We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

Coates contends that Michelle Obama’s life story and her ability to represent a new Black identity were crucial to Barack Obama’s successful run for the presidency. What makes her life story unique, and how does her approach to Black self-representation differ from other models?

Coates believes that the historical myths have obscured the true nature of the history of the Civil War and America itself. What are the dominant myths about the country and the war? Are these myths still dominant today? Include contemporary examples of these myths in your discussion.

Discuss the significance of Black self-fashioning in the lives and careers of Malcolm X and Barack Obama. Do you agree with Coates’s argument that Obama is the political descendant of Malcolm X? Why or why not?

Coates contends that Barack Obama’s unwillingness to attack White supremacy directly hampered his political agenda. What evidence does Coates use to support his critique of Obama? Do you find his argument convincing? Why or why not? 

In “Notes from the Fourth Year,” Coates contends that “America is literally unimaginable without plundered labor shackled to plundered land, without the organizing principle of whiteness as citizenship, without the culture crafted by the plundered, and without that culture itself being plundered” (85). What does he mean by “plunder,” and how does he believe America should address this plunder?

Describe Coates’s aesthetic. What is the role of the Black artist and writer? Who is his or her audience? What influences shaped Coates as an artist? Use evidence from at least three of the essays to support your discussion.

What is the carceral state, according to Coates? What impact has it had on the Black family and the status of Black people in America?

Coates uses the eight years of the Obama presidency as a frame for his collection of essays. What is his rationale for this organizing principle? How does Coates’s perspective on Obama change over the course of the years/essays?