Breaking Barriers and Building Big Business
Written By Maisha Harris
Edited by Kris Hooks and Yannel M. Celestrin
On Thursday, October 19, 2023, Norfolk State University welcomed the highly acclaimed award-winning and best-selling author Ta-Nehisi Coates to its campus. Taking place in the Douglas Wilder Center, this wall-to-wall packed event consisted of a personal sit-down with the author who sat center stage while being interviewed by one of our own students, Chloe Woolfolk. Ta-Nehisi, who has won a plethora of awards over the past decade, described himself as a man “…obsessed with the mask and armor that black folk have to wear.” Originally from the Mondawmin neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, Ta-Nehisi expressed that his mother, who was a teacher, always stressed to him that “…you have to grow up making some type of contribution to your community.” His father, a former member of the Black Panther Party, was also an author and according to Ta-Nehisi, “…he had a ton of books (and music) in the house.” So, because of this, and the fact that his mother often made him read and write essays as a form of soft punishment, he grew to love reading. Ta-Nehisi also listened to classic music artists from his parents’ stash such as Gil Scott-Heron. He also admitted that his all-time favorite Hip-Hop was Nas, whose debut studio album Illmatic, Ta-Nehisi said is like hip-hop scripture because it was one of the first pieces of music that “…had a way of articulating exactly what he wanted to say…” as a youth.
When asked about his youth, Ta-Nehisi said he would start his day with what he wanted to wear with the purpose of not wanting to “…dress too corny or too flashy…a book bag with one strap on and one strap off…(and) Air Max 1s…" He also said that he “…had to have his posse” which included about 4-5 of his boys “…walking off the porch. “Growing up…”, Ta-Nehisi stressed that “…none of my male friends had a father in the house.” Ta-Nehisi says that even though he grew up during the crack epidemic, he had the privilege of having both his parents in the same home. His father was a founder of the publishing company, the Black Classic Press and his mother was a teacher, two careers that had a huge impact on his life and upbringing.
As an author, Coates has written several works including The Beautiful Struggle, Between the World and Me, Black Panther, We Were Eight Years in Power, and The Water Dancer. Let’s take a moment to get into the awards he has obtained thus far:
- 2012: Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism
- 2013: National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism for "Fear of a Black President"
- 2014: George Polk Award for Commentary for "The Case for Reparations"
- 2015: Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Prize for Writing to Advance Social Justice for "The Case for Reparations"
- 2015: American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship
- 2015: National Book Award for Nonfiction for Between the World and Me
- 2015: Fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- 2015: Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction for Between the World and Me
- 2018: Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Nonfiction for We Were Eight Years in Power
- 2018: Eisner Award for Best Limited Series, for Black Panther: World of Wakanda (with Roxane Gay and Alitha E. Martinez)
- 2020: British Fantasy Society Sydney J. Bounds Award for The Water Dancer
