Bylines

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Civil-Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular

Activists can’t persuade their contemporaries—they’re aiming at the next generation.

The Lost Cause Rides Again

The prospective series takes as its premise an ugly truth that black Americans are forced to live every day: What if the Confederacy wasn’t wholly defeated?

Hillary Clinton Goes Back to the Dunning School

How do you diagnose the problem of racism in America without understanding its actual history?
Clara Newton at her home outside Baltimore, holding a picture of her son Odell, who has been in prison for 41 years for a crime he committed when he was 16. State officials have recommended Odell for release three times since 1992, but he has not been freed. August 4, 2015.

The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Politicians are suddenly eager to disown failed policies on American prisons, but they have failed to reckon with the history.
Malcolm X

When Malcolm X Met Robert Penn Warren

An excerpt from a discussion between Malcolm X and Robert Penn Warren on guilt and innocence.

What This Cruel War Was Over

The meaning of the Confederate flag is best discerned in the words of those who bore it.

The Case for Reparations

Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.