Hannibal B. Johnson, author of Black Wall Street 100: An American City Grapples with its Historical Racial Trauma, will examine what happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921 when hate and discrimination in the United States erupted and resulted in the destruction of a Black-owned downtown area. This program will explore how the Tulsa event continues to impact our nation, how it parallels Black history in Oregon, and how events of the past shaped the present. 

Observe the 100th anniversary of this critical event and walk through the history, representation in media, and the residual impacts that continue to manifest today. Copies of Hannibal B. Johnson’s book will be given to registered participants while supplies last. 

Hannibal B. Johnson is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He works as an attorney, author, and independent consultant specializing in diversity, inclusion, and cultural competence issues, and nonprofit governance. Johnson chairs the Education Committee for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. He is also the author of Images of America: Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District and wrote and narrated a documentary about Tulsa’s Historical Greenwood District, Black Wall Street Remembered, that debuted in February 2019. 

"Tulsa Race Massacre: Historical Through-Line" is presented as part of the Rogue Reads program, which encourages everyone in Jackson County to read and discuss the same books. This three-month program continues through February 2021 and features discussions and programs on books by Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling author of Red at the Bone. The women in Red at the Bone feel the burdens of generational trauma and their family's connection to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. The novel explores how that one moment in history changed the lives of the descendants of those who fled and those who didn't make it.

A recording of the program will later be made available on the Jackson County Library Services YouTube channel, JCLS Beyond.

Image: Tulsa's Greenwood District in 1921 after a white mob razed the predominately Black community. (bswise / Flickr / public domain)

About Rogue Reads

Rogue Reads is a JCLS program that encourages everyone in Jackson County to read and discuss the same books. This three-month program will take place all winter: December 2020 through February 2021 and will feature discussions and programs on books by bestselling author Jacqueline Woodson. Learn more.  

Rogue Reads is made possible with the support of our sponsors: Jackson County Library Foundation, Jefferson Public Radio, Rosebud Media, 107.5 KISS FM, and The Valley 106.3 FM.