Schedule of Events
All events take place on the OU Norman campus unless otherwise indicated. All times Central. Attendance may be limited based on the university’s Covid-19 Phase III Return Plan.
The inaugural event of OU’s centennial commemorations featured distinguished speakers, including Senator Kevin Matthews and other members of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, sponsored by the Office of the President and the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Guests were also encouraged to attend the opening of Bizzell Memorial Library’s From Tragedy to Triumph: Race Massacre Survivor Stories. The exhibition, curated by Mechelle Brown and Dr. Karlos Hill, tells the story of the massacre through a combination of compelling photographs and vivid eyewitness accounts from survivors. In emphasizing the experience of the victims and survivors, From Tragedy to Triumph demonstrates the resilience of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, highlighting how Black residents courageously responded to the destruction of their historic community.
Archived on OU's YouTube channel
“Greenwood Thriving: Knowledge Traditions, Institutions, and the Society of Black Communities in the Jim Crow South”
The first in a series of conversations devoted to Diversity and Justice Scholarship 2020–2021: Re-Imagining Education as Collective Justice Work: Lessons from the History of Greenwood, sponsored by the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education
Panelists:
- Clifton Taulbert – Pulitzer Prize nominee, international speaker, entrepreneur, and author of several books, including Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored; The Invitation; and Who Owns the Icehouse?
- Mirelsie Velázquez, PhD – Associate Professor, Rainbolt Family Endowed Education Presidential Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Oklahoma
- Eric Sourie – PhD Candidate, Educational Studies, Instructor and Coordinator, Department of Human Relations, University of Oklahoma
The Power of the Human Spirit: The Vision, Determination, and Resilience of the Historic Greenwood Community. The OU-Tulsa community kicked off a series on the subject with Phil Armstrong, project director of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, who shared an overview of the events of those dark days in summer 1921 and the years to follow in a talk entitled “Greenwood Rising: A Tragic Past. A Triumphant Future.” The first step in making sure we don’t repeat the tragedies of the past is to fully know the truth of our history.
The Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education (within the Department of Geography & Environmental Sustainability at OU) hosted a free online professional-development opportunity for in-service and pre-service K–12 educators. The session, “The Tulsa Race Massacre: History, Writing, and Reflection,” was led by Quraysh Ali Lansana, a professor and teaching artist at OSU–Tulsa, and Taylor Woodard, a National Geographic certified educator and OKAGE teacher consultant.
Presentation by members of the Oklahoma Archeological Survey about their investigation into mass graves from the massacre, with Dr. Kary L. Stackelbeck (state archaeologist), Dr. Scott Hammerstedt (OAS senior researcher), and Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield (forensic anthropologist, University of Florida), moderated by Dr. Amanda Regnier (OAS director)
Archived here
In an engaging talk, Rev. Dr. Robert Turner, pastor of Historic Vernon AME Church, discussed the enduring impact that the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre has had upon his church as well as what the race massacre’s 100th anniversary means for the Greenwood community.
Archived here
OU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Center for Social Justice hosted a fall Teach OUt on Race responding to the continuing pandemic of recent and ongoing acts of anti-Black violence in the United States. The virtual event focused on uncovering whiteness and was coordinated with the Center for Social Justice’s inaugural social justice reading group featuring Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist. The Teach OUt featured an interactive panel of scholar-activists from the OU/Norman community and beyond, moderated by an expert in whiteness studies.
Spring 2021
Public lectures in conjunction with the Presidential Dream Course “The Tulsa Massacre: 100 Years Later” by Dr. Scott Ellsworth (February 23), Eric Deggans (March 23), and Quraysh Ali Lansana (April 13).
The Tulsa Historical Society & Museum created a traveling exhibit on the history of the Greenwood Area and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre for the purpose of educating the community. OU-Tulsa’s Student Affairs office displayed the exhibit in the Founders Student Center on the OU-Tulsa campus during the first week of February. The panels may be checked out for display in schools, libraries, and other similar organizations in the Tulsa area.
University of Oklahoma–Tulsa Book Drive
Donate new or gently used children’s books from pre-kindergarten to 5th grade. Drop off your books in any of the boxes located around the campus. Flyers located on the boxes indicate that this is the OU-Tulsa Book Drive Drop-Off Box. All books will be donated to an elementary school within the Tulsa Public School District. Books in English and in Spanish needed.
