<p>Historian Scott Ellsworth's new book "The Ground Breaking" documents efforts by White Tulsans to conceal and deny the 1921 riot that destroyed much of the city's Black commercial district. </p>
7 min to read Our theme is âthe church that faith built,â and because of faith, weâre still there.â
 â Sharlene Johnson, chair of Mount Zion Baptist Church joint board
Once a gathering place for the cityâs Black community, Mount Zion Baptist Church stands empty with smoke billowing from it, shortly before being burned to the ground, in an image from the Tulsa Race Massacre.Â
Today, it continues to act as a place of community for its members, who meet in a large building similar to the one in the image. But its members havenât forgotten its history.Â
Sharlene Johnson, chair of Mount Zionâs joint board, said when the church started in 1909, it was held in a one-room frame building. Construction began on a larger building, on the same land the church is on now, in 1916. The first services were held in the new building in April 1921 â two months before white Tulsans would burn the building to rubble.