Brooklyn natives Jannah and Kiyanna have made it their life’s work to fossick for and preserve Black ephemera from all around the world, and they do so with the care of highly educated, hip, and creative queer antiquarians.
Their shop in Brooklyn, New York, was, until summer 2024, a stylish and fascinating haven for lovers of culture until it closed-soon to re-open in a larger Brooklyn space in the coming months. If you cannot get to Brooklyn and still want to appreciate the work of Jannah and Kiyanna, go online here and browse their collection of rare and wonderful hand-picked items and curios, or peruse their stunning book BLK MKT Vintage: Reclaiming Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories. Either way, you are invited to explore the rich history of vintage objects through a lens of Black storytelling and through the eyes, hands, and savvy of queer Black women.
Both Jannah and Kiyanna have a delightful sense of style, and this has been imparted to their wonderland store, their online shop, and their book, which is designed to feel like a scrapbook or family album; each page reveals surprises that spark conversations about heritage, memory, and identity. It’s a beautifully crafted volume that serves as a powerful reminder of the stories embedded in the objects we cherish.
Self-described as a little nerdy, Jannah and Kiyanna perhaps owe higher education to bringing them together—both have postgraduate degrees from leading liberal arts and research universities, which is where they met.
“We met around 2012 when we were both working at Rutgers University in New Jersey,” says Kiyanna. “I was finishing up my Master’s program in Women’s and Gender Studies, and we were working in the same department serving marginalized student communities on campus. We had mutual friends, and early on, we realized how much chemistry we had. We both knew pretty early on that we would be a permanent fixture in one another’s lives. Being friends, enjoying one another’s company, and deepening into romance was really effortless.”

Their bond was so strong that by 2014 they had founded their business and already saw a book as part of the journey.
“We were dreaming up a bunch of ways we’d love to see the stories of Black material culture told: on the page, on screen, in person via various activations/immersive experiences, and a book seemed like a logical manifestation of Black vintage in the contemporary,” says Jannah. “Because our business has thrived in an e-commerce context, we’ve always craved opportunities for long-form storytelling, which means to peel back the curtain and welcome folks into a more intimate setting to really dig into how these objects hold and tell meaningful stories.”
A book is also a great way to preserve some of the more fascinating objects that have passed through their hands. And so, rather dramatically, I ask them to nominate some of the objects they would consider worth saving from a burning building!
“It changes depending on the week, day, or sometimes hour,” says Kiyanna. “Some of my favorite ephemera discussed and featured in the book are my first edition texts written and signed by Black women. I’m a book girlie, and those books are really important to my own development, how I approached self-articulation/fashioning, and important archives themselves of Black women’s intellectual and creative labor in the 20th century.
“Another one of my other favorites is a framed poster advertising a fundraising dance party in New York City, hosted by the NY Committee to Free Angela Davis during her time in prison. To me, that’s a really special piece that reflects consciousness-raising and mutual aid efforts Black folks have employed to center one another’s liberation and justice. It truly embodies community as a verb.”
The queerest object they have so far discovered in their travels?
“This is a hard question, but I think the vintage 1940s police booking cards from queer elders in Ohio who were arrested for various crimes related to sex and their sexuality,” says Kiyanna. “They found their way to us from another collector and included photos of the arrested people, as well as their biographical info. We, as queer folks and educators, are well aware of the long history of state-sanctioned violence and erasure our elders and ancestors have endured. However, these booking cards are evidence that we have survived the criminalizing of our very existence. The photos are a wonder to us. These are folks whose birth sex is noted as ‘Male’ on the booking cards; however, they’re adorned in ornate jewelry, make-up, clothing of their choice, and traditional feminine hairstyles of the time. They’re fabulous, these ancestors. However, these receipts are tragic and elicit so much sadness.”
Until recently, though, the idea of cataloging, collecting, or historically preserving anything had been largely viewed as a ‘white pursuit. What BLK MKT Vintage does is actively reclaim space and material experience and declare it as history. Whether that’s an all-Black cover of Ms. Magazine or election ephemera for Shirley Chisolm.
