Truxal Library Special Topic Guide: Tulsa Greenwood Race Massacre

"May 22, 2012 - (Originally recorded in 2001). A look back at the 1921 race riot that set Tulsa on fire. Bob Simon reports."

"Goin’ Back to T-Town tells the story of Greenwood, an extraordinary Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that prospered during the 1920s and 30s despite rampant and hostile segregation. Torn apart in 1921 by one of the worst racially-motivated massacres in the nation’s history, the neighborhood rose from the ashes, and by 1936 boasted the largest concentration of Black-owned businesses in the U.S., known as “Black Wall Street.” Ironically, it could not survive the progressive policies of integration and urban renewal of the 1960s. Told through the memories of those who lived through the events, the film is a bittersweet celebration of small-town life and the resilience of a community’s spirit."

"Hate Crimes in the Heartland is an award-winning documentary film and community outreach project that explores our national epidemic of hate crimes through the lens of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Emmy-winning producer Rachel Lyon explores two stories, over 90 years apart, that both dissect current issues of civil rights and the media's impact on justice. The film begins in Tulsa in 2012, where two white men drove through the African-American Greenwood neighborhood targeting blacks at random, killing three and leaving two others in critical condition. The film follows the murders, the ensuing social media uproar, the manhunt, and ultimate prosecution and death penalty sentencing of two suspects. The film ties this crime back to the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, an event that left 300 dead, 10,000 homeless, and 35 square blocks of the African-American community burnt to cinders. Sadly, the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot and the 2012 murders are not merely events of the past, but current events that we see echoed in society today, from Ferguson's Michael Brown to Florida's Trayvon Martin. This powerful documentary depicts how racial animosity has defined much of American culture for more than 90 years, and asks important questions about media, race, crime, and punishment."

One hundred years after the destruction of the Black-owned Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, residents and descendants examine the history of the 1921 tragedy and its aftermath. Through the historical lens of white violence and Black resistance, the film explores vital issues of atonement, reconciliation and reparation.

A racially-diverse panel in Oklahoma has recently urged the state to pay reparations for the Tulsa race riots in 1921 when angry white mobs killed about 300 Black people, fire-bombed the Black section of town from the air, and left the prosperous Black community of Greenwood in ashes. Tony Brown's Journal, which reported on this historical tragedy nearly 15 years ago, examines these new developments.

"It was one of the deadliest terror attacks in US history. So why wasn’t the Tulsa Race Massacre properly taught in US schools until 2019?"