Possible Futures Book Talk with Louise Story & Ebony Reed: Fifteen Cents on the Dollar

Possible Futures Bookstore (318 Edgewood Ave, New Haven) will host an engaging talk and book signing with authors and SOM faculty, Louise Story and Ebony Reed, featuring their new book, Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap.

SOM alumni who register and attend the book talk will receive a complimentary copy of the book at the event.

Assorted pastries and complimentary books, generously provided by the SOM Black Business Alliance Alumni Group.

More about the book:

The early 2020s will long be known as a period of racial reflection. In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, Americans of all backgrounds joined together in historic demonstrations in the streets, discussions in the workplace, and conversations at home about the financial gaps that remain between white and Black Americans. This deeply investigated book shows the scores of setbacks that have held the Black-white wealth gap in place—from enslavement to redlining to banking discrimination—and, ultimately, the reversals that occurred in the mid-2020s as the push for racial equity became a polarized political debate.

Fifteen Cents on the Dollar follows the lives of four Black Millennial professionals and a banking company founded with the stated mission of closing the Black-white wealth gap. That company, known as Greenwood, a reference to the historic Black Wall Street district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, generated immense excitement and hope among people looking for new ways of business that might lead to greater equity. But the twists and turns of Greenwood’s journey also raise tough questions about what equality really means.

Seasoned journalist-academics Louise Story and Ebony Reed present a nuanced portrait of Greenwood’s founders—the entertainment executive Ryan Glover; the Grammy-winning rapper Michael Render, better known as Killer Mike; and the Civil Rights leader and two-term Atlanta mayor, Andrew Young—along with new revelations about their lives, careers, and families going back to the Civil War. Equally engaging are the stories of the lesser-known individuals—a female tech employee from rural North Carolina trying to make it in a big city; a rising leader at the NAACP whose father is in prison; an owner of a BBQ stand in Atlanta fighting to keep his home; and a Black man in a biracial marriage grappling with his roots when his father is shot by the police.

In chronicling these staggering injustices, Fifteen Cents on the Dollar shows why so little progress has been made on the wealth gap and provides insights Americans should consider if they want lasting change.

More about Louise:

Louise Story is a prize-winning investigative journalist who spent more than 15 years at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, where she was the top masthead editor running coverage strategy. Her work investigating corruption led to the largest kleptocracy forfeiture in U.S. history, a scandal known as the 1MDB case. Her work during the 2008 financial crisis led to a multi-billion dollar settlement in the derivative market and to Goldman Sachs’s S.E.C. settlement. Projects she led have received honors including Emmy Awards, Pulitzer Prize finalist citations, and Online News Association awards. Louise’s film "The Kleptocrats" aired on the BBC, Apple and Amazon. She teaches about racial wealth gaps at The Yale School of Management.

More about Ebony:

Ebony Reed is a seasoned journalism leader who has led coverage and operations with a focus on community news. She began her career as a reporter at The Plain Dealer, covering Cleveland public schools, documenting public education’s inequities, with her work recognized by The Investigative Reporters & Editors organization. At the Detroit News, she managed the local coverage during the 2008 economic crisis. Now the Chief Strategy Officer at The Marshall Project, she has held other senior roles at the Associated Press, Boston Business Journal, and The Wall Street Journal. She’s taught at a half dozen institutions, including co-teaching with Louise at The Yale School of Management.