NY Public Library: The Future of (US) Black History

"Ta-Nehisi Coates, Toni Morrison, Jay-Z, and Zadie Smith are just a few among the black authors and creators we'll hear from this week. In our 100th episode, we present the men and women making black history today, from music moguls to authors, chefs to television stars. Please join us for a look at of some of the most incredible guests The New York Public Library and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture have had the privilege to host."

In order of appearance:
Marcus Samuelsson
Ntozake Shange
Charles Blow
Tavis Smiley
George Clinton (with Paul Holdengraber)
Shaquille O'Neal
Timbaland (with William Jelani Cobb)
Ta-Nehisi Coates (with Khalil Gibran Muhammad)
RuPaul
Toni Morrison & Angela Davis
Zadie Smith & Chimamanda Adichie
Jay-Z (with Cornel West)
Jesmyn Ward (with William Jelani Cobb & Khalil Gibran Muhammad)
Toni Morrison
Zadie Smith

Longform Podcast #168: Ta-Nehisi Coates

http://longform.org/posts/longform-podcast-168-ta-nehisi-coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. His latest book, Between the World and Me, just won the National Book Award.

“When I first came to New York, I couldn't see any of this. I felt like a complete washout. I was in my little apartment, eating donuts and playing video games. The only thing I was doing good with my life was being a father and a husband. That was it. David [Carr] was a big shot. And he would call me in, just out of the blue, to have lunch. I was so low at that point. ... He said, ​I think you're a great bet. ... He was remembering people who had invested in him when he was low. That more than anything is why I'm sad he's not here for all of this. Because it's for him. It's to say to him, ​you were right​.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates at the NY Public Library

View high resolution 

nypl:

Although “The Case for Reparations” is, perhaps, Coates’ most influential work of journalism, he found himself dissatisfied with the piece after its publication. This dissatisfaction, in part, led him to write a more personal text in the form of Between the World and Me:

“I felt like a number of historians had done the work of outlining the racism implicit in New Deal policies and twentieth century policies because the weakness with reparation is always people look at you and say, ‘Well, the slaves are long dead.’ But there are plenty of people around right now who were certainly affected by New Deal policies, so I pulled from the history and made that argument. But when I was done, I was somewhat displeased because I felt like the article did not explain how it felt to live your daily life under a system of plunder, under a system of theft. How does it individually feel to live that way? That was the main challenge for Between the World and Me.”

Listen to Ta-Nehisi Coates on the latest NYPL podcast.