63 pages • 2 hours read
Ta-Nehisi CoatesBetween the World and Me
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Thought & Response Prompts
These prompts can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before or after reading the book.
Post-Reading Analysis
Prince Jones represents a particular tragedy that Coates is trying to unpack in his book: Many argue that Black excellence is a pathway to liberation from the fear of violence that Black people live under in America, yet Jones was killed by the PG County police despite his mother’s and his own success. What does this mean with regard to Coates’ message to his son, and how does he grapple with this in the book?
Teaching Suggestion: The notion that celebrations of Black excellence is a positive trend is fraught in many ways. Getting students to consider the ways being exceptional does and does not provide advantages will help them see the impossible situation Coates outlines for his son.
- When Will Black People Have the Freedom to Just Be Average by Jada Gomez – This piece unpacks recent examples of Black excellence as an ideology and how they can do more harm than good
- Is Black Excellence Killing Us? By Steven Underwood – This essence op-ed helps outline the roots of Black excellence and its inherent problems as a worldview
Related Titles
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
