In their debut book, BLK MKT Vintage: Recovering Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Storiesco-authors Jannah Handy and Kiyanna Stewart invite readers into a world where history, memory, and identity intersect through the power of material culture. Launching on October 15, this visually stunning body of work is more than a collection—it’s a testament to the stories embedded in everyday objects that have long shaped black experiences.

Through more than 300 photographs, the book evokes the intimacy of a scrapbook or a family album. Readers will discover the nuanced stories in objects like 1972 Shirley Chisholm campaign pins, HBCU yearbooks from the 1920s, and hand-drawn maps of Africa from the 1800s. These articles become vehicles for larger conversations about heritage and memory. The word before Spike Lee strongly emphasizes this idea by stating, “what you have is valuable,” reminding readers that relics of the past hold the keys to understanding the present and reimagining the future.

The two founders of Brooklyn BLK MKT Vintagebring a combined 20 years of experience in collecting, sourcing and caring for black ephemera. Their business began in 2014 with a mission to celebrate the narratives inherent in black cultural production. As Handy says, “We seek to expose people to the power of history through non-traditional means of unconventional pedagogy.” This approach is woven throughout the book, where historical objects become conduits for storytelling and community connection.

The authors’ backgrounds—Handy in business and education, Stewart in journalism and Africana studies—shape their story with academic rigor and personal insight. Stewart reflects, “I see our work designing and organizing spaces for BLK MKT Vintage in a similar way – using objects to adorn a space to tell a larger story about the person who inhabits it.” Their narrative weaves together personal anecdotes and scholarly insights, giving readers not just an archive but a guide to exploring their own identities and making use of their histories.

Beyond the presentation of rare objects and interviews with other collectors and archivists of color, the book emphasizes the importance of preserving memory in the midst of grief and loss. As readers turn the final page, they will be prompted to claim, preserve and celebrate their own stories.

ESSENCE: Jannah, your background in business and education has shaped the way you approach vintage curation. How has this expertise influenced the way you build and maintain the BLK MKT Vintage collection?

Jannah Handy: My personal and collective foundation in education is the backbone of this business. We seek to expose people to the power of history through non-traditional means of unconventional pedagogies. Our curatorial practice is one that focuses learning outcomes from primary historical sources. While we don’t have lesson plans for every item we sell – we could, trust me – learning is always at the heart of what we do, we just try to make it more engaging and accessible. My business experience has less of an impact on the BLK MKT Vintage collection and more with our marketing and brick + mortar location. While Econ 101 didn’t cover the hurdles of entrepreneurship very well, the lessons on consumer habits and marketing best practices were vital.

Kiyanna, your background in journalism and African studies clearly informs your approach to storytelling. How did you weave your passion for these subjects into the narrative of this book?

Kiyanna Stewart: I love this question and was so grateful to have an academic and lived basis for my storytelling approach throughout the book. I think I gravitated toward journalism/media studies, Africana, and women’s studies in my academic journey because I wasn’t just looking for myself, I was also looking for methods, tools, and language to express/fashion myself as black, Caribbean-American, queer. creative person. Those disciplines taught me to question voice, who is telling a story and about whom, who is in power and who is excluded/invisible – so I find that the above questions often underlie my curatorial work for BLK MKT Vintage.

This book lays the groundwork for our work, familiarizing readers with common/useful and shared vocabulary—while questioning that vocabulary to see who/what is invisible. The book also introduces readers to my wife and me in intimate ways—focusing our personal stories as a means of supporting the work’s broad, meta themes. I also argued for the work of various Black intellectuals to serve as the theoretical foundation for the book—to situate us in conversation with existing work, to pay homage to the intellectual/cultural work that has already been done in the study of Black and marginalized people, and to continue the tradition of crediting and adding—riffing, remixing, and interpolating black intellectual thought in an accessible way. People like Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Toni Morrison, Arturo Schomburg, Stuart Hall, Marion Stokes, etc.

In what ways do you hope BLK MKT Vintage: Recovering Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories spark a deeper connection between readers and the black material culture you’ve curated?

