I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is the Sunday story from up first.
Every Sunday we do something special, going beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story.
A decade ago, writer Ta Nehisi Coates ignited a national conversation with his article in the Atlantic titled the Case for Reparations.
A year later, he released his book, between the World and me, which explores the realities of being black in America.
Now, in his new book, the Message, he takes readers on a journey to three Africa, the American south and the Middle east.
He starts in Senegal, where he visits the door of no return, a memorial to the victims of the atlantic slave trade.
Then to South Carolina, where his previous book has been the subject of book bans, and finally to the West bank, where he found himself reckoning with his own understanding of the conflict there.
Ta nehisi Coates joins me today.
Ta nehisi, thank you for being here.
Thank you for having me.
You start out talking about this book almost as if it's an overdue writing assignment.
You promised an essay for a writing workshop, and you never got to it.
Instead, it feels like the world got this book.
Is that really what happened?
I did have an overdue writing assignment.
I definitely did.
What it was supposed to be was the chapter on Dakar.
Actually, that second semester I was at Howard, I traveled to Dakar, Senegal, and I had told them when I got back that I was working on this thing and they were submitting their essays.
And so in the spirit of workshopping, I would submit mine, and I never got it done.
When did you know that you would do this book?