MahoganyBooks Front Row: The Podcast

During a MahoganyBooks event at National Harbor, Dr. Greg Carr and featured author and civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons discussed his first book, *Redeem a Nation*. Solomon-Simmons revealed that he learned about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre only while in college, highlighting the long-standing “conspiracy of silence” surrounding this historical event. He detailed the violence, destruction, and aftermath of the massacre, which included internment camps, rebuilding restrictions, a lack of services, and subsequent urban renewal. He connected the concept of reparations to Black self-determination, drawing on his Black Creek ancestry. Solomon-Simmons emphasized the significance of the 1866 Creek treaty that granted citizenship to Creeks of African descent and recognized the contributions of Black Creeks in establishing Greenwood. He also shared his legal struggles, the mentorship he received from Bryan Stevenson, and insights from major law firms. Additionally, Solomon-Simmons outlined the "Think Greenwood" principles, which focus on community love, a freedom mindset, ownership, wealth circulation, and willful resilience. During the audience Q&A session, topics included ways to support Justice for Greenwood, the importance of preserving history, and finding hope for the future. Takeaways: The author explains learning of the 1921 Tulsa Greenwood massacre late in life because of an official conspiracy of silence. The speakers detail atrocities, mass destruction, missing people, and post‑massacre repression, including internment camps and denial of services. The author links Greenwood's origins to Black Creeks and the 1866 treaty that granted citizenship and land rights to people of African descent in the Creek Nation. The authors recount systemic erasure tactics including deleted newspaper pages, threats to researchers, gentrification, discriminatory rebuilding laws, and municipal neglect that obstructed restitution for decades. The author describes the legal strategy and alliances with mentors, public interest lawyers, and national law firms to pursue reparations litigation. The author outlines the Think Greenwood reparations principles: community love, a freedom mind state, ownership, wealth circulation, and willful resilience. The speakers call for concrete support now: join Justice for Greenwood, aid genealogy and legacy protection, preserve physical books, and press for durable legal recognition and local ordinance. Mentioned in this episode: ...But Make it Books promo Hey, y'all. It's Niccara, host of ... But Make It Books, a podcast where we're bookishly healing through life. In this podcast, we use fiction and nonfiction as a doorway into the deeper parts of life. Think ambition, healing, identity, the questions you didn't even know you were carrying. Every episode, we let the book lead us somewhere real. Because the best stories don't just entertain you, they help you understand yourself. So go ahead and find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Subscribe now and bring your whole self to the conversation. Peace, y'all.

At the vibrant Black Books Matter Festival in National Harbor, the inspiring co-founder of MahoganyBooks, Ramunda Young, and the passionate literary curator, Morgan Menzies, come together to explore the vital role of community in elevating Black literature. Ramunda, who proudly hails from Tulsa—home of Black Wall Street—shares the heartfelt journey of MahoganyBooks, sparked by her husband's dream and transformed into her mission when she recognized Tulsa's rich yet overlooked Black history being withheld from local youth, including her. Throughout their engaging discussion, Ramunda and Morgan passionately highlight key principles that guide their efforts in nurturing a thriving Black book community. They stress the importance of making Black literature easily accessible, fostering connections through book clubs, and introducing creative experiences, like Morgan's innovative audiobook walking club, ‘Pages on the Path.’ They also address the crucial necessity of preserving history amidst the rise of AI by advocating for the purchase and protection of physical book copies. As they exchange thoughts on impactful recent reads, audience engagement thrives around topics like multigenerational participation, establishing dedicated Black book spaces, and the joy and security of recommending thought-provoking titles within a welcoming Black bookstore. Their enthusiasm for promoting Black-centered literature shines brightly! Mentioned in this episode: African Ancestry We are the pioneers of genetic ancestry tracing for Black people globally, reconnecting you to your specific African roots–the country and the people. Our scientists compare your DNA markers to the largest African reference database in the world in order to find your African origin up to 2000 years ago. African Ancestry African Ancestry We are the pioneers of genetic ancestry tracing for Black people globally, reconnecting you to your specific African roots–the country and the people. Our scientists compare your DNA markers to the largest African reference database in the world in order to find your African origin up to 2000 years ago. African Ancestry

