Fact Friday: The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 by Tim Madigan. Adapted for young people by Hilary Beard

Image: Macmillan Publishers

The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 by Tim Madigan. Adapted for young people by Hilary Beard. 302 p. Henry Holt and Company/ Macmillan Publishers, May, 2021. 9781250787699. (Review of finished copy borrowed from public library.)

Happy Friday TMS Readers! As we head into the Independence Day weekend, take some time to read and reflect on the history of the U.S. and the democracy that the colonists fought to achieve. Read deeply, past the mythology and understand that "We the people" need to work toward a more perfect union every day by becoming informed participants.

Fact Friday features The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 by Tim Madigan. Adapted for young people by Hilary Beard. Back in the beginning of April, Fact Friday featured Unspeakable by Carole Boston Weatherford. This picture book was a gentle introduction to a tragedy that history book writers tended to ignore at best and misrepresent at worst. Teen readers who want to learn more about the Greenwood community and how it thrived during the Jim Crow era will receive cogent and comprehensive information gleaned from a variety of primary sources. Peppered throughout the narrative are personal stories of a variety of residents.

This book was adapted from a book written for adults. Just as Jason Reynolds did when he adapted Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning work for adults, Stamped from the Beginning, Ms. Beard gently but honestly guides teen readers through the complex factors surrounding this tragedy. Make no mistake though, there will be pain. Segregation is painful and dehumanizing. Lynching was a fairly common form of vigilante justice and the violence that rained down on the community of Greenwood was swift and devastating. Back matter includes copious chapter notes, followed by several pages of books and websites for readers/ researchers wanting to read more.

The Burning is an important addition to any library serving young readers. 

Fact Friday: A Somber Centennial: Tulsa Race Massacre

May 31 to June 1 marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Like many white Americans, I did not learn of the Tulsa Race Massacre until reference was made to it by Kimberly Jones in this video uploaded last year. I looked it up and was horrified-first that it happened and then because the event was basically erased. 

Image: Lerner Publishing

I reviewed Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre, a picture book aimed at older readers to explain the tragedy here and was privileged to attend several virtual meetings featuring the author. Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper did something extraordinary here and this book belongs in all schools. 

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

A short while ago, I got to listen to Brandy Colbert talk about her nonfiction book, Black Birds in the Sky: the Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and that book immediately got added to my next book order for the library. It's due out in October. 

New to me titles I will be adding are:

Image: Macmillan

The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Masacre of 1921, adapted by Hilary Beard from Tim Madigan’s 2001 account for adult readers.

Image: Abrams

Across the Tracks: Remembering the Tulsa Race Massacre and Black Wall Street written by Alverne Ball and illustrated by Stacey Robinson is a nonfiction graphic novel.

Fact Friday: Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford

Image: Lerner Publishing Group

Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. 32 p. Lerner Publishing Group, February, 2021. 9781541581203. (Review of finished copy borrowed from public library.)

Fact Friday features Unspeakable: the Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. This year (May 31 - June 1) marks the hundredth anniversary of a sad, significant and shameful event in American history that, before last summer, many were probably unaware. Ms. Weatherford begins her blank verse with the words, "Once upon a time" and she uses the repetition effectively to instruct readers about the thriving Black community neighborhood in segregated Tulsa, Oklahoma one hundred years ago. Greenwood, also known as the "Black Wall Street" was home to two movie theaters, several Black newspapers and many Black professionals such as doctors and lawyers. 

While this community enjoyed their prosperity, many in the white community resented it. When a white female elevator operator accused a young Black man of assault, it did not take long for racial tension to erupt in violence. A white mob headed to the jail with the intention of lynching the suspect, but was confronted by Black men intending to protect him. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of two Black men and ten whites. The next day, mobs of white men invaded Greenwood intent on burning the neighborhood to the ground. Three hundred Black residents were killed and more than eight thousand were left homeless as police stood by and did nothing to protect them. The incident was labeled a "race riot" and no investigation was done until seventy-five years later.

Floyd Cooper's erasure illustrations celebrate the thriving community, then somberly stun. Readers learn in the illustrator's note in the back matter that Mr. Cooper has a personal connection to Tulsa - his grandfather escaped the massacre. Ms. Weatherford provides more information in her author's note. Back matter includes black and white photos from the time. 

Unspeakable is a must-read, must-discuss book for anyone, adult or young adult wishing to deeply understand American history warts and all. It's a book that will prompt uncomfortable questions and necessary, but uncomfortable conversations in classrooms and around dinner tables. Lerner has provided a helpful twelve-page teaching guide on their website.

ETA: I had the opportunity to tune into a webinar hosted by Frugal Book Store featuring an interview of and reading by the author.