February is a mixed month. While the cold and snow continue to buffet us from the north, the sun hangs in the sky a little longer each day, reminding us that the winter is nearly done. A groundhog is hoisted above crowds as a clairvoyant of springtime. Valentine’s Day shows up halfway through to pelt us with chalky hearts and assorted chocolates no one eats (why does someone ALWAYS bring the awful coconut ones to work??). Through this mixed bag of a month, we get something else both wonderful and complicated: Black History Month.

Black History Month is a month to celebrate the black innovators throughout US history. It’s time to commemorate the black folks who helped build our country, who helped advance our culture and our spirit. Most of all, it is a time for black people across the nation to celebrate who they are, who their families are, and their personal histories. What complicates things is how much of that history has been gutted.

The history of black people in America has been systematically erased and, by whole generations, forgotten. The history lessons we sit through in school mention black people a total of three times: during the founding of America and the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade; the Civil War; and the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s. All the long years between are left blank, rarely called upon and often glossed over. Black History Month is a time to delve into the history that you don’t know, question the narratives you were taught, think critically about the information that was never given to you in school. It can be hard- wrestling with a grim past is always hard- but it is essential work if we are to create more equal communities.

I wanted to be sure I picked a book for this month that reflected that struggle. During the summer of 2020, when the world rose against the police brutality towards people of color, several Anti-Racist Reading Lists popped up. Some were better than others- I waited for the reviews before I wrote any down and put several on my To Be Read list. I revisited that list when picking books for this blog, deciding to compare reviews, trying to find one that spoke to me. I hit on Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a book written in the aftermath of the Ferguson protests, framed as a letter to his fifteen-year-old son.

I picked this book for two reasons: One, it’s received rave reviews and even an endorsement from Toni Morrison (we just talked about her last week in the spoiler section!); Two, the premise spoke to me personally. Growing up in white suburbia, I’d always thought racism had ended in the Civil Rights Era. The proliferation of videos and images that flooded the internet during the Ferguson protests made me step back and reconsider what I’d been taught. Years of reading, questioning, and listening has brought me to a better understanding of the systemic racism that pervades our society. To find a book written from a father to his son, someone of my generation, during the aftermath of my own wake-up call seemed fitting.

I had never heard of Coates before landing on this book. I decided to do a little digging, as I always do, and found his blog and some of his articles for the Atlantic. I read “The Case for Reparations” and found him speaking once more on something close to home: the history of redlining in Chicago. I spent the afternoon immersed in the article, searching up history I’d never heard of, looking up maps of the city. If this article is anything to judge by, Coates is a wonderful writer, able to keep several narrative threads going at once, tying the ends together as they reach their conclusions. It’s good to keep in mind that “The Case for Reparations” is an article for a newspaper, though, and not a book- I do not expect a history lesson in Between the World and Me and I would be surprised if the voice is the same. The little I read of his blog might be a better indicator. His word choice is careful, intentional- he very rarely uses a word without considering its significant emotional weight. I’ll leave a link to both “The Case for Reparations” and his blog at the end of this post (I could only find it on Goodreads. I’m not sure an outside link or site exists.)

As we dive into this book, it’s important to have background. I’m not sure exactly what Between the World and Me will cover so I feel it’s prudent to leave some sort of accessible reference for the big moments in Black History we might not have been taught in school. One source I’ve enjoyed has been Crash Course Black American History, hosted by Clint Smith (another author I considered for this month). The videos are only twelve to fifteen minutes long and none of them require the previous videos for context. If you want to jump to the Harlem Renaissance and then backward to Ida B. Wells, you can! It’s a well-put-together series and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to expand their view of American history.

It is a shorter book, which I felt appropriate for the one month of the year we only get twenty-eight days. If you’d like to read along, the Book of the Month tab at the top of this page has several links on where to buy it, or you can find it at your local library or library app. I look forward to reflecting on this book at the end of the month with you all. Until then, happy reading!

Further reading: 
The Atlantic, "The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates' Goodreads Blog
Crash Course Black American History, hosted by Clint Smith