i was asked to do a regular guest editorial column in the oklahoma eagle, which is the black newspaper. one of my assignments was to do a historical treatment of the greenwood district, i thought of this obligation of service, if i am going to live in the community, i want the community to be the best that it can be. we cannot do that unless we can gauge in the work right racial reconciliation. we cannot do that, unless we acknowledge our history. a black man came to oklahoma from arkansas, he bought land. he sold land to other african americans and established his first business in 1906. businesses just proliferated
In 1921, a mob of white citizens largely destroyed the Greenwood District. Five decades later, Donald Thompson rushed to photograph the community before urban renewal demolished it, again.