Reading Race

Reading Race: Community Conversations

Participants of Reading Race 2018-19 discussed Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book We Were Eight Years in Power, which examines challenging yet critical topics such as mass incarceration, reparations, segregation and systemic racism. We Were Eight Years in Power brings together a selection of Coates' essays published in The Atlantic during Obama's presidency, from 2008 through January 2017. The book is available at the library, and the essays in their original version are available online and linked below.

Reading Race 2018-19 Schedule

Monday, January 15

Epilogue - "The First White President." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-first-white-president-ta-nehisi-coates/537909/

Thursday, March 8

Chapter 1 - "This is How We Lost to the White Man." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/05/-this-is-how-we-lost-to-the-white-man/306774/

Chapter 2 - "American Girl." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/01/american-girl/307211/

Thursday, May 10

Chapter 3 - "Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?" Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/02/why-do-so-few-blacks-study-the-civil-war/308831/

Chapter 4 - "The Legacy of Malcolm X." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/05/the-legacy-of-malcolm-x/308438/

Thursday, July 12

Chapter 5 - "Fear of a Black President." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/fear-of-a-black-president/309064/

Thursday, September 13

Chapter 6 - "The Case for Reparations." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Thursday, November 8

Chapter 7 - "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-black-family-in-the-age-of-mass-incarceration/403246/

Monday, January 21, 2019 

Chapter 8 - "My President was Black." Available online here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/my-president-was-black/508793/

Reading Race 2018-19 was a collaboration between Shorewood Public Library, the Shorewood School District and the YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin.

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