e-Audio, 05:25:30
Narrated by: Balzer + Bray
Release Date: October 5, 2021
Published by: Balzer + Bray
Read from: December 2-4, 2021
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Overdrive
TW: Mentions of Slavery and Segregation, Mentions of Death and harm because of one’s skin color
For Readers Interested In: Non-fiction, African American History, Fave Authors, YAA searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre.
In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District—a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America’s Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives.
In a few short hours, they’d razed thirty-five square blocks to the ground, leaving hundreds dead. The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass? What exactly happened? And why are the events unknown to so many of us today?
These are the questions that award-winning author Brandy Colbert seeks to answer in this unflinching nonfiction account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In examining the tension that was brought to a boil by many factors—white resentment of Black economic and political advancement, the resurgence of white supremacist groups, the tone and perspective of the media, and more—a portrait is drawn of an event singular in its devastation, but not in its kind. It is part of a legacy of white violence that can be traced from our country’s earliest days through Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement in the mid–twentieth century, and the fight for justice and accountability Black Americans still face today.
The Tulsa Race Massacre has long failed to fit into the story Americans like to tell themselves about the history of their country. This book, ambitious and intimate in turn, explores the ways in which the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the story of America—and by showing us who we are, points to a way forward.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Y’all know that Brandy Colbert is one of my favorite authors. I will read anything that she writes. And that includes non-fiction. And this one proved to be essential. It really should be required reading, but the way things are going in the world, it won’t be looked at twice.
When asking people about the Tulsa Race Massacre, I don’t believe I got more than 5 people who knew what the event was. We didn’t learn about this in school, and no one seems to want to talk about this event period. So I thank Colbert for taking on the task to learn and teach others about one of the “most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre.”
As I said we don’t learn about these things in school. Regarding Black History, we learn about the same things. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., etc. And you learn about it every year. And then being from the south, I learned it in American History and State History. And we literally learned about those same people over and over. So when I heard about this, I had no idea what this was. So when I finally looked it up, it hurt. Why are so many people trying to hide this? There were lives lost and the way they were acting made it seem as if they didn’t matter. And people want to try to tamp this down so that THEIR KIDS DON’T FEEL BAD? How do they think the ancestors of these people felt when they tried to hide their deaths?
Colbert was a great person to write this. She got people’s real accounts of what happened and she wrote this non-fiction out in a way that I didn’t want to miss anything. I was captivated. And the narrator was also good. I was enthralled in this story. Colbert weaved this tragic story into a great one. One that should be Required Reading.
As someone who doesn’t like history, this one stayed on my TBR for a little bit. I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it, but the only type of history I actually like is Black History, so I gave it a shot. And this one is definitely one I will read again. I’m afraid of how this will be received where I stay, but I hope that before it gains the negative attention, it will get more positive attention from those who want to know more about this devastating event. I hope that this is reached far and wide by those who really need it.
Overall, I give this
Have you read this? Will you read it? Do you read non-fiction? Do you have non-fiction areas that you will read? Let me know in the comments!