The Context of White Supremacy hosts the second installment on
Ta-Nehisi Coates revered publication,
Between The World And Me. This 2015 text won the
National Book Award for nonfiction and made
President Obama’s summer reading list. In addition to the cacophony of accolades, Coates also nabbed a 2015 MacArthur Genius Award and continues to inspire commentary for his 2014 essay on
reparations. Coates’ work was published early in response to Dylann Roof’s Terrorist attack in South Carolina. Our first session displayed Coates comprehensive grasp of the legacy of White Supremacy. He offered intimate details on his black childhood and formative years at Howard University. Coates describes this text as a letter to his fifteen-year-old son. Nothing about the first portion of this text seems designed for black adolescent readers. In fact, the book begins with Coates lamenting a White woman’s inability to relate to black suffering. We’ll be sure to include the works of Richard Wright and Minister Malcolm X.