Views of Greenwood: Interviews with the Artists By Susan Green
The Greenwood District was all but destroyed during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Despite overwhelming devastation, Greenwood residents and business owners remained and rebuilt. In the decades that followed, the neighborhood thrived again—but continued to face blows from urban renewal and other forms of systemic racism. Oklahoma photographers Don Thompson, Gaylord Oscar Herron, and Eyakem Gulilat documented the neighborhood from the late 1960s to the present day. The resulting images explore moments and landscapes of the community: 1970s sedans beside brick storefronts, empty railroad tracks stretching to the downtown skyline, and the faces of entrepreneurs whose businesses would be reduced to rubble the following day. Greenwood is a place of resilience, one that survives today thanks to the impassioned—and ongoing—work of community residents. The important images in Views of Greenwood by these three photographers show the physical makeup
Don Thompson, Roller Skater, 1991. Gelatin silver print, 13.5” x 9.25”, Courtesy of the artist. © Don Thompson
of the neighborhood and surroundings, as well as the people who live and work in Greenwood—a barber, a newlywed couple, and a new generation of children playing, making the neighborhood their own.
DON THOMPSON As you were developing your practice as a photographer, what did you hope to explore with your images?
As a young photographer, I looked to artists like Gordon Parks who used his camera as a weapon against discrimination. I wanted to show the injustices that I felt and that I saw in our society. Through my photographs, I hoped to change others’ perceptions about people of color and dispel the notion that people of color had no value. I took up the camera to show the goodness and grace of people. Your photographs in Views of Greenwood are powerful images of a community. What drew you to focus on Greenwood?
In taking these photographs, I discovered that we all have mutual beliefs and desires. I also wanted to change people’s perceptions of Greenwood and North Tulsa. I noticed that the Tulsa news media
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