Like "Pearl Harbor." "Wounded Knee." "Attica."
Tulsa, the city, has existed since 1898. But "Tulsa," the touchstone in U.S. history, has only begun to exist in the last few years — as knowledge of what is likely America's worst single racial atrocity has begun to really sink in.
The Tulsa Race Massacre, which marks its 100th anniversary Monday, owes its new notoriety not to historians — who have struggled to get the word out — or school textbooks, which over 100 years have done their best to suppress it, but to pop culture.
"I think there's always the case for popular culture forcing large historical conversations," said Jason R. Ambroise, history professor at William Paterson University.