Black Market Reads

In this deeply personal episode of Black Market Reads, host Lissa Jones sits down with revered Twin Cities educator, social worker, author, and community elder Katie Sample to discuss her memoir, All Things Work Together for Good (In Black Ink 2026). Sample reflects on more than nine decades of faith, family, activism, and advocacy for Black children—from confronting inequities in Minneapolis Public Schools to creating educational spaces where young people could know their history, recognize their brilliance, and thrive. It is a conversation about the power of education, the importance of preserving our stories, and Sample's enduring belief that, even in difficult times, "there's still hope".

Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Funding for this series, focusing on literature and the humanities, is provided by the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.

For GO DEEPER Content,VISIT www.BlackMarketReads.com

In this special episode of Black Market Reads, Lissa Jones turns the conversation from the authors who write our stories to the young readers who will carry them forward. Recorded at Benjamin E. Mays Afrocentric Magnet School in St. Paul, the episode begins with Freedom School scholars sharing the books they love and reflecting on reading, history, and community. Lissa then sits down with Principal Danielle Hughes and Assistant Principal Peirre Ali to explore literacy as liberation, the importance of children seeing themselves in literature, and their vision for an Afrocentric school that centers the brilliance of Black children.

Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Funding for this series, focusing on literature and the humanities, is provided by the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.

For GO DEEPER Content,VISIT www.BlackMarketReads.com

In this powerful hometown conversation, journalist Justin Ellis returns to Minneapolis to discuss his debut book, The Cruelty of Nice Folks: Why Minneapolis Is the Story of America. Joined by host Lissa Jones, Ellis unpacks the contradiction at the heart of Minnesota's reputation: how a place celebrated for progressivism, politeness, and quality of life can also produce some of the nation's deepest racial disparities.

Drawing from history, personal family stories, and the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, Ellis examines the hidden costs of "Minnesota Nice," the legacy of housing segregation, the concentration of power and wealth, and the ways white politeness can prevent meaningful reckoning with injustice. Through a deeply personal exploration of Black life in Minneapolis, Ellis challenges listeners to move beyond comfort, confront difficult truths, and imagine a more honest future.

This conversation is a meditation on memory, power, belonging, and the enduring resilience of Black families who built lives and communities despite systems designed to exclude them.

Black Market Reads is a product of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, produced in partnership with iDream.TV. Find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and on www.BlackMarketReads.com with Go Deeper bonus content.

To mark the 100th Anniversary of Carter G. Woodson's Black History Month (previously known as Negro History Week) and the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence the community came together to join The Givens Foundation for African American Literature and The Givens Collection of Literature and Life in celebration.

In this episode Lissa welcomes esteemed guests, and leads a tour with curator Davu Seru of the traveling exhibit "The African American Freedom Tradition" which begins with the oldest book by an African American poet and moves through the autobiographies of formerly enslaved people, and into a modern renaissance in African American arts and scholarship that led to the formal celebration of African American history.

The celebration concludes with a special appearance of Phillis Wheatley, as performed by Neah Logan. (Coached by Danielle Daniel, costuming by the Guthrie Theater).

For GO DEEPER content visit www.BlackMarketRead.com

Black Market Reads is a product of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, produced in partnership with iDream.tv.

Welcome to a very special edition of Black Market Reads, brought to you by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, in proud partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center.

In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson introduced Negro History Week to build a durable, year-round engagement with Black history and cultural memory. One hundred years later, we are honoring that exact vision by activating a public humanities initiative that proves Black history lives all year long, not just in February.

This season, we are charting a unique course at the exact intersection where African American literature and the public humanities meet—exploring how our stories serve as an archive, evidence, and an active tool for social liberation. Today, to launch this centennial initiative, we are diving into the core of what the humanities mean for our collective future.

To kick off this vital conversation, we're joined today by Kevin Lindsey, CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Recorded live at Franconia Sculpture Park, this episode of Black Market Reads brings listeners into a powerful, place-based conversation about the life, work, and legacy of artist Michael Richards. Host Lissa Jones is joined by curator Esther Callahan and book editors Alex Fialho and Melissa Levin to explore Are You Down?, Richards' monumental sculpture created during his 2000 residency at Franconia. Grounded in the physical presence of the work and shaped by reflections from Richards' own artist statement—read by his cousin and steward Dawn Dale—the conversation weaves together art, history, race, and responsibility, asking what it means to engage with and carry forward the voice of an artist whose story continues through his work.

GO DEEPER visit our website at www.BlackMarketReads.com

Black Market Reads is a project of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, camera/YouTube editor Angelo Gbeve, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.

In this powerful episode of Black Market Reads, host Lissa Jones sits down with award-winning poet Michael Kleber-Diggs to explore the depth and intention behind his collection Worldly Things. Their conversation moves fluidly between poetry, fatherhood, community, and the responsibility of bearing witness, as Diggs reflects on writing as an act of care—rooted in intimacy, empathy, and presence. From reimagining masculinity in his poem "Coniferous Fathers" to interrogating media narratives and honoring lived experience, Diggs invites listeners to slow down and engage more fully with the world and each other. Grounded in the traditions of Black literature and shaped by his work as a mentor and prison writing instructor, this episode is a thoughtful meditation on how small, intentional acts—on and off the page—can ripple outward with profound impact.

GO DEEPER https://blackmarketreads.com/

Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.

In this episode, recorded during Women's History Month, Lissa talks with author Vanessa Riley about her latest historical novel. Riley—whose works have received high praise from New York Times, NPR, Washington Post, and Entertainment Weekly, among others—pushes historical fiction into bold new territory. She reveals the often-erased stories of Black, Indigenous, and women pirates, weaving in diverse communities of gender expression, sexuality, class, and race too often silenced in traditional narratives.

In addition to being a novelist, Vanessa Riley holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and both a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Penn State.

GO DEEPER https://blackmarketreads.com/

Black Market Reads is a product of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.

Antonio Michael Downing is an author, speaker, and musical artist. His memoir Saga Boy was called "singularly dazzling" by Kiese Laymon and "the triumph of Blackness everywhere" by Scotiabank Giller Prize–winner Ian Williams. He is also the author of the children's picture book Stars in My Crown and his debut novel, Black Cherokee. He writes and performs music as John Orpheus.

In this Episode Lissa and Antonio travel the world in their far reaching conversation from Trinidad, to Canada, to Brooklyn, to the Cherokee Nation- discussing his memoir Saga Boy: My Life of Blackness and Becoming, his debut novel Black Cherokee, and a broader conversation about lineage and inherited systems.

For GO DEEPER content visit www.BlackMarketReads.com

Black Market Reads is produced by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.

The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram by Ethelene Whitmire tells the true story of Reed Peggram, a brilliant Black, queer Harvard scholar who went to Paris in 1937 and stayed through World War II for love, eventually escaping Nazi-occupied Italy with his partner, Arne Gerdahn Hauptmann, with the help of an all-Black American regiment.

This episode was recorded before a live audience at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis. Lissa talks with author Whitmire about her research, her quest for untold stories, and the remarkable life of Reed Peggram.

For GO DEEPER information about this episode, and to learn more visit www.BlackMarketReads.com

Black Market Reads is a project of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in cooperation with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.