Photo: Alvin C. Krupnick Co./Library of Congress (AP)
The first time most (white) Americans likely heard about the Tulsa Race Massacre was when HBO’s
Watchmen opened its first episode aired on October 20, 2019 with the devastating reenactment of the death and destruction that took place on May 31-June 1 in Greenwood, the Black neighborhood known as “Black Wall Street.”
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Or if they missed that, HBO came through again when its genre-bending, horror/sci-fi series
Lovecraft Country featured an entire episode in which the main characters traveled back in time to reconnect with their ancestors just as fire and white rage began to consume the Black community. (And shoutout to popular culture for doing a better job of teaching
For the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the New York Times has released an interactive experience, What the Tulsa Massacre Destroyed, that takes viewers through the streets of a digitally created and historically accurate Greenwood neighborhood, demonstrating the destruction the massacre created. Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma was considered the “Black Wall Street” in the 1920s and after a group of Black individuals tried to stop the lynching of a Greenwood resident, a mob of white people from the next town over opened fire on the small town, inciting what is still known as the singular worst display of racial violence the country has ever seen.
Portland school fears Evergreens mascot tied to lynching
Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School wants to swap Trojan mascot for evergreen tree.
The adoption of a new mascot for Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School was put on pause, after concerns about potential connotations of lynching.
After adopting a new namesake earlier this year, the Southwest Portland high school also wants to ditch its Trojan mascot. A committee comprised of students, staff and community members suggested the evergreens as the school s new mascot. Evergreens are characterized by the life-giving force of their foliage, the strength of their massive trunk, and the depth of their roots in an individual tree and as a forest of trees, Ellen Whatmore, a teacher and mascot committee member at Wells-Barnett High School said, reading from a resolution. They provide shelter and sustenance. They have histories that preclude us and will continue in perpetuity after we are no more.