Recorded live at the Black Books Matter Festival, MahoganyBooks co-founder Derrick Young sits down with S.A. Cosby, the bestselling author of Blacktop Wasteland, Razorblade Tears, All the Sinners Bleed, and King of Ashes. Cosby talks about the long road to his breakthrough. An early book was rejected more than 60 times, his first agent dropped him, and one publisher asked if he could make his work "blacker." He explains why he writes a full private biography for every main character, how he decides a story is finished, and why fans of Razorblade Tears got a surprise in King of Ashes. He also gets candid about the business side: the gap between his advance and a white peer's, why writers of color should ask publishers about marketing budgets, and why Black bookstores get skipped on author tours. Cosby shares updates on the Netflix adaptation of All the Sinners Bleed and a Blacktop Wasteland prequel he's writing. He closes with a defense of Black Southern life and why he keeps writing about the South: "Because I'm from the damn South." Shop S.A. Cosby's books at MahoganyBooks.com. Takeaways: Cosby says publishers told him early on they liked his books but didn't "see a market" for them. He describes getting what he calls "three-quarter rejection letters": three paragraphs of praise followed by a no. An early book was rejected more than 60 times, and he burned the rejection emails after landing his deal with Flatiron Books. He writes a private biography for each main character, covering details as small as favorite ice cream and first kiss. He says about 95% of it never appears in the book, but it keeps characters from making choices that only serve the plot. His example is Titus Crown's hidden fear of snakes in All the Sinners Bleed. For Cosby, a book is a snapshot of a character's life, not the whole story. He considers a story finished when the character has made an emotional journey and ends up different, not perfect, from where they started. Cosby confirms his books share a universe. Characters and references recur across novels, and Ike from Razorblade Tears makes a cameo in King of Ashes. He says he brought Ike back partly because so many readers asked how Ike was doing. Cosby describes Crime Writers of Color, a group he says started with 12 writers around 2015, when writers of color weren't being invited to crime fiction conferences. He says it has grown to about 300 members. Cosby says he received a $5,000 advance for Blacktop Wasteland, while a white author with similar credentials received $100,000 for her debut. He urges writers to share pay information and to ask publishers how much marketing money is behind their book compared with peers. In his words, "don't let your gratefulness hide your self-respect." Cosby and Derrick Young describe how publishers can steer author tour stops toward whichever store promises to buy the most copies, which can shut out Black bookstores. Young tells the audience that every book bought or borrowed from a library is tracked and sends a message to publishers. Cosby rejects the publishing idea that Black people don't read. He points to a crowd of about 180 at an Atlanta-area tour stop that had set up 50 chairs, and an audience of 387 in St. Louis. Cosby argues that the South belongs to the Black people who built, loved, and died on it, not to Confederate apologists. He calls it the site of "America's first great sin" and its first great ability to overcome it. Mentioned in this episode: African Ancestry We are the pioneers of genetic ancestry tracing for Black people globally, reconnecting you to your specific African roots–the country and the people. Our scientists compare your DNA markers to the largest African reference database in the world in order to find your African origin up to 2000 years ago. African Ancestry ...But Make it Books promo Hey, y'all. It's Niccara, host of ... But Make It Books, a podcast where we're bookishly healing through life. In this podcast, we use fiction and nonfiction as a doorway into the deeper parts of life. Think ambition, healing, identity, the questions you didn't even know you were carrying. Every episode, we let the book lead us somewhere real. Because the best stories don't just entertain you, they help you understand yourself. So go ahead and find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Subscribe now and bring your whole self to the conversation. Peace, y'all.

