1. Who is coates?

2. The literary canon
“refers to a body of books, narratives and other texts considered to be the most important and influential of a particular time period or place” 

3. Widely use books when we talk about race and class…
Black like me (1961)
Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)

4. “Between the World and Me”
Published in 2015
Written as a letter in three parts to his teenage son, Samori
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction
Winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction
Title is taken from “Between the World and Me” by Richard Wright—published in 1935

5. So we’re using Te-nehesi Coates…

6. Coates’ view...
“Part of what distinguishes Coates is that he is not interested in uplift…that if you strip away the talk of hope and dreams and faith and progress, what you see are enduring structures of white supremacy and no great reason to conclude that the future will be better than the past.” “That’s the thing that linked Martin Luther King and Malcolm X,” Coates said. “People say Malcolm was a pessimist. He was a pessimist about America. But he was actually very optimistic. Malcolm very much believed in the dream of nationalism. He believed we could do it. And Martin believed in the dream of integration. He believed that black people could be successful if they did x, y, and z.” Coates did not share that optimism: African-Americans are a minority in America, and he sees limits to what they can control. “I suspect they were both wrong. I suspect that it’s not up to us” (Wallace-Wells).

7. Further reading by Coates (some books and articles)
“The First White President”
The Beautiful Struggle
We Were Eight Years in Power
“Civil Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular”

8. This gem:“5 Books to make you less stupid about the civil war”
On Monday, the retired four-star general and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly asserted that “the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War.” This was an incredibly stupid thing to say. Worse, it built on a long tradition of endorsing stupidity in hopes of making Americans stupid about their own history. Stupid enjoys an unfortunate place in the highest ranks of American government these days. And while one cannot immediately affect this fact, one can choose to not hear stupid things and quietly nod along.
For the past 50 years, some of this country’s most celebrated historians have taken up the task of making Americans less stupid about the Civil War…I do not contend that this improved history has solved everything. But it is a ray of light cutting through the gloom of stupid. You should run to that light. Embrace it. Bathe in it. Become it.
Okay, maybe that’s too far. Let’s start with just being less stupid.

9. Let’s read Today’s goal: Pages 1-41
REMINDER: Critical Response #4 to Letter from Birmingham due 2/2