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A+E Networks® and WNYC Studios announced season two of Blindspot with the launch of Blindspot: Tulsa Burning a six-episode season to commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Tulsa Massacre when a white mob burned the entire black town of Greenwood to the ground.
WNYC Studios’ reporter and producer KalaLea is hosting the series that will launch on Friday, May 28.
“It’s remarkable to think that some people are so resilient as to live through a tragic event like the Tulsa Race Massacre, and come out of it more inspired and more determined to live their truth,” says KalaLea. “Yet that has been happening in North Tulsa for one hundred years. I am honored to learn about the people who made Greenwood a national treasure before it was destroyed, and hope that listeners will come away with more compassion and respect for what Black and Native people in the U.S. contend with in every area of life – at work, in public spaces, during wars, and in their own communities. The story of Greenwood (a.k.a. Black Wall Street) is the story of the American dream, and how the disruption of that dream impacts us all.”
The Tulsa Massacre lasted from May 31 to June 1, 1921 when the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma was destroyed by racially motivated violence. Greenwood was one of the most prosperous African American enclaves in the U.S. – coined by Booker T. Washington as “Black Wall Street.” More than thirty-five city blocks of the neighborhood were burned and hundreds of Black residents were killed. Despite the scale and impact of the attack, the massacre has long been absent from regional and national curriculum and obscured from broad public knowledge.
Experts, historians, authors and survivors will speak in this historical event which has long been hidden from the cultural discussion.
Survivors recently testified before Congress about the event including 107-year old Viola Fletcher who said
I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home,” she testified. “I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lining the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams.