Imagine a prosperous community in America that isn't as white as snow and you might find yourself in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the beginning of the 20th century. They called the Greenwood neighborhood Black Wall Street which thrived as a result of land ownership and oil drilling.
Racist jealousy razed it in 1921 after a White woman accused a Black man of rape. Believe it or not, local farmers used crop dusters to bomb 35 blocks with kerosene, killing and injuring hundreds and leaving thousands homeless.
Power couple John and Loula Williams owned the Dreamland Theater among other enterprises.
Brass plaques embedded in the sidewalks commemorate Black-owned business that were destroyed.
Thom expected Greenwood to be bigger.
Highway construction hindered community re-development, although that didn't stop this guy from soliciting donations to restore his Cadillac Seville. Note the QR code on the back window!
The neighborhood may prosper once again if Greenwood Rising!, a first-rate museum that opened recently, attracts tourists and the businesses that serve them. A James Baldwin quote is inscribed on the building: Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
as well as the forces that brought it down.
If someone told me the KKK had marched on the nation's Capitol five years after the massacre, I'm not sure I would have believed them. Then again, I hardly could believe what happened to the building on January 6. The insurrectionists might as well have been wearing pointy white hoods.
A virtual reality barber shop occupies one gallery. Three barbers converse about Greenwood's economic independence while cutting visitors' hair.
It's probably not coincidental that the most radical barber resembles Malcolm X.
The final exhibits leave visitors with a sense of positive change, like these local beauty queens
. . . and the resumption of normal life. This woman looks as if she's wondering if she made the right decision, just like any bride.
Greenwood Rising! also asks that visitors commit to taking action following their visit.
Afterward, Thom and I picked up some groceries and had a picnic on the bank of the Illinois River.
I got a kick out of this doorless, well-ventilated and immaculate restroom.
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