Ta-Nehisi Coates Biography
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a writer, journalist, columnist, and educator from the United States. During his tenure as a national correspondent at The Atlantic, where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, particularly African Americans and white supremacy, he amassed a large readership. Coates has written for The Village Voice, The Washington Post, and TIME.
How old is Ta-Nehisi Coates?- Age
He is 47 years old as of September 2022. Coates was born Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates on September 30, 1975, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Education
He went to several Baltimore schools, including ‘William H. Lemmel Middle School’ and ‘Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.’ After graduating from ‘Woodlawn High School,’ he enrolled at ‘Howard University,’ where his father was a librarian, in 1993. Coates, on the other hand, dropped out before receiving his degree.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Ethnicity – Nationality
Ta is an American national and citizen by birth. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, United State of America. Coates is of mixed ethnicity/heritage/ancestry of African-American.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Family – Parents
Coates was born on September 30, 1975, in Baltimore, Maryland, to librarian, entrepreneur, publisher, and ‘Black Panther Party’ member William Paul Coates and teacher Cheryl Waters. His father ran the ‘Black Classic Press,’ which reprinted forgotten African-American authors’ works. From his father’s other three relationships, Coates has a brother and five half-siblings.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Wife – Son
While attending ‘Howard University,’ Ta-Nehisi Coates met his wife, Kenyatta Matthews. They lived in Harlem with their son, Samori Maceo-Paul Coates, in 2009. The family relocated to Prospect Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn, New York, in 2001.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Career
Coates began his career as a reporter for ‘The Washington City Paper.’ From 2000 to 2007, he wrote articles and columns for ‘The Village Voice,’ ‘Philadelphia Weekly,’ and ‘Time.’ With his ‘Time’ article ‘Obama and the Myth of the Black Messiah,’ Coates took a practical approach to people’s feelings about electing a “black” president in the hope of eradicating poverty. He described Obama as a “black President, not a black Jesus” in that context. He rose to national prominence in 2008 with the article ‘This Is How We Lost to the White Man,’ which marked his debut for ‘The Atlantic.’ The report slammed stand-up comic Bill Cosby and “Black Conservatism.” Coates was hired full-time by the journal as a result of his article.
He soon began writing blogs for the ‘The Atlantic’ website and rose through the ranks to become the journal’s senior editor. Coates’ memoir ‘The Beautiful Struggle,’ published in 2008, was his first book. His life in West Baltimore was chronicled in the book, as was his father’s involvement with the ‘Black Panther Party,’ which influenced his black activism. For ‘The Atlantic,’ he wrote an article titled ‘Fear of a Black President.’ ‘Time’ named his blog one of the “Best Blogs.” ‘ The Sidney Hillman Foundation honored him with the 2012 ‘Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism.’ In his essay published that year, he praised Obama’s comment on Trayvon Martin’s death. He won the ‘National Magazine Award’ in 2013 for his essay ‘Fear of a Black President.’
In 2015, he received the ‘George Polk Award for Commentary,’ a ‘National Magazine Award,’ and the ‘Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Prize for Writing to Advance Social Justice’ for his June 2014 cover article, ‘The Case for Reparations.’ He was awarded the “American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship” as well as the “John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s”Genius Grant.” Ta-Nehis second book, ‘Between the World and Me,’ was released in July 2015. The title of the book was inspired by Richard Wright’s poem of the same name, while the content was inspired by the tragic death of Coates’s friend, Prince Carmen Jones Jr., whom the police mistook for someone else and shot. The best-seller was awarded a ‘National Book Award.’
In 2016, Coates was named a “MacArthur Fellow” and received the “PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.” That same year, he published the first volume of his comic series based on the ‘Marvel’ superhero ‘Black Panther,’ which depicted discrimination against black people once again. In 2016, he was inducted into the ‘Phi Beta Kappa’ fraternity at Oregon State University. Coates published a collection of essays titled ‘We Were Eight Years in Power’ (2017) in 2017, which included some of his articles from ‘The Atlantic.’ ‘The Water Dancer,’ Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first novel, was released in 2019. He worked with ‘HBO’ on a series called ‘America in the King Years,’ which focused on Dr. King’s life and the Civil Rights Movement.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Net Worth
Coates has an estimated net worth of 6 million dollars.