“We are two former co-adjunct instructors on a college campus with Masters Degrees, so we do get a little nerdy,” Kiyanna laughs. “But we do the work of connecting the concepts of representation, reclamation, and nostalgic dissonance.”
“What has been centered, albeit valued by society, is the white, cis, male experience, so naturally everything is a ‘white thing,’ and the things that aren’t are ‘woke,” says Jannah. “We started our business out of a lack of representation amongst the vintage objects, the dealers, the shoppers, etc. Things like comic books, birdwatching, or antiquing are ‘white things’ because that’s who they show doing those things. We’ve had to justify our presence in these spaces due to ignorance of history. By showing that Kiyanna and I are not the first Black folks to engage the historical canon through Black material objects, we (re)claim our right to those pursuits, and our presence and expertise are valid.”

For a brief moment, America pondered electing its first-ever woman of color as Commander-in-Chief. Whatever your politics, I ask Jannah and Kiyanna if they think we are still living in a world where (queer) women of color are marginalized?
“The work of no longer centering whiteness is a project that will, unfortunately, spread across the time continuum in all directions,” says Jannah. “Personally, we try to imagine worlds where that work is no longer necessary, but in the meantime, we must actively work to undo the marginalization of Black people and work towards that ‘world.’ All that to say, yes, I do believe that queer Black women are still marginalized. One conversation we have pretty thoroughly is around the conventions, types and import of the concept of value. Connecting this to your question, I think Black queer women will no longer be marginalized when we are valued, and our value is not tied to labor or capitalism.”
As queer Black women, perhaps it is encouraging that the outcome of the 2024 federal election had little impact on the way, the why or the what of their work.
“It may seem counterintuitive, but our work is evergreen; history is happening and being reshaped every day. We talk explicitly in the book about the systemic attempts to distort, sanitize, or all-out hide our history and how that necessitates our work of seeking and making accessible primary historical sources. While we were not surprised by the outcome of the election, we were saddened by the reality that this country will continue to repeat the blunders of the past instead of learning from them. Our work did not drastically shift on November 5th, and it likely won’t on January 20th. Our work has been hyper-focused for the last 10 years, so we will keep on collecting and sharing history no matter the societal context,” says Jannah.
I like this idea of queer work across time continuums, and so I ask a hypothetical question: You have a dinner party, and you can invite six queer Black women from any time period. Who do you invite, and what do you talk about?
“Now, this is a fun question!” says Jannah. “I will make one slight edit; I’ll include queer folks, as some of my dinner guests identified as non-binary or gender expansive before the language was in the broader zeitgeist:
Audre Lorde
Octavia Butler
Pauli Murray
Cheryl Clarke
Josephine Baker
Marsha P. Johnson
“I would love to talk to them about their take on our current societal issues as well as how their historical perspective could glean some radical problem-solving. Additionally, as the work of queer folks is often at the intersections, I would seek guidance around coalition building. Lastly, I know they all have some stories, so I need to hear some TEA! Outside of the magnitude of the historical significance, I still want to know the juicy, messy joys and drama of the queer world of old.”
But closer to home, in the here and now, Jannah and Kiyanna find sustenance and community in LGBTQ Brooklyn.
“Queer community has been absolutely pivotal in all we do,” says Jannah. “As two Black queer women, we seek to not serve only as positive representation but also as connectors and collaborators within the community.
“In Brooklyn, we’ve found fellowship in places like The Tunnel and Hoops, early aughts lesbian party venues (RIP!), and currently, Cafe Erzulie, where it goes down. We have found substantial camaraderie amongst other queer business owners in Brooklyn, where we have been able to share in the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurship. Businesses like Again Vintage and Fringe Pilates hold a special place in our hearts. Groups like Girls Only NYC and Gush have taken up the mantle of curating dope experiences for the NYC queer community; things have been known to get a little spicy! Lastly, a group that is near and dear to us is The Josie Club, a Black lesbian social club founded in 2019 by Nina Chanel Abney, Jet Toomer, and Racquel Chevremont. In collaboration with this organization, we have curated a float in the NYC Heritage of Pride Parade. This work is pivotal for us as we consider our younger selves visiting this iconic parade seeking representation for the folks on the floats.
Get the book BLK MKT Vintage: Reclaiming Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories.