Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
African American
Related: About this forumTulsa burned 95 years ago today. The Smithsonian has found a contemporary manuscript.
I just did a GD post on the riots; we'll see how that goes.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/long-lost-manuscript-contains-searing-eyewitness-account-tulsa-race-massacre-1921-180959251/?no-ist
Anyways: the Smithsonian has apparently found a long-lost contemporary account by a black lawyer, the father of John Hope Franklin. It is in the new NMAAHC on the Mall.
The ten-page manuscript is typewritten, on yellowed legal paper, and folded in thirds. But the words, an eyewitness account of the May 31, 1921, racial massacre that destroyed what was known as Tulsa, Oklahomas Black Wall Street, are searing.
I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted and dipped low. I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top, wrote Buck Colbert Franklin (1879-1960).
The Oklahoma lawyer, father of famed African-American historian John Hope Franklin (1915-2009), was describing the attack by hundreds of whites on the thriving black neighborhood known as Greenwood in the booming oil town. Lurid flames roared and belched and licked their forked tongues into the air. Smoke ascended the sky in thick, black volumes and amid it all, the planesnow a dozen or more in numberstill hummed and darted here and there with the agility of natural birds of the air.
Franklin writes that he left his law office, locked the door, and descended to the foot of the steps.
I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted and dipped low. I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top, wrote Buck Colbert Franklin (1879-1960).
The Oklahoma lawyer, father of famed African-American historian John Hope Franklin (1915-2009), was describing the attack by hundreds of whites on the thriving black neighborhood known as Greenwood in the booming oil town. Lurid flames roared and belched and licked their forked tongues into the air. Smoke ascended the sky in thick, black volumes and amid it all, the planesnow a dozen or more in numberstill hummed and darted here and there with the agility of natural birds of the air.
Franklin writes that he left his law office, locked the door, and descended to the foot of the steps.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 1343 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (16)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Tulsa burned 95 years ago today. The Smithsonian has found a contemporary manuscript. (Original Post)
Recursion
May 2016
OP
Hydra
(14,459 posts)1. 5th rec on the GD thread
*goes to read*
raging moderate
(4,305 posts)2. So horrible.
We have got to find a way to get such stories out into the mainstream more.
brer cat
(24,578 posts)3. Way too much of our history
has been covered up and whitewashed (how appropriate that term is!) to hide the atrocities and inhumanity. Every time I read about Trump's call to "make America great again" I can only think of a white male standing on the bloody body of a person of color.