They were told white men 'wouldn't relate to' the Tulsa Race Massacre. Then came 'Watchmen'

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-05-26/tulsa-race-massacre-watchmen-lovecraft-country-documentaries

When filmmaker Jonathan Silvers got the idea a few years ago to make a documentary about the 1921 annihilation of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Okla. — the most deadly and destructive racist attack in U.S. history — he imagined he would have no trouble finding a distributor.

(snip)

But when he and his producing team started pitching the project in 2019, he ran into a wall.

“We tried for at least a year to interest a number of broadcasters in the project, and none of them at the time recognized the nature of what we were doing,” Silver said. “We weren’t just exposing a mass atrocity, but a mass atrocity that had been hidden from history.”

It took a group of quirky masked superheroes to reverse that reluctance: In its premiere episode in October 2019, HBO’s Emmy-winning miniseries “Watchmen” dramatically depicted the violence of the massacre, illuminating it with a brighter spotlight than it had ever received.

[onlyadream]

1. I watched that first episode

It was the only episode I watched, since I'm not a superhero story kind of person. When they showed the scene of the massacre, I thought... there's no way a town would exist like that in OK at that time. So I thought the entire thing was just the imagination of the writers. Not long after I heard the term "Black Wall Street" and Tulsa. Then I googled.

I loved history. I'm 55 and back in the 80s I got the highest grade in the history regents (NYS) in my class of 600. I NEVER heard of this history. Never. My kids (both now in their early 20s) have. This led to a dinner conversation about what exactly I did learn and what they're learning now. A huge difference on so many levels.

[SoonerPride]

2. The entire series is worth the watch

It had a lot to say. And said it in an interesting and engaging way.

[Blue Dawn]

3. I am a little older than you, onlyadream....

....and this was also never mentioned in any of my history classes, either.

I will be seeing both of my adult children Tuesday and will ask them if this was discussed in any of their classes.

I am going to learn now what I should have learned years ago.

[Volaris]

11. I bet it wasnt...I'm 43, and it wasnt in mine circa 90-94...

This is why art is so very culturally important.
The shit the rest of us are trained to forget, (or ignore) is where the soul of art makes its living. It's been this way since the rennascince, at least. As an additional observation, truly great art and innovation REQUIRES a culture that doesnt spend all its time on basic day-to-day survival...and Americas wall-street types would do well to remember that, because the art that is produced as a result IS ALSO a marketable commodity.

[Sherman A1]

4. Interesting, but I have been aware of it for many years

It was not taught in school, but I read about it amongst other parts of our nations checkered history.

[murielm99]

5. I learned about this two years ago.

I found an account of it in a book that was historical fiction. I cannot, for the life of me, remember the title of the book.

After reading the book, I Googled it.

I am 72 years old. I read a lot. I cannot believe I did not know any of this.

[Sneederbunk]

6. Amazon has more than a dozen books on the subject.

[LiberalArkie]

7. Neither that nor the Elaine massacre nor many of the other events were talked about

or in our history books. Not even the trail of tears or robbing the natives of their oil after the natives were located in useless land in Oklahoma.

[flyingfysh]

8. There are other atrocities that I have never seen described in print

Around 1900 or so, all the black families were driven out of Paris, Arkansas. I haven't heard of a massacre along with this, but the fact that the lost their property was bad enough. Since then, I have checked several sources, but have found no description of the events. The last I heard, there was only one black family remaining there.

I was told about this by my mom's uncle sometime in the 1950s. We happened to be at an Orville Faubus campaign rally at the time.

[AllaN01Bear]

9. alot of " history" has been buried in this country.

[malaise]

10. and not just in the USA

The atrocities of the Portuguese, Spanish, British and French in our hemisphere are horrific and yet they continue to celebrate Columbus.

[Deep State Witch]

12. Like Most White Americans

"Watchmen" was the first time I'd heard about it. Especially because I grew up in Pennsylvania.

[dobleremolque]

13. Almost 50 years ago, I LIVED AND WORKED IN OKLAHOMA for 4 years

and never heard or read word-one about the Tulsa Race Massacre. I remember being astounded to learn of it just 3 years ago!

I was so distressed, the only way I felt I could make up for it was to subscribe to The Oklahoma Eagle, the Tulsa-based black-owned newspaper that is the successor to the one burned in 1921.

[Dan]

14. About 60 years ago,

Blacks in our small town would speak of things, based on the audience whisper - but we were aware that there were some terrible events that took place, back in the day. They may not have mentioned the town, but they told of the events.

But you have to know, that a lot of Blacks that were elderly in those times, were children or grand children of slave. And Slavery and Jim Crow was part of every day life.

Oklahoma too.