Debbie Elliott
NPR National Correspondent Debbie Elliott can be heard telling stories from her native South. She covers the latest news and politics, and is attuned to the region's rich culture and history.
For more than two decades, Elliott has been one of NPR's top breaking news reporters. She's covered dozens of natural disasters – including hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Harvey. She reported on the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, introducing NPR listeners to teenage boys orphaned in the disaster, struggling to survive on their own.
Elliott spent months covering the nation's worst man-made environmental disaster, the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, documenting its lingering impact on Gulf coast communities and the complex legal battles that ensued. She launched the series "The Disappearing Coast," which examines the oil spill's lasting imprint on a fragile coastline.
She was honored with a 2018 Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation for crisis coverage, in part for her work covering the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the mass murder of worshippers at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. She was part of NPR's teams covering the mass shootings at Charleston's Emanuel AME Church and the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
Elliott has followed national debates over immigration, healthcare, abortion, tobacco, voting rights, welfare reform, same-sex marriage, Confederate monuments, criminal justice and policing in America. She examined the obesity epidemic in Mississippi, a shortage of public defenders in Louisiana, a rise in the incarceration of girls in Florida and chronic inhumane conditions at state prisons in Alabama and Mississippi.
A particular focus for Elliott has been exploring how Americans live through the prism of race, culture and history. Her coverage links lessons from the past to the movement for racial justice in America today.
She's looked at the legacy of landmark civil rights events, including the integration of Little Rock's Central High, the assassination of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers, the Montgomery bus boycott and the voting rights march in Selma, Alabama. She contributed a four-part series on the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, which earned a 2019 Gracie Award for documentary.
She was present for the re-opening of civil rights era murder cases, covering trials in the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham, the murder of Hattiesburg, Miss., NAACP leader Vernon Dahmer and the killings of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Miss.
Elliott has profiled key figures in politics and the arts, including former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, historian John Hope Franklin, Congressman John Lewis, children's book author Eric Carle, musician Trombone Shorty and former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. She covered the funerals of the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, and the King of the Blues BB King, and she took listeners along for the second line jazz procession in memory of Fats Domino in New Orleans.
Her stories give a taste of southern culture, from the Nashville hot chicken craze to the traditions of Mardi Gras to the roots of American music at Mississippi's new Grammy Museum. She's highlighted little-known treasures such as North Carolina artist Freeman Vines and his hanging tree guitars, the magical House of Dance and Feathers in New Orleans' Lower 9th ward, a remote Coon Dog Cemetery in north Alabama and the Cajun Christmas tradition of lighting bonfires on the levees of the Mississippi River.
Elliott is a former host of NPR's newsmagazine All Things Considered on the weekends, and is a former Capitol Hill Correspondent. She's an occasional guest host of NPR's news programs and is a contributor to podcasts and live programming.
Elliott was born in Atlanta, grew up in the Memphis area, and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. She lives in south Alabama with her husband, two children and a pet beagle.
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Testimony began in the trial of three white men accused of murdering Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery. The men allegedly thought Arbery was involved in recent break-ins and chased him down in pickup trucks.
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Jurors will decide whether three white men murdered Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia last year. Evidence in the racially charged case will be heard by 11 white people and one Black man.
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Marvin Weeks memorialized Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was killed in Georgia last year, in a mural. Weeks' latest work delves into the history of race relations in Brunswick, Ga.
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Marvin Weeks memorialized Ahmaud Arbery in a mural after he was killed while jogging in 2020. His latest work delves into Brunswick, Georgia's history with a focus on race relations.
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What does the law make of a chase that's shown on video, followed by the death of a man? Jury selection has begun in Georgia in the trial of three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery.
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Jury selection got underway in the trial of the three white men who are charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man who was killed as he jogged through a Georgia neighborhood.
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Trial starts Monday in Georgia in a killing that sparked racial justice protests. Three white men are accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man shot while jogging down a residential street.
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Houma, Louisiana is struggling to recover after Hurricane Ida hit the area almost a week ago. Most residents are worried because their community doesn't get the same attention that New Orleans does.
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Authorities in Louisiana are scrambling to evacuate the most vulnerable people out of life-threatening conditions left by Hurricane Ida. They're being taken to places with power, water and food.
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Following Hurricane Ida's powerful strike on Louisiana, the state is struggling to cope with the aftermath. Power is out for a million homes and businesses, food and fuel are both in short supply.
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Now that the federal government has approved the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, will that be enough to sway those who have resisted getting the shot?
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The Taliban are edging closer to the Afghan capital of Kabul. NPR's Debbie Elliott speaks with Afghan reporter Bilal Sarwary about the situation on the ground.