Recorded live at the third Black Books Matter Festival, this conversation brings together Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The 1619 Project, and journalist and culture critic Michael Harriot, author of Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America. MahoganyBooks co-founder Ramunda Young opens the afternoon with the reason the store exists. She grew up in Tulsa, one mile from Black Wall Street, and never learned about it in school. Then Hannah-Jones and Harriot take on "the real America." They talk about why most Americans are never taught a history that centers slavery, why The 1619 Project drew such fierce pushback, and why they reject the idea that George Washington's slaveholding was a mere "flaw." Hannah-Jones traces how Virginia's slaveholding elite shaped American republicanism and connects that line to the Electoral College. Both argue that Black Americans didn't only build this country's wealth. They also helped define what liberty and democracy actually mean. Hannah-Jones closes with a charge: learn your history, because it shows you what you're capable of. Then the whole room says it together: Black books matter. Shop books from Nikole Hannah-Jones, Michael Harriot, and more at MahoganyBooks.com. Takeaways: Nikole Hannah-Jones explains that most Americans never learn a slavery-centered history. Official school curricula don't teach it, popular culture rarely tells it, and even Black Americans often have to seek it out on their own. Hannah-Jones argues that many white Americans have built their personal identity on the belief that the U.S. is an exceptional nation. When asked how much of the ignorance is willful, Michael Harriot says some people were never taught, but that by 1988 or 2015 it had to be a deliberate choice. The speakers reject framing George Washington's slaveholding as a minor "flaw." They cite his pursuit of Ona Judge and his sale of people who tried to escape to the Caribbean, and they argue the founders knew slavery was wrong and chose it anyway. Hannah-Jones argues that the heart of the American Revolution was Virginia, not Boston or Philadelphia. She traces American republicanism, where a small group of elite landowning white men govern for everyone else, to a colony whose poor were largely enslaved and couldn't vote. She connects that idea to the Electoral College. Hannah-Jones says reducing Black Americans' contribution to forced labor reinforces white supremacy. She argues Black people also gave the nation intellectual labor, turning the Declaration of Independence into a document about liberty and pushing democracy to mean that everyone has a say. Hannah-Jones argues that telling this story "kills their myth" of American exceptionalism. She says that threat, more than the history itself, is why this work is targeted and banned. She calls the current administration's attack on history tactical, not superficial. Hannah-Jones urges listeners to learn their history and "get that ancestral knowledge." She warns that what's planned for Black Americans is something most people in the room have never lived through. She adds that fear is okay, because courage requires fear. Mentioned in this episode: ...But Make it Books promo Hey, y'all. It's Niccara, host of ... But Make It Books, a podcast where we're bookishly healing through life. In this podcast, we use fiction and nonfiction as a doorway into the deeper parts of life. Think ambition, healing, identity, the questions you didn't even know you were carrying. Every episode, we let the book lead us somewhere real. Because the best stories don't just entertain you, they help you understand yourself. So go ahead and find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Subscribe now and bring your whole self to the conversation. Peace, y'all. African Ancestry We are the pioneers of genetic ancestry tracing for Black people globally, reconnecting you to your specific African roots–the country and the people. Our scientists compare your DNA markers to the largest African reference database in the world in order to find your African origin up to 2000 years ago. African Ancestry

At MahoganyBooks' Black Books Matter Festival, moderator Nikesha Elise Williams, author of The Seven Daughters of Dupree, speaks with indie authors T.L. Price and Sundiata Ramin about why they chose self-publishing and how it requires running a business. Price, an attorney and mother of three, began writing urban romantasy and paranormal romance to increase representation of Black men in fantasy and to publish quickly without a traditional gatekeeper; she stresses treating writing like a job with set hours, budgeting, professional covers, multiple editors, and learning the industry. Ramin, author of a Chuck Brown biography and a Go-Go Museum curator, describes using his bookstore, design, and marketing background to produce a high-quality book, meet a tight timeline, and distribute through major channels. Both discuss building audiences, using social media, and connecting with Black readers, while audience Q&A covers tips for young writers, marketing poetry, research and worldbuilding, and finding mentorship through author networks. Takeaways: Self-publishing necessitates a professional approach; authors must treat their craft as a business and set dedicated work hours. Indie authors have the opportunity to represent marginalized voices in genres traditionally dominated by other demographics, fostering greater inclusivity. Building a loyal fan base is crucial; authors often find that their readership extends beyond initial expectations, reaching global audiences. Effective marketing strategies, including professional editing, eye-catching covers, and budget management, are essential for indie authors to achieve success in the competitive literary marketplace.