Joseph Shapiro

Amid Dropping Test Scores, Teen Writers' Creativity Soars

Joseph Shapiro and Eva Shapiro — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:39:00 +0000

NPR correspondent Joseph Shapiro and his daughter Eva spent the weekend at the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Eva, 15, won the "Best in Grade" award, one of two for ninth-grade writers, for a short story. She takes writing classes with Writopia Lab in Washington, D.C.

To hear recent news reports, you'd wonder if there's a teen left in America who can write a coherent sentence.

Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases

Joseph Shapiro — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:13:00 +0000

Six years ago, the FBI took on a challenge: To review what it called cold-case killings from the civil rights era. The investigation into 112 cases from the 1950s and 1960s is winding down, and civil rights activists are weighing the FBI's efforts.

The review comes with word this week of the death of a man who'd been named, by a newspaper investigation, as a possible suspect in one notorious case.

The Case

The investigation was of the death of Frank Morris, in Ferriday, La., in 1964.

Justice In The Segregated South: A New Look At An Old Killing

Joseph Shapiro — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:03:00 +0000

This story contains language that some may find offensive.

In the segregated South in 1965, John Queen was about as insignificant as a man could be. He was black, elderly and paralyzed. His legs had been crushed when as a boy he fell off a roof. For the rest of his life, he pulled himself around with his hands.

In Fayette, Miss., he would shine shoes on Main Street for a few coins. People called him "Crippled Johnny" or "Shoe-Shine Johnny."

"He didn't have legs, so he walked like a rabbit," says Lillie Lee Henderson, Queen's great-niece.

Law Targets Sexual Violence On College Campuses

Joseph Shapiro — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:38:00 +0000

When President Obama signs an updated version of the Violence Against Women Act on Thursday afternoon, the law will include new requirements for how colleges and universities handle allegations of sexual assault.

Laura Dunn, who's been invited by the White House to attend, plans to be there.

In 2010, Dunn told her story on Morning Edition: She believed her Wisconsin school failed to p

Koop Turned Surgeon General's Office Into Mighty Education Platform

Joseph Shapiro — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:53:00 +0000

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

C. Everett Koop was the most outspoken and some would argue the most influential of all U.S. surgeon generals. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The correct plural form of the word is surgeons general.] He wore the uniform throughout most of the 1980s, and he turned an office with little power into a mighty platform - to educate Americans about AIDS prevention and the dangers of smoking.

C. Everett Koop died today at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire. He was 96. NPR's Joseph Shapiro looks back on his career.

JOSEPH SHAPIRO, BYLINE: When C.