Volume 1, Issue 2 2021
Page 5
1921 - 2021 THE TULSA RACE MASSACRE CENTENNIAL In the early 20th century, Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood, known as ‘Black Wall Street,’ was a thriving mecca of black business unlike anywhere else in the world. On Memorial Day weekend in 1921, mobs of white Tulsans backed by city leaders and members of the Ku Klux Klan attacked Greenwood and burned 40 square blocks of Black Wall Street to the ground. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands lost their homes or businesses in one of the largest incidents of racial violence in American history. To this day, there is no accurate account of how many were injured or killed as for decades, the official death toll according to Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics was 36 total.
The Aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.
According to an official announcement to all press outlets, to commemorate the centennial, Motown Records is gearing up to release a new collaborative album titled Fire in Little Africa. The hip-hop collection will feature 21 songs from Oklahoma artists and is scheduled to drop on May 28. Ethiopia Habtemariam, chairman and CEO of Motown Records, said "Carrying the legacy of the Black Wall Street community, Fire in Little Africa is a body of work filled with purpose and prolific storytelling. I am honored and feel privileged to have Motown Records/Black Forum partner with Dr. View, the Bob Dylan Center and [the Woody] Guthrie Center to release this impactful hip-hop album." The album was recorded in Greenwood over a five-day period in March 2020. Studios were set up at the Greenwood Cultural Center and other locations, including the former home of the KKK leader who led the massacre. The house is now owned by former NFL first-round draft pick and Tulsa native Felix Jones. The album’s artists are pictured in front of the house (right). The artists of Fire in Little Africa taken in front of former home of KKK leader.
Stevie “Dr. View” Johnson is a DJ, producer, educator and community organizer from Texas. Dr. View received his PhD in Higher Education Administration from the University of Oklahoma in May of 2019. His HipHop album and written dissertation, entitled Curriculum of the Mind: A BlackCrit, Narrative Inquiry Hip-Hop Album on Anti-Blackness & Freedom for Black Male Collegians at historically white institutions, received the 2019 Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Award for the Association for the Study of Higher Education. Recently, the Office of Student Affairs in partnership with the Black Student Association co-hosted a dialogue with Dr. View after his presentation, Making the (In)Visible Visible: Reclaiming Black Wall Street Histories in which he outlined the history and the context of the Massacre and his work to bring it out of obscurity and into the light.
Dr.View
