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This episode features our conversation with Decoteau J. Irby, which was live-streamed on September 28, 2026.

Dr. Decoteau J. Irby has spent his career fighting for educational justice for Black and Brown students. He began as an educator in Philadelphia, supporting first-generation high school students and their families in pursuing four-year college admission while designing and teaching GED and hip-hop-based education courses for formerly incarcerated youth. These experiences cemented two convictions in him: with the right encouragement, Black and Brown students of all backgrounds can exceed almost any academic demand, and when learning environments improve, aspirations, effort, and performance follow.

A professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, he now teaches in the College of Education’s top-ranked Urban Education Leadership program and co-directs the UIC Center for Urban Education Leadership. His scholarship examines how racial equity–focused school leadership improves Black students’ academic achievement and socio-emotional well-being.

He has published more than forty research articles in leading journals, and his books—including Stuck Improving: Racial Equity and School Leadership (Harvard Education Press, 2021), Dignity-Affirming Education: Cultivating the Somebodiness of Students and Educators (Teachers College Press, 2022), Magical Black Tears: A Protest Story (Derute Consulting, 2021), and Doing the Work of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change (Teachers College Press, 2025, with Dr. Ann Ishimaru)—have been described as field-shifting within the profession.

Beyond his professional work, he is a father who advocates for vibrant public spaces on Chicago’s South Side. A self-taught guitarist, songwriter, and occasional performer, he has released three music projects under the name Decoteau Black, exploring Black love, struggle, and liberation.

During this episode, we talked about his book, Stuck Improving: Racial Equity and School Leadership.

“I have long been a fan of Decoteau Irby’s work in the areas of equity and dignity for communities, families, and students of color. In Stuck Improving, he looks at the other side of equity—that of those who work to ensure it. With tremendous implications on research and practice, Irby offers a useful framework for racial equity improvement for those on the ‘frontlines’ of equity to become ‘unstuck.’”

—Noelle W. Arnold, senior associate dean, The Ohio State University

Purchase your copy of Stuck Improving from our Bookshop.

Find Dr. Irby on Instagram: @decoteaublack

Find Dr. Irby online: https://decoteauirby.com/

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This episode features our conversation with Johnisha Matthews Levi, which was live-streamed on September 27, 2026.

Born and raised in Washington, DC, Johnisha Matthews Levi brings a critical eye to her writing based on her experiences as a development professional for social impact nonprofits, a former litigation attorney, and a culinarian. She graduated from Harvard University, New York University School of Law, and Johnson & Wales University. Her writing has appeared in Yes! Media, Wildsam, the kitchn, and Northern Virginia Magazine. Her first book, Number's Up: Cracking the Code of an American Family (University Press of Kentucky, 2025), is a finalist for the 2026 Tennessee Book Award for Nonfiction. She lives in Nashville.

During this episode, we chatted about her debut book, Numbers Up.

Levi's stirring memoir centers on her brilliant but troubled father, a Black World War II radioman who, facing economic barriers after his naval service, reinvents himself as a "numbers man" for an underground gambling operation. The job enables John Matthews to provide for his loved ones and to achieve a level of success far beyond his childhood dreams in the impoverished Jim Crow South. In the process, he becomes an indirect target of law enforcement.

By examining the circumstances of her father's incarceration, Levi explores how multiple generations of the Matthews family have been haunted by the specter of violence against Black people. Number's Up offers a unique but quintessentially American story of survival through ingenuity as it asks: Is forgiveness the sole means of moving forward?

To learn more about Johnisha and her work, please visit johnishamatthewslevi.com.

Purchase your copy of Numbers Up from our Bookshop.

Find Johnisha on Instagram: @johnishamatthewslevi

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A companion podcast to our award-winning series, Black Writers Read, Recasting the Culture highlights the work of BIPOC innovators and other co-conspirators, offering an inside look into the practice and process of writers, musicians, visual artists, curators, community leaders, and educators whose work challenges conventions, re/defines culture, and promotes social transformation.

This episode features my conversation with Latin Grammy-nominated Brazilian jazz musician, saxophonist, and composer, Felipe Salles.

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Salles has been an active musician in the US since 1995. He is a recipient of a 2018 Guggenheim Foundation Composition Fellowship, a 2021 South Arts Jazz Road Creative Residency Grant Fellowship recipient, a 2015 and 2023 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant winner, a 2009-2010 winner of the French American Jazz Exchange Grant, and a 2005-2006 winner of the Chamber Music America New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant Program, grants sponsored by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. He was awarded First Place in the 2001 Concurso SGAE de Jazz "TETE MONTOLIU", 2001, with his composition The Return of The Chromo Sapiens.

Salles has released twelve critically acclaimed recordings as a leader.

His newest recording, Camera Obscura, featuring his quartet, a string quartet and a woodwind sextet, was released on the Tapestry label on June 6, 2025 to critical acclaim. A Deriva (Adrift translated in English), which is featured on A Deriva, is nominated for a 2026 Latin Grammy for Best Arranging.

Felipe Salles has a Master’s and a Graduate Diploma in Jazz Performance from New England Conservatory, and a Doctorate in Jazz Arts Advancement from Manhattan School of Music. He is a Professor of Jazz and African American Music Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has taught since 2010.

To learn more about Dr. Salles’ expansive body of work, please visit sallesjazz.com.

Watch The New Immigrant Experience on YouTube

Hear the Latin Grammy-nominated song for Best Arranging, A Deriva (Adrift)

Watch "Using Poetry to Inspire Composition" - hear Felipe talk about writing music for A Deriva

Find Felipe Salles on Instagram: @sallesjazz

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

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