Between the World and Me Lesson Plan

Why do you think Coates waits to lay out the history of slavery and the Civil War until halfway through Part II of the book? Why do you think is the significance or purpose of the facts about the war and quotes from slave-owners that Coates cites here?

Coates begins by explaining the financial importance of slavery to the Southern and American economies at the outset of the Civil War. These details and the compelling picture he paints of the attachment to slavery in many parts of America serve to show the ways in which slavery and versions of the Dream have always been part of the American heritage. Even after the Civil War, Coates explains that the "American reunion...