Black Wall Street
A powerful work of art by Barbados artist Kolongi Brathwaite serves as a tribute to the Black Wall Street Community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This community was devastated and destroyed by racial violence during a horrific event that became known as “The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921”.
Black Wall Street was an area located in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood District and one was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the country. It was said a “dollar” circulated in the community 36 to 100 times before leaving the community. The “modern, majestic, sophisticated, and unapologetically black” community boasted of “banks, hotels, cafés, clothiers, movie theaters, and contemporary homes.”
All of this ended after the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. It has become known as single worst incident of racial violence in United States history. 300 people died, 800 were injured and over 8,000 people were left homeless. The unprecedented racial violence left this prosperous African American community with over 32 million dollars worth of property damage in current day value. This poster serves a tribute to their legacy and makes sure we never forget about the atrocities our people suffered in Tulsa.
Measures 24×36 inches (paper size) and 24×36 inches (image size).
The text on the work of art reads:
In the heartland of America there once was a Black community paradise more than 600 businesses strong. Among these were 21 churches, 36 restaurants, 41 grocery stores, libraries, schools, law offices, a hospital, a bank, a post office, six privately owned airplanes, a bus system, and 2 movie theatres all within a 36 block radius. The year was 1921 in Greenwood, Tulsa Oklahoma aka Black Wall Street.
