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Friday, May 30, 2014

BURNING TULSA: THE LEGACY OF BLACK DISPOSSESSION

If We Knew Our History - Zinn Education Project Monthly Column



Author: Linda Christensen Burning Tulsa: The Legacy of Black Dispossession 
By Linda Christensen, Director of the Oregon Writing Project at Lewis & Clark College and author of Teaching for Joy and Justice


Tulsa's African American community is attacked on May 30-June 1, 1921. Photo: Oklahoma Historical Society.
Tulsa's African American community is attacked on May 30-June 1, 1921. Photo: Oklahoma Historical Society.
"None of my mostly African American 11th graders in Portland had ever heard of the so-called Tulsa Race Riot, even though it stands as one of the most violent episodes of dispossession in U.S. history.
The term "race riot" does not adequately describe the events of May 31-June 1, 1921 in Greenwood, a black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In fact, the term itself implies that both blacks and whites might be equally to blame for the lawlessness and violence. The historical record documents a sustained and murderous assault on black lives and property. This assault was met by a brave but unsuccessful armed defense of their community by some black World War I veterans and others."     Continue reading



Related:

Black Wall Street 

A Black Holocaust in America, 1921

Black Wall Street, Little Africa, Tulsa, Oklahoma (full version)- video

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