Education For Life Academy
Where Black History Lives!
Unit 7: The Great Migration & Harlem Renaissance (1916 – 1935)
The Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Curriculum
Video: Black Wall Street - Before They Die (6:31 min)
Class 3: Black Wall Street: The Tulsa Riot of 1921
- Do you believe survivors and their descendants should receive reparations for their loses during the Tulsa Riot of 1921? Why or why not?
- What reason was given for why many Blacks rarely went to downtown Tulsa to shop?
- How did the Tulsa Riot of 1921 affect the fortunes of future generations?
- What is now left of the former "Black Wall Street"? Did it ever recover economically?
STUDY QUESTIONS (also in Study Guide)
One of the few plaques that commemorate the legacy of "Black Wall Street." The entire Black community was firebombed and burned to the ground because Black men refused to allow White people to lynch an innocent Black man falsely accused of sexually assaulting a white woman.
Many people say incidents like this should not be taught in U.S. history textbooks; that it incites hatred of whites. Unfortunately the past affects the present. All of the wealth of this community was destroyed by a white mob. None of the Black people were ever compensated for their losses. What's worse is that we tell their descendants to forget about the murder of their ancestors and the theft of their inheritance.
