RELEASE ME, the Spirits of Greenwood Speak
Author: New Greenwood
Publisher:
Published: 2021-05-14
Total Pages:
ISBN-13: 9781735687216
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA Greenwood Art Project participant. The contributors to this anthology believe the spirits of Greenwood yearn to artistically edify and exhort readers about legacy building fundamentals. RELEASE ME, the Spirits of Greenwood Speak is an interdisciplinary artistic anthology with contributions from Poet Laureate of the United States, Joy Harjo; award-winning poet/author/professor Quraysh Ali Lansana; leading historian on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Hannibal B. Johnson; Tulsa Artist Fellowship artists: Phetote Mshairi, Sara Ahmad, and others; distinguished award winning photographers Don Thompson (and others); renowned international vocalist Alicia Hill; award winning actor Rey Robinson; an array of Greenwood Arts Project artists; other renowned poets; skilled artisans; professionals from various vocations; and citizens of Tulsa, OK. RELEASE ME, the Spirits of Greenwood Speak is a creative transliteration of the voices of the Spirits of Greenwood (aka Negro Wall Street, aka Black Wall Street). The early citizens of the Greenwood District (aka Black Wall Street) in Tulsa, OK were more than victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Despite segregation, Jim Crow laws, World War II, the Great Depression, and the Dust Bowl, Greenwood was an example of what a community of Black People could be when unified and self-sufficient. The Greenwood District was built (and rebuilt after the massacre) on the core principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, economic cooperation, purpose, creativity, faith, and education. Black vivacity and dollars circulated like whirlwinds in the Greenwood District. Greenwood is the body; Black Wall Street is the Soul. This anthology artistically articulates interpretations of the spirits who lived on and around Greenwood.