As a member of the Dogwood Reader's Award Committee for the Missouri Association of School Librarians, I have read a lot of nonfiction books for children and teens in the last year. Many of them have been excellent and discussed topics or people I wasn't familiar with. Two recent books for teens detail the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. While I had heard of this event, I wasn't familiar with the details.
The Tulsa Race Massacre is considered one of the worst events of racial violence in American history, even though many history books do not discuss it. A white mob attacked the Greenwood District of Tulsa, destroying 35 square blocks, burning down more than 1,250 homes and 200 businesses and looting another 215. The property damage was estimated to be $2 million, which would be more than $30 million today. While only 37 death certificates were issued, most historians believe the number to be much higher, possibly as high as 300. Around 10,000 Black residents were left homeless, and many displaced residents of Greenwood never returned to Tulsa.
"The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921" was written by Tim Madigan but adapted for young readers by Hilary Beard. "Black Birds in the Sky: the Story of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre" was written by Brandy Colbert. While both books detail the events leading up to the massacre on June 1, 1921, and its aftermath, they approach telling this story in different ways.
"The Burning" starts with a history of lynching and racial violence in America in order to set the stage for the attempted lynching that started the Greenwood massacre. It then continues the story of Greenwood and introduces the prominent men and women who built Greenwood and who were there trying to protect it. What follows is a very detailed description of the events of that night, with many first person accounts and eye witness statements to the events. Madigan and Beard are compelling storytellers, and you could almost believe this was a fast-paced adventure novel if you didn't know it had actually happened.
"Black Birds in the Sky" begins with the history of Oklahoma detailing the forced removal of Native Americans to the territory and Oklahoma's journey to statehood. The story of the Greenwood massacre is told with broad strokes and far fewer details than are offered in "The Burning." This account is much more of a traditional nonfiction narrative, but Colbert's writing makes the story accessible to readers.
Even though the authors tell the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre in different ways, a lot of the same information is offered in both books. The two books document the history of slavery in America and racial tensions after the Civil War. How Greenwood became the Black Wall Street and such a prominent hub of Black wealth and affluence is also detailed in both of these works. The authors conclude the books by tying these historical events into current racial tensions being experienced in America today.
Reading these two works gives a full view of the massacre and its place in American history. I can't recommend one over the other as they approached this event in different ways, but I will definitely recommend either if you would like to learn more about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre as they were both excellent reads and very informative. If you have younger children and would like to share this story, "Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre" by Carole Boston Weatherford is a picture book geared toward elementary-age students that was also released this year.
Angie Bayne is the Children's Services Manager at Missouri River Regional Library.
CORRECTION: The headline of this article was edited at 9:40 a.m. Oct. 25, 2021, to correct a misspelling that inadvertently altered its meaning.