Black Wall Street Rising

Colorlines.com, a daily, online news source produced by Race Forward, has educated me once again. Earlier this week, the site posted a story about the 100^th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. According to Colorlines and the 8-minute video it posted—GreenwoodRising: #TulsaTriumphs—I’m not the only one who was unaware of this tragic, historic event.

A University of Oklahoma press release from March 2021 summarized the century-old story this way:

 “The Tulsa Race Massacre occurred May 31 through June 1, 1921, when a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses in Tulsa’s predominantly Black Greenwood neighborhood. The event remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, and until recently, one of the least known. News reports from the time were largely suppressed or skewed, despite the fact that many people were killed and thousands left homeless.”

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Colorlines reporting led me to its “10 Ways to Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre,” including the film below. The video gives an overview of this heinous crime and also shows how this story, like so many about white supremacy in the U.S., had been buried. 

GreenwoodRising : #TulsaTriumphs from Atria Creative on Vimeo.

Along the way through the Colorlines commemoration list, I came upon more sources to fill in the gaps of my knowledge about the massacre.  I recommend these if you want to learn more: 

The Tulsa Historical Society and Museum description of the massacre 

“Black Wall Street History of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921” by Bank Greenwood.

From Black History Studies, a trailer for the documentary, “Black Wall Street: Before They Die!”

Four years ago I wrote about my woefully inadequate knowledge of history in my post, “Don’t Know Enough About History.” I still have a lot to learn, and I’m grateful for teachers like Colorlines.