We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy is a collection of essays by Ta-Nehisi Coates, a regular contributor to The Atlantic and a commentator on matters of race, Black identity, and White supremacy. Published in 2017, the collection focuses on what accounts for America’s inability to escape its White supremacist past, the impact of the Obama presidency on American culture and the writer, and the enduring impact of slavery on the country; the collection ends with a meditation on the significance of the election of Donald Trump. This guide is based on the 2017 One World/Random House print edition.

The book comprises an Introduction, eight essays with introductory notes, and an Epilogue that Coates wrote after the election of Donald Trump in 2016. In the Introduction, “Regarding Good Negro Government,” Coates argues that the first era of good Black government was during the Reconstruction period rather than during the Obama presidency. White supremacists misrepresent these eras as ones rife with corruption and incompetence because good Black government undercuts White supremacist notions of inherent Black inferiority.

In Chapter 1, which comprises “Notes on the First Year” and “This Is How We Lost to the White Man,” Coates reflects on how poorly his career and personal life were going until Barack Obama ran for and won the presidency. The second essay is a critique of the Black conservatism of Bill Cosby. Chapter 2 includes “Notes from the Second Year” and “American Girl.” In the note, Coates describes his hopefulness as Obama was elected and how his writing career took off in 2008. “American Girl” is a profile of Michelle Obama, who used her biography to put Americans at ease with her husband’s immigrant roots.

Chapter 3 consists of "Notes from the Third Year" and "Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?" In the note, Coates situates Obama’s presidency as part of a long cycle of seeming progress on racial issues followed by backlash. The essay is Coates’s call to Black Americans to write their own stories of the Civil War and an examination of myths surrounding the Civil War.

Chapter 4 is made up of “Notes from the Fourth Year” and “The Legacy of Malcolm X: Why His Vision Lives on in Barack Obama.” In the note, Coates describes the United States as a country founded on the plunder of Black people and describes how hip-hop helped him find an aesthetic to articulate this point of view. In the essay, Coates argues that Obama is a political descendent of Malcom X’s celebration of Black self-determination and beauty.

Chapter 5 includes “Notes from the Fifth Year” and “Fear of a Black President.” In the note, Coates describes the growth of his persona as a Black public intellectual. The essay is an analysis Obama’s struggle to respond to racially motivated political attacks during his presidency, especially after the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Chapter 6 consists of “Notes from the Sixth Year” and "The Case for Reparations.” In both the note and essay, Coates argues that race-blind programs alone are not enough to remove Black Americans from the underclass. Redlining and other discriminatory practices are contemporary and ongoing acts of expropriation that can only be addressed with reparations.

Chapter 7 includes “Notes from the Seventh Year” and "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration.” In the note, Coates reflects on his evolving understanding of his responsibility as a Black writer. In the essay, Coates argues that mass incarceration is the surprising result of liberal policies that blame Black women and families for problems that are actually the result of White supremacy and discrimination.

Chapter 8 includes “Notes from the Eighth Year” and "My President Was Black.” In the note, Coates reminisces about the heady days when Obama was poised to win the presidency. In the essay, Coates examines what it was about Obama’s life that made it possible for this unlikely candidate to succeed and how American politics made it virtually impossible for him to meet all the expectations his voters had for him. In the Epilogue, Coates argues that Donald Trump’s election was the result of Trump’s skillful use of grievance politics that tapped into the deep structure of America’s White supremacy.