Monday Murals - Black Wallstreet

In June of 1921 the largest scale race riot in the U.S. was in Tulsa, OK  in the Greenwood District where a community called "Black Wall Street" was and is located.  It was once called the Tulsa Race Riot and now it's called the Tulsa Race Massacre.  This mural is located there in the Greenwood District. 
While I was growing up in Tulsa this historical event was not taught to us in our Oklahoma History Class (late '60s). I imagine in every African American family in Tulsa this terrible tragedy was taught and discussed, and rightfully so.
(I hope you can read it.)
The movie "Black Wall Street Burning" premiered in Feb 2020 in two theaters in Oklahoma and now caught in limbo as best I can tell, with the COVID 19 Pandemic.  When will it hit rental is a mystery to me.  On YouTube.com you can watch an "In Search of History" documentary titled "Black Wall Street" (here) to learn more.  

It's hard to wrap my mind around this tragedy and I'm embarrassed it happen in my hometown.  I wish this event and events like it and the good things that minorities accomplished was taught to us in our US and State History classes.   Things like the Tuskegee Airmen,  Code Talkers and individuals like Katherine Johnson (who was a space scientist and mathematician) should be taught.  Maybe it would help our racial issues and discourse
I'm sharing this historical mural with Monday Murals, here.
Enjoy your day!






Comments

  1. Thanks for the historical information about this special mural. There is a lot of history that seems to be distorted and taught differently in different countries and populations. I saw the film "Hidden Figures" about the African American women mathematicians that were crucial to the space race.
    Thanks for participating.

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  2. This is a great tribute to the men and women who survived these horrible riots. I've been to Tulsa several times, but never heard of the Black Wall Street Riots. How sad that I had to learn about this from your blog, but I'm eternally grateful and thankful you shared this with us. It's a great way to memorialize those who suffered through this terrible ordeal. Thank you so much for binging this to my attention. It's a beautiful mural. We, as Americans have a lot to be shameful of. Sadly, I fear this won't be the last racial issue we will learn of.

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  3. There has been quite a bit on the news about Tulsa and the Black Wall Street recently and of course your delightful president's visit. Were you there?
    I have only been to Tulsa once, and I spent the afternoon at a museum and art gallery dedicated to cowboys and the wild west, I can't remember the name now..... but I loved walking through all the rooms. Wonderful art to look at.

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    1. No, I didn't attend the rally. I'm in the 65+ age group for Covid19. I didn't want to be around that many people even though they took precautions (except distancing?). In Oklahoma our daily cases have been climbing and our cases have been the highest they have been since the beginning of the pandemic. Even with the security downtown, I didn't feel comfortable being around the protesters after seeing what has been happening in other cities. I'm proud of our state, our governor, the mayor of Tulsa and Tulsa police department plus the national guard! It was a relatively peaceful event from what I saw. I watched online, and the TV to see what was happening. I bet the museum you went to in Tulsa was the Gilcrease Museum. Thomas Gilcrease was an oilman and an avid art collector. I'm glad you enjoyed visiting Gilcrease. My sister volunteers there and I was able to see some of the beautiful artifacts of pottery, arrowheads and utensils Gilcrease collected from archaeological sites. Thank you for commenting. Enjoy your day!

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