Between The World And Me Sparknotes

Ta-Nehisi Coates’, Between The World And Me is a book directed to Ta-Nehisi’s son, Samori Coates. Between The World And Me illuminates the struggles that African-Americans have faced and are continuing to face today. The book highlights what it means to be and how to live as a black person in America, a country that has not only perpetuated the hardships of African-Americans, but has also benefited from them. From the era of slavery to the misguided ideals of the “American Dream,” African-Americans as well as the hardships they face, have continued to be looked over and bypassed.

To start off, ever since the era of slavery, blacks have been fighting against numerous displays of white supremacy. Although African-Americans were considered to be “free” once out of the shackles of slavery, they were immediately shackled by a corrupt system of oppression, thus, disabling them from true freedom. During the Reconstruction era, for instance, African-Americans were plagued by black codes, specifically “Jim Crow” laws, and disfranchisement. Additionally, these examples only show direct government involvement. During this time, African-Americans lived in immense fear do to the extreme forms of brutality derived from the white community.
To elaborate, slavery was undoubtedly the most profitable industry in the formation of what is considered to be the “American Dream.” Without the aid of slavery, America would not have succeeded in the production of cotton, steel, railroads, coal, etc. In other words, America’s past success is owed mainly to slavery, and that past success paved the way for America today, an America where African-Americans have the highest rate of incarceration and poverty. “The concentration of poverty has been paired with the concentration of melanin”