JH: For us, the core of this work is a conversation about value and people’s values. We implore readers to reconsider the kinds of value we assign to things and move beyond just monetary value. From the beginning of the book, Spike Lee perfectly demonstrates the power of material culture in one’s personal and creative development and declares to the reader that “…what you have is valuable.” We hope that those who read this book will bring a new understanding of vintage appreciation, history and macro value to other aspects of their lives. Through the work of this book, we encourage others to find value in their own and family stories.

With over 300 photos in the book, which piece or object in your collection stands out to you personally and why?

JH: This is such a tough question. Over the years, I’ve interacted with thousands of pieces of black ephemera, and the pieces that never age for me are Jet Magazines. I wore Jet magazines from the first issue in the 1950s to the last issue in 2014. What I love about these pieces is the sheer amount of information and the hot gossip between the pages. From the historical to the salacious to the mundane, Johnson Publishing’s reporting and storytelling serve as priceless snapshots of black life through the decades. When our brick and mortar location was open, people would spend hours going from issue to issue exclaiming about the stories they discovered. Imagine the timeline of your favorite social media app, printed in black + white, in the form of a pocket – this is Jet!

The book highlights black archivists and collectors. Can you share an experience working with these individuals that had a lasting impact on you?

CS: There were so many incredible moments we shared with collectors and archivists in this book, some of which were not published in the final version. Each conversation was special and exceeded the allotted time, but people were so generous with their time, experience and story. What stuck with me from these conversations is how grief, loss and memory are connected to their work with archives, collections and material culture. So many people shared stories, either of themselves or of finding their objects, that centered the pain and it was really affirming for both of us. While working on this book, I’ve been coming to terms with my mother’s diagnosis of dementia; after all, she is the reason I turned to this work as a young person, and while I am extremely grateful that she is still with us in the physical, I have long grieved for her. Several of those I spoke to were grieving personal losses in their immediate family, and often there were personal items that held memories and direct connections to these people. We felt deeply honored to share their memories and trust them. Personally, I live daily with the connection between this work and pain, so the affirmation of those interviews left an indelible mark on me. I am a proud steward of stories beyond my own.

How does this book serve as a bridge between past and future for black storytelling through objects?

JH: Intent on documenting our contemporary story and our work in history, we have preserved our story for future generations with this book. We hope to build bridges with each person who engages with our work; a bridge back to their personal ancestry, a bridge to an informed future, and a bridge to the people around them. I created this book with the express purpose of being found in the future. We hope this book fills the gaps that are ever present in our history, the antiques industry, and the recovery of historic preservation.

What role does fashion and design play in the way you arrange and present the vintage items in BLK MKT Vintage, both in your store and in the book?

CS: Fashion and design are really useful tools in my curatorial process for BLK MKT Vintage as they have given me access to a rich archive of inspiration to refer to and draw from. I worked in the closet with the fashion editors at Women’s Wear Daily at the time and saw hundreds if not thousands of samples during my time there. I understood their work as sitting at the intersection of the materiality of garments and the possibilities around marketing/storytelling. They were not designing; combed through garments to identify trends and find/make/tell stories – both written and visual – to help readers and customers imagine possibilities for clothing/garments. I see our work designing and curating spaces for BLK MKT Vintage in a similar vein—using objects to adorn a space to tell a larger story about the person who inhabits it. Fashion and design have helped sharpen my eye and sartorial sensibility – unapologetically defining who I am as a curator/collector, what aligns, and how I can best accomplish the project/assignment at hand.

How do you envision readers using BLK MKT Vintage as a tool to begin their own journeys into collections of pieces that reflect their identity and heritage?

CS: This is really the purpose of this paper. We hope this book inspires people to see themselves as part of the ecosystem, the engine that ensures the historical memory of black people. We all need it – at personal, family, community and institutional levels. I hope this book serves as proof that collecting/selling/trading black ephemera is a viable, profitable and respected business/career path – and also that it expands people’s imaginations of what’s possible when you center people of color and our culture. production. We also want people to start at home and intentionally create lives and spaces for themselves with sankofa in mind. “Go back and get it” – that’s fine. When you come back, we hope you’ll consider BLK MKT Vintage.