I think the theme of this profile is getting readers to identify with Michelle Obama and understanding of how to see the world through black and white. The overarching narrative is how relatable she is. Some of her actions seem unexpected, but her upbringing shapes a lot the decisions she makes today. At Nehisi-Coates was surpluses to hear Michelle recounting her life. He had never heard a black public figure recall such an idyllic youth.
Category Archives: Commentary and Critiques
Black and White
In both Fox’s and Bagli’s pieces we see how the Stuyvesant town housing is inaccessible to different people.
In Bagli’s piece we are explained more about the prices of the apartments rising and how this forced out groups of people. These are the groups of people that the housing was meant for in the first place. It was originally a place where lower social class found themselves comfortable but due to the rent rising above an average of 4,000 an apartment, many of these original groups were forced out.
Fox’s piece touches on how Stuy town was originally meant for lower income families and war-veterans, but excluded black families. This was even though many war-veterans included blacks.
Both are about a social and economic struggle in the complex but Bagli focuses more on the current issues forcing out certain groups whereas Fox looks more into the past.
I live in Stuy town currently and notice that it is prevalently whites living there. The rent is high and theres no way I could have lived there if my parents did not have decent paying salaries.
American Girl
What is the theme of Ta Nehisi-Coates’s profile?
I felt like the theme focused on a side of Michelle Obama that the public rarely gets a glimpse of. A lot of the profile went in depth as to where Michelle comes from in Chicago, and how her childhood and earlier years influenced who she became and the choices she made later in life.
Is there an overarching narrative?
In general, this article goes more into depth about the black population in Chicago. Not only did the writer elaborate on Michelle’s life, but also on many other blue collar worker families in the area. Coates shows how the first lady’s story growing up is similar to the rest of those in that specific demographic.
What surprises Coates about Michelle Obama?
I think that what surprised Coates the most was how open Michelle was about her life growing up, and how she “says what she means,” she seemed very down to earth.
How does Coates contextualize Michelle in the context of his own background growing up in Baltimore?
In the context of his own background growing up, Coates states that Michelle was not that affected by the racial and economic issues going on in Chicago at the time. For example, he writes about her side of town held onto their economic income when Chicago was struggling, as well as how she was “surrounded by a cocoon.” From my perspective, it was almost as if Coates believed she was more fortunate than others around her, and because of this he “mistook her for white,” when he first met her.
American Girl
What is the theme of Ta Nehisi-Coates’s profile?
Growing up black in her neighborhood and how it affected her. It shows how it shaped and made the person she is today. There also includes a history of the neighborhood.
Is there an overarching narrative?
Though the article speaks largely of Michelle Obama, it is also about all black residents of south side that grew up like Obama. It takes the idea that all black people grew up impoverished with both parents working and struggling and presents us with an alternative truth, black people growing up in “normal” homes, with a working father and stay at home mother. It presents us with a break in the stereotype.
What surprises Coates about Michelle Obama?
Coates says that “The first time I saw Michelle Obama in the flesh, I almost took her for white”.
How does Coates contextualize Michelle in the context of his own background growing up in Baltimore?
Michelle grew up not knowing what “blackness” was whereas Coates compares himself and knew very much of his “blackness”. He knew his “blackness” as his culture and to her i was not a culture she was familiar with or viewed it as. They had different perspective on life in their early upbringing.
American Girl
What is the theme of Ta Nehisi-Coates”s profile?
The theme of Ta Nehisi- Coates’s profile represents Michelle Obama’s early years growing up in South Side and how that has shaped her as an American.
Is there an overarching narrative?
Yes. The overarching narrative addresses black separatism.
What surprises Coates about Michelle Obama?
Coates was surprised because instead of Obama building her speech on slave narratives or oppression, she spoke about her life as a child and how America has changed since then.
How does Coates contextualize Michelle in the context of his own background growing up in Baltimore?
Coates grew up in a segregated neighborhood whereas Obama grew up in an all black community; even though they lived in two different social cultures they both understood blackness as a minority in their adult life because they both stepped out of their community borders and experienced a world that was unrecognizable from the world they grew up in.
What is the theme of Ta Nehisi-Coates’s profile?
The theme of Coates’ piece seems to be a general examination of the neighborhood Michelle Obama grew up in and the history thereof. It’s a look into how her upbringing has impacted the woman she is today.
Is there an overarching narrative?
There’s a narrative of a sort of egalitarian existence within Chicago–within her community, Obama was able to “forget” that she was black in the sense that she was not constantly told she was an “other.” Everyone around her looked just like her, so there was no sense of otherness till she stepped outside her community. This aspect of Obama’s early life, with a working father and stay at home mother, stands in contrast to many stereotypes about black families.
