Ripon Public Library

Built from the fire, the epic story of Tulsa's Greenwood district, America's Black Wall Street : one hundred years in the neighborhood that refused to be erased, Victor Luckerson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 493-619) and index

collective biography

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

Built from the fire

bibliography

1345221116

Victor Luckerson

the epic story of Tulsa's Greenwood district, America's Black Wall Street : one hundred years in the neighborhood that refused to be erased

"When Ed Goodwin moved with his parents to Greenwood, Tulsa, his family joined a growing community on the cusp of becoming the center of Black life in the West. But, just a few years later, on May 31, 1921, the teenaged Ed hid in a bathtub as a white mob descended on his neighborhood. They laid waste to 35 blocks and murdering as many as 300 people. The Tulsa Race Massacre was one of the worst acts of racist violence in United States history. The Goodwins and many of their neighbors soon rebuilt the district into "a Mecca," in Ed's words, where nightlife thrived, small businesses flourished, and an underworld economy lived comfortably alongside public storefronts. Ed grew into a prominent businessman and bought a community newspaper called the Oklahoma Eagle to chronicle its resurgence and battles against white bigotry. He and his genteel wife, Jeanne, raised an ambitious family, who became literal poster-children for black progress, and their son Jim, an attorney, embodied their hopes for the Civil Rights Movement. But, by the 1970s urban renewal policies had nearly emptied the neighborhood, even as Jim and his neighbors tried to hold onto pieces of Greenwood. Today, the newspaper remains, and Ed's granddaughter Regina represents the neighborhood in the Oklahoma state legislature, working alongside a new generation of local activists"--, Provided by publisher

Prologue -- Do not hesitate, but come -- And sometimes better, besides -- Black capital -- False promises -- The war at home and abroad -- "Get a gun and get busy" -- The massacre -- A conspiracy in plain sight -- Far from home -- The myth of an impervious people -- Sugar Man -- Family business -- A world apart -- Separate but equal -- Crossing the line -- You'll be a man, my son -- Somewhere between hope and expectation -- A slower burn -- Handoffs -- In flesh and stone -- Reconciliation day -- "Trust the system" -- This is our time -- Dissolution -- The rituals of remembrance -- Beyond ceremony -- Epilogue

Epic story of Tulsa's Greenwood district, America's Black Wall Street