Skip Navigation
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

More on race and fantasy...

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Nov 24 2008, 10:00 AM ET Comment

We had a thread on this last week, and quickly became apparent that I was nubcake, tapping out on Dragonlance and Octavia Butler. Anyway here's an interesting piece of writing on the role of nonwhites in fantasy and sci-fi. I think I'll just follow the discussion below and take notes. It's interesting because, as a kid, I never gave this subject much thought. I remember my lecturing me and my brother Malik about the Drow. I also love that in WoW the "Drow" are the good guys, and the "high elves" are evil.

But I grew up in a house where the pantheon was Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Nat Turner. From that perspective, D&D, comics, sci-fi was almost a retreat, a vacation away from the real. Blackness was all around me, so I tended to cut some slack in the world of fantasy. I don't know. Maybe too much...


Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Infographic: A Fast Food Burger Is 3 Times Larger Now Than in The 1950s A Fast Food Burger Is 3 Times Larger Now Than in The 1950s
The Proposed Auction of Ronald Reagan's Blood Isn't Surprising The Proposed Auction of Ronald Reagan's Blood Isn't Surprising
What a Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Can Teach Us About Obamacare What Cattle Farms Can Teach About Obamacare
Egypt Votes: A Primer on the Arab World's First Free Presidential Election What's Next for Egypt, After Today's Historic Vote?
Why a Chinese Company Wants to Own Your Local Movie Theater Why a Chinese Company Wants to Own Your Local Cinema

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

One Year Since the Joplin Tornado

May 23, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Ta-Nehisi Coates
from the Magazine

Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an Atlantic senior editor.

Fade to White

A filmmaker maps Austin’s shifting ethnic landscape.

The Legacy of Malcolm X

Why his vision lives on in Barack Obama