This substantial work about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre begins with an overview of the history of human settlement in Oklahoma and an examination of race and racism in later 19thand early 20th-century America. It goes on to describe the development of the thriving African American Greenwood neighborhood, which included many Black professionals and tradespeople, in Tulsa, along with the accompanying undercurrent of tension and resentment among whites. The terrible events of May 31 and June 1, 1921, began when a young Black man was accused of assaulting a young white woman in an elevator; he was seen fleeing after she screamed. (Much later police determined he likely tripped getting in and grabbed her arm for support.) His arrest, the determination of the Black community to prevent his lynching, and the white community’s anger fueled by a local newspaper led to riots that killed hundreds of African Americans, saw the Greenwood neighborhood burned and destroyed, and left thousands homeless. A final chapter looks at the aftermath of the massacre, including ongoing investigations into what happened as well as reconciliation efforts. The author’s afterword looks at events in 2020 that underscore the ongoing racism in our nation and her belief in the importance of knowing our history. Detailed and intensive research, documented in the end matter, went into this compelling work. (Age 13 and older)

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. Winner, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.

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.

YALSA Honor Award for Excellence in Nonfiction