Ta-Nehisi Coates, who became famous over the past decade writing about race in America, is stepping down from his job as a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine.

Coates, 42, became one of the country’s best-known writers through his work at the magazine and his book, “Between the World and Me,” which won the National Book Award in 2015. His essays include “The Case for Reparations,” which called for compensation for the country’s long history of racism. His 2012 cover story, “Fear of a Black President” established him as a major voice on race relations in the U.S.

During recent years, Coates made headlines on almost a monthly basis, Mary Carole McCauley wrote in the Baltimore Sun. Two months after his book was released, Coates received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, commonly known as a “Genius Grant.” His 2017 essay collection on Barack Obama’s presidency, “We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy,” was well received, according to McCauley

“I became the public face of the magazine in many ways, and I don’t really want to be that,” Coates told The Washington Post. “I want to be a writer. I’m not a symbol of what The Atlantic wants to do or whatever.”

In 2016, Coates became involved with superhero literature, writing new issues of “Black Panther.” In February 2018, he announced that he was going to be the author for new “Captain America” comics, Huffington Post reported.

Coates is a writer in residence at New York University and plans to release a new book in the coming year. He told the Post that he’s open to returning to The Atlantic to write a piece “in six months or a year,” The Hill reported.

Coates said he has no plans to go to another publication. “It was this or nothing,” Coates said. “I didn’t have anything else.”

When conservative writer Kevin Williamson was hired and promptly fired in April from The Atlantic, Coates was involved in the controversy, The Hill reported. Coates had initially advocated for Williamson, who was fired not long after over his comments on abortion.

A leaked tape obtained by HuffPost later revealed that Coates said he felt like he had failed “the writers of color” at The Atlantic by endorsing Williamson.

“I was not like, ‘don’t hire that dude.’ To the contrary, I thought, ‘OK, well he can come in and represent the position, and then we can fight it out,'” Coates said on the leaked tape.

Coates has been the main writer on “Black Panther” since 2016.

“Marvel has been more than pleased with the run by Coates there,” according to Bam!Smack!Pow!, a comic books and superheroes news and opinions site from the FanSided Network. “In fact, (Coates’) debut issue was the top-selling comic book that year, moving over a quarter million copies!”

When it comes to writing for “Captain America,” Coates represents a big shift for the franchise, Alex Widen reported for FanSided. “Unlike (his predecessor, Mark Waid), Coates is still an industry outsider who is hardly afraid of commenting on current politics and social trends.”

In December, Coates received a “searing and public critique” from another prominent black intellectual, Harvard University’s Cornel West.

“West has long been one of Obama’s top critics on the left — and, by extension, a harsh critic of anyone who he perceives as defending Obama,” German Lopez reported in Vox.

In a memo to Atlantic staff, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg called Coates’ departure “a bittersweet moment”.

“As he has explained to me — and as he’s written in the recent past — the last few years for him have been years of significant changes,” Goldberg wrote. “Ta-Nehisi will forever be a member of The Atlantic family and he will of course continue to mentor and coach many of our up-and-coming young journalists. I’m hoping, of course, that Ta-Nehisi will make journalism for us again soon.”

FF in good hands with Dan Slott. Coates on Captain America now.

— Mike Brown (@BikeMrown) July 21, 2018

One of the best writers of the past 40 years. I wish him well. Please land somewhere without a paywall, Mr. Coates!

— Stephen Perry (@StephenOfTroy) July 20, 2018