We are pleased to announce that this issue marks the debut of Melissa Harris-Lacewell’s column, “Sister Citizen.” An associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, Harris-Lacewell has contributed to the Nation blog The Notion for the past year, taking on such topics as the tea party protests, Obama’s Nobel Prize, racial profiling, the death of Michael Jackson and healthcare reform. She is the author of the award-winning book Barbershops, Bibles and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought, and in 2009 she became the youngest scholar to deliver the W.E.B. Du Bois Lectures at Harvard University.

Harris-Lacewell’s column shares its title with her forthcoming book, Sister Citizen: A Text for Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn’t Enough, and will explore the changing meanings of race, gender, faith and citizenship in the twenty-first century. Readers may be familiar with Harris-Lacewell from her frequent appearances on The Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown With Keith Olbermann, where she brings her lively and dynamic teaching style to millions of viewers. Harris-Lacewell has a BA in English from Wake Forest University, a PhD in political science from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She is a student at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Her column will appear monthly.