The Beautiful Struggle

• Genre: Nonfiction; memoir
• Originally Published: 2008
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1000L; grades 9-12; college/adult
• Central Concern: In The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates reflects on his experiences growing up in Baltimore during the 1980s and 1990s. Coates navigates the challenges of his environment throughout his journey, including the influence of his father, a former Black Panther, and the pervasive presence of drugs and violence in his community. It explores themes of identity, race, family, and resilience in the face of adversity.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Violence; drug use; racial discrimination; profanity

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Author

• Bio: American author, journalist, and educator known for his influential works on race and society; renowned for thought-provoking analysis and honest examination of racial dynamics in America
• Other Works: Between the World and Me (2015); We Were Eight Years in Power (2017); The Water Dancer (2019)
• Awards: NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work Biography/Autobiography (2009); National Book Award for Nonfiction Between the World and Me (2015)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Everyday Life as Myth
• Black Culture as Liberation
• Family as a Relational Force

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Gain an understanding of the “bildungsroman” genre, as well as the cultural and social contexts around Black liberation and the Black Panther Party— all of which impact the shape and scope of Coates’s memoir.