emergency reforms. -
Jenny Simpson, the 1500 meter women's world champion, is known to some as the American steeplechase queen. Simpson is doing a few last-minute training tweaks as she gets ready for her Olympic trials race on Thursday. She's hoping to represent the U.S. in London in an event that isn't typically dominated by American women.
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The reboot of the famous 1970s soap opera brings back many characters while also introducing the new generation of the Ewing family. It's a mix that TNT hopes will inspire the same passion as the original series, which had the whole country asking: "Who shot J.R.?" -
The father of funk has been in court, trying to reclaim ownership of songs like "Atomic Dog." -
American athlete Allyson Felix is still weighing which events she'll focus on in London this summer. She already has two Olympic silver medals plus a relay gold. Now she wants an individual gold. To get it, she'll have to beat her arch-rival: Jamaica's Veronica Campbell Brown. -
As the supernatural enjoys a pop culture resurgence — from vampires to fairy tales — there's also been a firestorm of fascination with dragons, who appear this year in two movies, a new book, video games and a Washington, D.C. museum exhibit. Allison Keyes explores the mystical creatures' appeal. -
The burning of Qurans by the U.S. military in Afghanistan has led to days of rioting by Muslims who say it was a desecration of their holy book and an affront to Islam. Many faiths prescribe specific rituals for disposing of their sacred texts. -
On Wednesday, President Obama and a number of special guests celebrated the groundbreaking for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The Smithsonian museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is expected to open in 2015.
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At the groundbreaking on the National Mall on Wednesday, President Obama said the newest Smithsonian museum has been "a long time coming" and will serve "not just as a record of tragedy, but as a celebration of life." The National Museum of African American History and Culture is expected to open in 2015.
