Comebackers I am on the road, Tulsa Ok to be exact— for work. I am happy to report that I did not find toto or dorothy (wait thats Kansas), but I did find my analogous yellow brick road (a sad ending for a reflective and hopeful future): Black Wall Street.
If you recall (or hopefully somebody like your Mama, Daddy, Grandma, Auntie or a textbook told you) the Tulsa riot of 1921 was the biggest and most devastating race riot/fire in civil rights history. “Black Wall Street” was one of the most self-sustaining and wealthy black places in this country comprised of doctors, lawyers, writers and other black business owners (many multimillionaires). More than 2000 of these businesses and residences were destroyed in blazes of fire in the early parts of the 20th century. When I return, I will show yall some of my iphone pics. And I’ll also really explore why I feel such a great kinship to this place for obvious and not so obvious reasons.
Its rather eery. “A city slicking black girl” hearting Tulsa OK, so much so I am thinking of staying another day to visit the Black Wall Street/Greenwood cultural center.
strange indeed.
4 Comments
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 10:26 am
I await your return:)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 10:34 am
and some pictures too. I’ve been to Tulsa before.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I can’t wait to see the pics. My grandpa used to say that the only bad part about integration was that it broke up the black wealth structure that was prevalent in the past when everybody supported black business.
Why do I have this feeling that you are going to meet somebody on your trip?
Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Enjoy the rest of your trip. I look forward to hearing more about it and seeing the pics.