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How does a city confront a violent past? Tulsa, Oklahoma, is wrestling with the question as it prepares for the centennial of the brutal race massacre that took place there on May 31 and June 1, 1921.Â
For Tulsa native Jerica Wortham, one answer is through art â especially art that lets Tulsaâs Black community members process their painful history, own the stories for themselves, and find a path toward healing. As program director for The Greenwood Art Project, Ms. Wortham is hoping the project will facilitate space for that to happen.Â
In the final episode of âTulsa Rising,â Ms. Wortham gives our reporters the latest on the projectâs status and her reflections on the transformative power of music, poetry, and creativity.
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In the summer of 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a young Black man named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, a white elevator operator. As the story spread, angry white residents came together to take matters into their own hands. On May 31, these residents attacked the thriving Black neighborhood of Greenwood, looting, burning, and killing.
The event is now known as the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, and it is one of the worst incidents of racist violence in U.S. history.
But the massacre is just the beginning of the story. Over the next 100 years, Tulsa’s Black community would rebuild again and again – in the aftermath of the massacre, and in the face of everything from Jim Crow laws and segregation to police violence and systemic racism.
21 in ‘21: Does a Pandemic Define a Generation?
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For many societies, 21 is a significant age. It’s a period of promise and potential, of leaving behind childhood to forge a way into the world. So what happens when a global pandemic stalls that momentum?
Twelve young adults answer that question in the Monitor’s new special global report, “21 in ’21.” Our reporters spent three months following 21-year-olds in 11 countries as they navigated the pandemic and the ways that it’s changing the world around them.
This episode of “Rethinking the News” features Ryan Lenora Brown, the “21 in ’21” lead reporter. She talks about how the project came to be, the diversity of experiences among the 21-year-olds, and the common threads they all share – wherever they are in the world.
Tulsa, Okla.
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On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob – enraged by a rumor that a young Black man had assaulted a white woman – attacked the Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They set fire to the district, looted businesses, killed Black residents, and displaced thousands.
It was one of the most devastating incidents of racist violence in U.S. history. And it stayed mostly unmentioned for decades.
Today, nearly 100 years after what is now known as the Tulsa race massacre, the city is finally reckoning with its past. Tulsa is commemorating the centennial by opening a new museum dedicated to the Greenwood community, including the massacre in public school curriculum, and fast-tracking an investigation into the long-missing grave sites of those killed in the massacre. Few, if any, other U.S. cities have tried to come to terms with their racist histories.