The Beautiful Struggle

Following a map of old Baltimore—annotated with the events of Coates’s life—and a family tree, Ta-Nehisi Coates begins his first chapter with a vivid description of “them”—a Baltimore crew who “had no eyes” (1). Coates is “spaced out as usual” (2), so he doesn’t realize that they he and his brother Big Bill are walking into a street fight. He only notices once Big Bill is running, and the crew, named Murphy Homes for its neighborhood, turns to the younger Coates.

Baltimore then was full of factions, “segmented into crews who took their names from local civic associations” (2). Murphy Homes was the most mythical of the crews. Coates is punched by a “goblin” (3) and bolts, fleeing from the gang. He picks up a pay phone to call his father, who tells him to “stand next to an adult” (3).

Coates and his brother had gone out that night to see some wrestling. Coates describes their obsession with wrestling and with the grace and style “that made an eye gouge a ritual” (4). The boys’ father does not support this interest. Big Bill calls their father “the pope” (5) for his commitment to work and discipline.