A Discussion with Myron Medcalf, Founder of Hennepin County Library's Mary Ann Key Book Club

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos by Hennepin County Communications

The Mary Ann Key Book Club is a collaboration with Myron Medcalf, the Hennepin County Library and the Star Tribune. It is gloriously woke, facilitating intercultural conversations around understanding and addressing past and current injustices that impact Black, Indigenous, and BIPOC community members. The club has just over 4,100 members – and is the largest in the Hennepin County Library system. We talked to Medcalf about the origins of the club, memorable moments and what’s next. As a college basketball reporter and nationally syndicated radio host with ESPN, he also gives us some Final Four predictions.

Q:  What inspired you to establish the Mary Ann Key Book Club and how did your great great great grandmother's legacy influence its creation?

A:  I had an awareness of my family history at an early age. My Aunt Sarah was a historian, so I grew up with the sort of family knowledge before it became a trendy thing to pursue, like with Ancestry.com. Aunt Sarah actually had an African American museum in her basement. Things that were normal for me as a kid back in the 80s weren’t as normal for others. Mary Ann Key, as our family’s matriarch, was a part of that knowledge for me very early on – we went down to Alabama and visited the plantation where she had been enslaved, met some of the descendants of the family that owned her – I always felt a connection with that part of my background. She was a slave in the 1850s, purchased for $1000 at the age of 14. There are many Mary Ann Key’s out there - people who maybe were not offered the recognition and respect that they deserved. A lot of those people are women. Many people have ancestors just like her in their own families. Mary Ann Key is a prime example – slavery never stole the freedom of her heart, mind and soul and she was the inspiration for the book club.

Q:  What's the primary goal of the book club, and are you able to measure its impact on the community?

A:  I guess I'll start with the second question. I don't know how to measure the impact of anything I've ever done on the community. I don't know if I've made a difference in anything honestly in my entire life, so I think that's for other people to decide.

My goal is that the key to any sort of progress or change is relationship and conversation. You can't formulate new opinions unless you have new ideas - unless you have decided to put yourself in a position where you're going to consider other perspectives. The book club introduces ideas on African American history or Indigenous history and we've presented a lot of different books just to say, “Hey, the world as it is, has been described by a predominantly set of white male authors.” Of course, that's not the world everybody experiences. In order to change perspectives, you have to be within the conversation, so that's the goal in terms of impact. I just want to be a part of the conversation and bring other people into the conversation too.

Q:  How do you choose the books and what criteria do you use to guide your selections?

A:  This is a partnership with the Hennepin County Library, so they play a significant role, as well as the Star Tribune. I work closely with a group at the Library – we have a panel of leaders who assist with selection. We read many different books that we’re considering and then we have a discussion. We have different categories – the discussion starts with selecting the category that makes sense at this time and then from there we try to choose the book and it is not easy. There are a lot of excellent, incredible books but we also have to have a discussion around distribution and availability of the titles. It is a cool process and a great deal of the credit goes to the Library for their role in the selections. Shout out to Friends of the Hennepin County Library, too, for sponsorship.

Above and below, Myron Medcalf with author Anthony Ray Hinton at a 2024 Mary Ann Key Book Club event at the Central Library.

Q:  Can you share a memorable moment or feedback from participants that highlight the book club’s influence? I attended the presentation last year with author Javier Zamora where he discussed his memoir, Solito. Several Mexican immigrants seated next to me cried throughout the talk, so I witnessed firsthand the impact the club has on community members. I’ve thought about that event many times.

A:  I would say the overall thing that stands out is when people tell me that they feel “seen” in ways that maybe they haven't felt seen before. Yes, the talk with Javier was really powerful conversation but I think Anthony Ray Hinton’s book – The Sun Does Shine - and the author talk we did around it was really impactful. We had a group of individuals who had been previously incarcerated in Minnesota on a panel talking about their experiences and just being highlighted and acknowledged and just being able to say your voices matter was important. I try to just assemble groups of people and say, “Your voice matters too.” Again, I don’t know if I achieved anything - that’s just the goal so those are my favorite moments when people feel like they matter. All we can do about anything is get in there and try to do something. I don’t ever want this to be about me in any way - I'm just a piece of the puzzle and quite insignificant in the greater pursuit of justice and equality. I believe it's the largest book club in Hennepin County Libraries history with over 4000 members – I’m so happy to tell you that fact. We select the book, gather the community and panelists and I try to shrink into the background.

Q:  What are your aspirations for the club? What's on the horizon?

A:  More books, more conversations, more connections and changed perspectives. My hope is that a participant might wake up tomorrow and then reconsider things that they had previously thought about folks who are not like them. I don't think there's another path to change. You can talk about all these action statements but I don’t think any of that is sustainable unless there is the consideration that my worldview isn't the only worldview. That is where you have to start and I think too often we go to action steps without that foundation and that's why things don't last.  I'm just trying to do it at the grassroots level - the real ground level - because I think that's where everything grows from. Our next book is The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by local author Junaudra Petrus, winner of  the 2020 Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award.  Expect some lively discussions around this book!

Q:  Ok, I’m shifting gears but you are the ESPN College Basketball analyst and reporter. Who will be in the men’s and women’s Final Four?

A:  I wouldn’t bet against Paige Beckers and UConn for women. For men, it’s hard to forecast, but Duke and Auburn look pretty good to me!