OU-Tulsa Book Drive Amazon List: If you are looking to donate books but don’t have elementary-reading-level books at your disposal, visit the OU-Tulsa Book Drive Amazon List and select books from the list to purchase and donate. Any books purchased from the Amazon will be mailed directly to campus.
COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community Town Hall
OU-Tulsa, in partnership with Friendship Church, OU Health Physicians, and Westview Pediatrics, hosted a town hall, “COVID-19 and the Black Community.” During the virtual event, Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the National Institutes of Health, plus other local physicians and health professionals, answered common questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The Truth about Tulsa and the 1921 Race Massacre: History and Legacies in Context”
Public lecture in conjunction with the Presidential Dream Course “The Tulsa Massacre: 100 Years Later” by Scott Ellsworth, professor of African-American Studies at the University of Michigan and author of the forthcoming book The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice
Archived here
“Reparations and the Tulsa Race Massacre”
Speakers: Dr. Ife Williams, Ms. Dreisen Heath, Mr. Bruce Fisher | Moderator: Dr. Karlos Hill
Sponsored by the OU College of Law. Each panelist presented on their area of expertise: Dr. Williams (reparations overview), Mr. Fisher (history of Tulsa Race Massacre), Ms. Heath (reparation litigation and reparations for the Tulsa Race Massacre).
The Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education’s 2021 KEY Conference (Keep Educating Yourself), “PD Madness,” in support of PK–12 teachers across the state, took place March 6–27. Kristy Brugar and Crag Hill, professors in the Instructional Leadership & Academic Curriculum department, presented a session devoted to Jennifer Latham’s Dreamland Burning (2017).
Launch of Dr. Karlos Hill’s The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: A Photographic History, published by the University of Oklahoma Press
Magic City Books in Tulsa | Archived here
"The Tulsa Massacre and TV: How Depictions of America’s Worst Lynching Are Changing Pop Culture"
Public lecture in conjunction with the Presidential Dream Course “The Tulsa Massacre: 100 Years Later” by Eric Deggans, TV critic for NPR
Archived here
Launch of “Redreaming Dreamland,” the spring 2021 issue of World Literature Today
“Reflecting on the Past, Facing the Future: The Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Symposium,” featuring keynote and plenary talks by Tracy K. Smith, Scott Ellsworth, and Hannibal B. Johnson as well as the premiere of the I Dream of Greenwood dance performance, with original choreography, sponsored by the OU School of Dance.
The Center for Poets & Writers on the OSU-Tulsa campus hosts two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith for a virtual craft talk.
2pm | Visit the CPW website for registration info
Readings from the “Redreaming Dreamland” issue of WLT at Fulton Street Books in Tulsa, featuring contributing writers and Greenwood Art Project artists.
5-6pm | 210 W Latimer in the Greenwood District | Visit FSB's Facebook page for more info
"Poet as Witness"
Public lecture in conjunction with the Presidential Dream Course “The Tulsa Massacre: 100 Years Later” by Quraysh Ali Lansana, Tulsa Artist Fellow and acting director of the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation at OSU-Tulsa. Lansana will share poems, short nonfiction, and anecdotes exploring the Black American experience, with specific focus on the struggles and triumphs of Black Oklahomans, past and present.
7pm | Register here for the Zoom webinar
The Center for the Americas in the David L. Boren College of International Studies will host the talk “Race, Massacre, and Historical Memory: The Case of Guatemala,” by Luis Rodrigo Salvadó. Dr. Salvadó is an analyst for the Public Prosecutor for Human Rights of Guatemala and professor of forensic science and criminal investigation at the Universidad de Occidente de Guatemala.
3:00-4:30pm | Online via Zoom
OU’s Clara Luper Department of African and African American Studies is hosting “Justice for Greenwood: Public Nuisance Litigation to Repair the Continued Harm of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,” by Damario Solomon-Simmons, Esq., M.ED. A practicing attorney for almost seventeen years, Solomon-Simmons is currently the managing partner of SolomonSimmonsLaw an Oklahoma-based law firm where he specializes in civil and human rights, wrongful death, employment discrimination, public policy, and sports law.
Noon-1pm | Register at link.ou.edu/simmons