What surprises Coates about Michelle Obama?
Coates notes that he almost took Obama for white the first time he saw her, and was surprised at the ease and fondness with which she recalled her childhood and old neighborhood.
How does Coates contextualize Michelle in the context of his own background growing up in Baltimore?
Coates contrasts his early upbringing, where he was keenly aware of his blackness and of blackness as a culture, to Obama’s, who was only aware of this when she stepped into the outside world. Both had very different perspectives on themselves in early life.
American Girl
Ta-Nehisi Coates begins his profile, American Girl, by saying “The first time I saw Michelle Obama in the flesh, I almost took her for white.” He later explains this is to be not because of her mannerisms, but because of her belief and support of a black community “fully vested” in their country. The piece focuses on the issue of race and the place of a working woman in American society through the retelling of Obama’s childhood. Coates admits he was surprised that Obama told her story of growing up in Chicago with extreme happiness as if it were picture perfect. Throughout history, African Americans were subject to extreme hardship and discrimination with bios playing on a “dream deferred.” He waited for “slave narratives and oppression… looking for justice and the plight of the poor” but instead Obama promotes the power of the modern woman with her “americanness” rooted in her hometown. Her neighborhood allowed her and other African Americans to be “Black and proud.” She, thus, bridges the gap between black America and all of America. Coates contextualizes Obama in the context of his own background in Baltimore by explaining that although he grew up in a segregated neighborhood, he never understood blackness as a minority until he was the only black man in a room of people who did not look or act like him. He knew he was black but never felt it because his own community had always surrounded him. Obama too, never looked at the world differently when she was a child. As a kid, she wasn’t directly aware of racism but as an adult she felt the segregation.
American Girl
What is the theme of Ta Nehisi-Coates’s profile?
Growing up black in South Side. How blackness is a social construct.
Is there an overarching narrative?
Though the article speaks largely of Michelle Obama, it is also about all black residents of south side that grew up like Obama. It takes the idea that all black people grew up impoverished with both parents working and struggling and presents us with an alternative truth, black people growing up in “normal” homes, with a working father and stay at home mother. It presents us with a break in the stereotype.
What surprises Coates about Michelle Obama?
Coates says the he “took her as white” when he saw her in person.
How does Coates contextualize Michelle in the context of his own background growing up in Baltimore?
Michelle grew up in an area where blackness wasn’t a culture, whereas he did. The part of Chicago that Obama is from was mainly black. Many households had one working father and a stay at home mother. They never felt “blackness” until later in life, when they left South Side. Coates grew up in Baltimore, an area that was more integrated between black and white, which made him and others in the area aware of their race and black was viewed more as a culture.
American Girl
What is the theme of Ta Nehisi-Coates profile?
Nehisi-Coates is writing about Michelle Obama’s different facets of being black and the progression to a society where being defined as black is the overlooked as “the two oceans that define America”. The article has a lot of perspective that supports the theme, exploring the different flavors of the community, threading together her experience growing up in a black neighborhood, and historically black college and so forth with the fight for equality and nationalistic pride.
Is there an overarching narrative?
The overarching narrative is black people being themselves and defining themselves as American as oppose to black. Nehisi-Coates explores her the work of Michelle Obama, and what she has done as a potential first-lady. In the text, it’s most evident in the block quote from Obama’s thesis, defining race as a divider.
What surprises Coates about Michelle Obama?
Coates had a pre-determined image of Michelle being a strong independent black woman who embraces the “angry black woman” front. Instead, he was surprised by her calm approach when discussing her upbringing, and admits to almost taking her for white.
How does Coates contextualize Michelle in the context of his own background growing up in Baltimore?
Coates speaks of his background in an indirect comparison to Michelle, nullifying that racism and segregation is a thing from past decades, and is present in today’s society. By using Michelle’s figure as the first black first-lady. Black culture is not splashing into the scene, already rippling in the American culture, but it’s still treated as something new, and for the writer, growing up in Baltimore, black power was very evident in his community, whereas Michelle was brought up in a community where that was not the central theme of the community because they were almost separated through their self-sufficiency.
Battle in Black and White
Both Fox’s piece and Bagli’s piece deal with the problem of the Stuyvesant Town housing complexes being inaccessible to certain groups of people.
Fox’s piece is more focused on how initially, the Stuy Town complexes were closed off to black families, even though the complexes were meant for families of average means and for war veterans–groups which included black families. Bagli’s piece is an examination of how the rent prices have skyrocketed and have all but excluded the families for whom the apartments were originally meant for. Though the two pieces look at it from different angles, Bagli’s shows how Stuy Town housing still remains largely inaccessible to the people for whom it was meant.