*Thank you to the publisher for providing this copy for ALAN conference participants.
ACROSS THE TRACKS is a graphic presentation of the history of Greenwood, OK, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre. In 1906 O. W. Gurley founded the Greenwood community. After its formation, countless black professionals, business owners, and others created a community opposite the railroad tracks from Tulsa, OK.
From 1906 until 1921, Greenwood grew. Starting with a grocery store, Greenwood welcomed African Americans like nowhere else in the United States. Schools, a huge theater, a library, hotels and restaurants, and clothing stores lined its streets. Land sold and homes were built and Black-owned businesses thrived despite Jim Crow laws that crippled other parts of the nation. The great Booker T. Washington declared the famous Greenwood Avenue to be the Black Wall Street.
On May 31, 1921, Dick Rowland, a young black man, was accused of attacking a white woman in an elevator. This sparked the Tulsa Race Massacre that destroyed most of Greenwood. Many people are not familiar with this terrible event in U.S. history, but thanks the creators of ACROSS THE TRACKS, young people can now read about it and learn that determined Black citizens proudly rebuilt much of what was destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment