Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

 

My Thoughts:

This journalistic non fiction book, heavily researched and humanized for YA researchers is a piece of American history that has taken 100 years to come to light. Not only is it sad that a community thousands of miles away in another state (Hawai'i) is hearing this American history story for the first time, but based on the silencing of even higher education departments in  Oklahoma, following the 1921 event, this story might have quietly slipped out of the consciousness of Oklahoma residents. 

There is hope that in 2020, some work has been done to unearth mass graves in Tulsa to try and bring closure for families of victims, however it has taken 100 years to even start uncovering truth and trauma. It is now time to acknowledge the massacre in the Greenwood district as well as in the city of Tulsa, but before that happens, the many "why" questions need to be asked in order to combat historic erasure. That work needs to happen before any kind of healing can happen. Colbert's work is one weapon in combatting erasure and forcing legislative advocacy that is necessary to change policy and promote healing, not just for black Americans, but also the original Natives displaced from their homelands and forced into Oklahoma.  If we are beginning to ask questions and do some radical self assessment as a  country, then we need to tell the whole truth, including, like Colbert, going back before the incident in order to continue to ask questions on why the community, and this country made it possible for such an atrocity to happen as well as to bring to the forefront the continued trauma happening now. 

For teachers - this is the kind of resource that we need to have in our classrooms to show the power of research as storytelling. As a model text, this book is a discussion starter, perfect for philosophical questioning and discussion. Add it to your repertoire. 

From the author's note:

Black American history is beautiful and horrific, full of progress and setbacks that have defined the story of the United States since its founding. But no matter how it looks, everyone deserves to know the truth about the past and how it informs the present. - Brandy Colbert

From the Publisher:

A searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre.

In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District—a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America's Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives.

In a few short hours, they'd razed thirty-five square blocks to the ground, leaving hundreds dead. The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass? What exactly happened? And why are the events unknown to so many of us today?

These are the questions that award-winning author Brandy Colbert seeks to answer in this unflinching nonfiction account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In examining the tension that was brought to a boil by many factors—white resentment of Black economic and political advancement, the resurgence of white supremacist groups, the tone and perspective of the media, and more—a portrait is drawn of an event singular in its devastation, but not in its kind. It is part of a legacy of white violence that can be traced from our country's earliest days through Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement in the mid–twentieth century, and the fight for justice and accountability Black Americans still face today.

The Tulsa Race Massacre has long failed to fit into the story Americans like to tell themselves about the history of their country. This book, ambitious and intimate in turn, explores the ways in which the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the story of America—and by showing us who we are, points to a way forward.