It began with intentional story telling. Tulsa, Oklahoma community members wanted to make sure the triumphant legacy of and atrocities experienced by members of the Greenwood District’s Black Wall Street would never be forgotten.
But who would be responsible for sharing this important history with the next generation?
That’s when a four-day initiative called Dream Tulsa was born.
Opening with a welcome dinner, Tulsa natives share the legacy of Black Wall Street and the aspirations to create a new movement for economic freedom in the city with the public.
Eventually, the spirit of Dream Tulsa grew into something even more influential.
A committee of Black leaders, community members, and historians are owning the narrative through the Greenwood Rising Project, and preparing to commemorate this important chapter in Black history the way it deserves. With a $30 million museum and cultural center in the works, the commission isn’t stopping at just one building.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Centennial Commission responsible for overseeing the project’s progress plans to launch several other initiatives, including fighting to add curriculum about the race massacre into the state’s public school system and funding business development programs for Black entrepreneurs.
Now that the commission, Greenwood community members, and other stakeholders agree on a location for the center, construction has begun. We hope it will be completed and open to the public in time to mark the centennial of the massacre itself in 2021!