Hidden History of Tulsa
Hidden History of Tulsa

Author: Steve Gerkin

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2014-05-27

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 1625851170

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The story of Tulsa's transformation from a nineteenth-century cow town into the "Oil Capital of the World" has been above ground for years, but a great reservoir of Tulsey Town's heritage has remained beneath the surface. These neglected tales include the dirigible flyover of 1929, the Hominy Indians' victory over the New York Giants and the legendary final performance of Spade Cooley, convicted killer and the self-proclaimed "King of Western Swing." From the horrors of the city's early race riot and the proud legacy of Greenwood (aka Little Africa or Black Wall Street) to Tulsa's iconic landmarks and unforgettable personalities, Steve Gerkin provides an evocative and enjoyable voyage through T-Town's hidden history.

Unspeakable
Unspeakable

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books ®

Published: 2021-02-02

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 172842464X

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Winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards for Author and Illustrator A Caldecott Honor Book A Sibert Honor Book Longlisted for the National Book Award A Kirkus Prize Finalist A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book "A must-have"—Booklist (starred review) Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation's history. The book traces the history of African Americans in Tulsa's Greenwood district and chronicles the devastation that occurred in 1921 when a white mob attacked the Black community. News of what happened was largely suppressed, and no official investigation occurred for seventy-five years. This picture book sensitively introduces young readers to this tragedy and concludes with a call for a better future. Download the free educator guide here: https://lernerbooks.com/download/unspeakableteachingguide

Tulsa's Haunted Memories
Tulsa's Haunted Memories

Author: Teri French

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9780738583877

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Explores the forgotten history and lost folklore of “America's Most Beautiful City,” which has a haunting history that will captivate the reader with the secrets it holds from its intriguing past, while mystery and mystique follow Tulsa's urban legends and prove that truth can be stranger than fiction. Original.

Dreamland Burning
Dreamland Burning

Author: Jennifer Latham

Publisher: Hachette+ORM

Published: 2016-01-26

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0316384941

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A compelling dual-narrated tale from Jennifer Latham that questions how far we've come with race relations. Some bodies won't stay buried. Some stories need to be told. When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the present and the past. Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns. Through intricately interwoven alternating perspectives, Jennifer Latham's lightning-paced page-turner brings the Tulsa race riot of 1921 to blazing life and raises important questions about the complex state of US race relations--both yesterday and today.

Black Birds in the Sky
Black Birds in the Sky

Author: Brandy Colbert

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2021-10-05

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 0063056682

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A searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre. Winner, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District—a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America's Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives. In a few short hours, they'd razed thirty-five square blocks to the ground, leaving hundreds dead. The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass? What exactly happened? And why are the events unknown to so many of us today? These are the questions that award-winning author Brandy Colbert seeks to answer in this unflinching nonfiction account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In examining the tension that was brought to a boil by many factors—white resentment of Black economic and political advancement, the resurgence of white supremacist groups, the tone and perspective of the media, and more—a portrait is drawn of an event singular in its devastation, but not in its kind. It is part of a legacy of white violence that can be traced from our country's earliest days through Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement in the mid–twentieth century, and the fight for justice and accountability Black Americans still face today. The Tulsa Race Massacre has long failed to fit into the story Americans like to tell themselves about the history of their country. This book, ambitious and intimate in turn, explores the ways in which the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the story of America—and by showing us who we are, points to a way forward. YALSA Honor Award for Excellence in Nonfiction

Tulsa
Tulsa

Author: Clyda R. Franks

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738507811

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Tulsa, Oklahoma, "the oil capital of the world," has a long and varied history. Evidence of a possible Norse presence dates to 1000 AD. An ancient people known as the Mound Builders populated the area, then disappeared just prior to the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the 1540s. Osage Indians, as well as other members of the Five Tribes, called this part of Oklahoma home. French trappers made a brief appearance. Finally, outlaws like "Pretty Boy" Floyd and "Machine Gun" Kelly cooled their heels in Tulsa while running from the law in the 1930s. What Tulsa is really known for, however, is oil. The discovery of oil fields in Tulsa at the turn of the century caused an economic and social revolution. The formerly small town became a center of power, and fortunes worth millions of dollars were gained and lost. J. Paul Getty got his start in Tulsa along with his father, who was one of the first to ride Tulsa's tsunami-like oil wave. The town boomed through the 20s and 30s, and oil money built the town of Tulsa into the city it is today. Tulsa currently hosts a population of 380,000 people, and, in honor of its oil legacy, is home to one of the most prominent petroleum schools in the world.

Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District
Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District

Author: Hannibal B. Johnson

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1467111287

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In the early 1900s, an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit brought national renown to Tulsa's historic African American community, the Greenwood District. This Negro Wall Street bustled with commercial activity. In 1921, jealously, land lust, and racism swelled in sectors of white Tulsa, and white rioters seized upon what some derogated as Little Africa, leaving death and destruction in their wake. In an astounding resurrection, the community rose from the ashes of what was dubbed the Tulsa Race Riot with renewed vitality and splendor, peaking in the 1940s. In the succeeding decades, changed social and economic conditions sparked a prodigious downward spiral. Today's Greenwood District bears little resemblance to the black business mecca of yore. Instead, it has become part of something larger: an anchor to a rejuvenated arts, entertainment, educational, and cultural hub abutting downtown Tulsa. The Tulsa experience is, in many ways, emblematic of others throughout the country. Through context-setting text and scores of captioned photographs, Images of America: Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District provides a basic foundation for those interested in the history of Tulsa, its African American community, and race relations in the modern era. Particularly for students, the book can be an entry point into what is a fascinating piece of American history and a gateway to discoveries about race, interpersonal relations, and shared humanity.

The Ground Breaking
The Ground Breaking

Author: Scott Ellsworth

Publisher: Icon Books

Published: 2021-05-20

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1785787284

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** Chosen by Oprah Daily as one of the Best Books to Pick Up in May 2021 ** 'Fast-paced but nuanced ... impeccably researched ... a much-needed book' The Guardian ''[S]o dystopian and apocalyptic that you can hardly believe what you are reading. ... But the story [it] tells is an essential one, with just a glimmer of hope in it. Because of the work of Ellsworth and many others, America is finally staring this appalling chapter of its history in the face. It's not a pretty sight.' Sunday Times A gripping exploration of the worst single incident of racial violence in American history, timed to coincide with its 100th anniversary. On 31 May 1921, in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a mob of white men and women reduced a prosperous African American community, known as Black Wall Street, to rubble, leaving countless dead and unaccounted for, and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed. But along with the bodies, they buried the secrets of the crime. Scott Ellsworth, a native of Tulsa, became determined to unearth the secrets of his home town. Now, nearly 40 years after his first major historical account of the massacre, Ellsworth returns to the city in search of answers. Along with a prominent African American forensic archaeologist whose family survived the riots, Ellsworth has been tasked with locating and exhuming the mass graves and identifying the victims for the first time. But the investigation is not simply to find graves or bodies - it is a reckoning with one of the darkest chapters of American history. '[A] riveting, painful-to-read account of a mass crime that, to our everlasting shame ... has avoided justice. Ellsworth's book presents us with a clear history of the Tulsa massacre and with that rendering, a chance for atonement ... Readers of this book will fervently hope we take that opportunity.' Washington Post

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Author: Karlos K. Hill

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2021-03-18

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0806168862

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On the evening of May 31, 1921, and in the early morning hours of June 1, several thousand white citizens and authorities violently attacked the African American Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the course of some twelve hours of mob violence, white Tulsans reduced one of the nation’s most prosperous black communities to rubble and killed an estimated 300 people, mostly African Americans. This richly illustrated volume, featuring more than 175 photographs, along with oral testimonies, shines a new spotlight on the race massacre from the vantage point of its victims and survivors. Historian and Black Studies professor Karlos K. Hill presents a range of photographs taken before, during, and after the massacre, mostly by white photographers. Some of the images are published here for the first time. Comparing these photographs to those taken elsewhere in the United States of lynchings, the author makes a powerful case for terming the 1921 outbreak not a riot but a massacre. White civilians, in many cases assisted or condoned by local and state law enforcement, perpetuated a systematic and coordinated attack on Black Tulsans and their property. Despite all the violence and devastation, black Tulsans rebuilt the Greenwood District brick by brick. By the mid-twentieth century, Greenwood had reached a new zenith, with nearly 250 Black-owned and Black-operated businesses. Today the citizens of Greenwood, with support from the broader community, continue to work diligently to revive the neighborhood once known as “Black Wall Street.” As a result, Hill asserts, the most important legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the grit and resilience of the Black survivors of racist violence. The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Photographic History offers a perspective largely missing from other accounts. At once captivating and disturbing, it will embolden readers to confront the uncomfortable legacy of racial violence in U.S. history.

Fire in Beulah
Fire in Beulah

Author: Rilla Askew

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2001-12-31

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1101200219

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“A haunting, engrossing portrait of two families – one white, one Black – whose lives are woven together and then shattered” (The Washington Post) by the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Oil-boom opulence, fear, hate, and lynchings are the backdrop for this riveting novel about one of the worst incidents of violence in American history. Althea Whiteside, an oil-wildcatter’s high-strung white wife, and her enigmatic Black maid, Graceful, share a complex connection during the tense days of the Oklahoma oil rush. Their juxtaposing stories – and those of others close to them – unfold as tensions mount to a violent climax in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, during which whites burned the city’s prosperous Black neighborhood to the ground. The massacre becomes the crucible that melds and tests each of the character in this masterful exploration of the American race story and the ties that bind us irrevocably to one another.