Blog search

Free Greenwood Green Book walking tours, November 16 & 23, 2019

Greenwood Ave., north of Easton St., looking north along Sand Springs Railroad interurban tracks toward intersection with Greenwood Pl. and the Del Rio Hotel, which was listed in the 1954-1956 editions of the Green Book. Mike McUsic, a historical researcher on the topic of the Green Book, the segregation-era...

Posted by Michael Bates on October 19, 2019 1:40 PM

Greenwood Green Book walking tour, HistoryPin site

Mike McUsic, a historical researcher on the topic of the Green Book, the segregation-era travel guide for African-American tourists, will be leading walking tours of the Green Book locations in Tulsa's Greenwood District on June 8th at 10:00 am and 3:00 pm, and on June 15th at 10:00 am. Tickets...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 6, 2019 12:23 PM

Greenwood Gap Theory: Tulsa's Green Book places weren't destroyed in 1921

A story published Monday by public radio station KGOU is another prime specimen of the cognitive dissonance that is the "Greenwood Gap Theory" -- the misconception that Tulsa's African-American neighborhood was never rebuilt after what is commonly known as the 1921 Race Riot (but more accurately described as a massacre)....

Posted by Michael Bates on March 20, 2019 12:22 AM

Tulsa Near Northside design workshop

Tulsa's Near Northside neighborhood, whose rise and demise I documented in a 2014 story for This Land Press ("Steps to Nowhere"), is part of an area that will be the subject of the Unity Heritage Neighborhoods Design Workshop, next week, September 11-15, 2017, led by urban design students from...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 7, 2017 10:36 PM

"There is no Negro business district anymore"

Relevant to yesterday's post on the Smithsonian Channel documentary that misrepresented the history of Greenwood, Tulsa's historic African-American neighborhood that its residents rebuilt after it was sacked and burned in the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. The rebuilt neighborhood thrived and prospered for decades, becoming known as Black Wall Street, before urban renewal and expressway construction destroyed it again in the late 1960s. Here is a news story from the time that illustrates the social and financial impact of the decision to route the expressway through the heart of the Deep Greenwood commercial district.

Posted by Michael Bates on July 4, 2017 12:36 PM

Smithsonian Channel mangles Greenwood history

There was some excitement among Tulsa history buffs when it was learned that the Smithsonian Channel would be showing colorized clips from home movies showing Greenwood, Tulsa's historic African-American district, as it was in the mid-to-late1920s. Instead we have another instance of the erroneous notion I call the "Greenwood...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 3, 2017 12:29 PM

Evangelical virtue signaling on racism

Derryck Green, an African-American writer currently pursuing his doctorate in theology and ministry, has written several recent columns at JuicyEcumenism critical of the way certain evangelical groups are falling all over themselves to embrace #BlackLivesMatter. Back in December, Green wrote that Intervarsity had been "seduced by compartmentalized justice" when it...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 7, 2016 12:27 PM

Steps to Nowhere, in <em>This Land Press</em>

For the first time in a long time, I have an article in print. The May 15, 2014, edition of This Land Press includes my history of the lost neighborhood just north of downtown Tulsa. Criss-crossed by streets but now devoid of buildings, this neighborhood was established about 100...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 17, 2014 9:49 PM

<em>Locaciones</em> and <em>Rumble Fish</em>

On Wednesday night, my wife and I went to Circle Cinema to see a double-feature: Locaciones: Buscando a Rusty James (Locations: Looking for Rusty James") followed by Rumble Fish, the 1983 Francis Ford Coppola film based on the novel by S. E. Hinton. The first film at the Circle Cinema...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 22, 2014 10:48 PM

Films of Greenwood post-riot and Oklahoma's African-American communities in the 1920s

100 block of N. Greenwood Ave., Tulsa, west side looking south toward Archer, 1924 or 1925, just three years or so after this block was destroyed in the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. It is an exciting thing to see Greenwood alive as it was in its heyday. The...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 27, 2013 12:30 AM

"Black Wall Street: The Ninth Wonder"

This looks interesting. Tonight, Sunday, May 26, 2013, at 5 p.m. at the Church of the Restoration, 1314 N. Greenwood Ave., there will be an event sponsored by the Tulsa African Ancestral Society, entitled "Black Wall Street: The Ninth Wonder." The poster shows four photos of the Williams Dreamland Theater:...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 26, 2013 9:23 AM

Greenwood Swingout begins tonight

In addition to Mayfest and the Blue Dome Festival, there's a new event this weekend in downtown Tulsa, starting tonight, Thursday, May 17, 2012. Here's the press release for the first-ever Greenwood Swingout. GREENWOOD SWINGOUT DANCE FESTIVAL PROMOTES RACIAL RECONCILIATION Tulsa, OK, May. 14--The Vintage Swing Movement, a nonprofit organization...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 17, 2012 6:12 AM

Brenda Terry on Greenwood in the '40s and '50s

One of the fun things about blogging for over eight years is when someone posts a comment or sends an email about a long-ago blog entry. Someone is searching on the web for information, perhaps about family or friends, and finds one of my entries, then writes a note to...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 24, 2011 1:37 PM

Tate Brady, the Klan, and the attack on Greenwood

I'd like to give the cover story in the new issue of This Land the attention it deserves, but at the moment I'm overwhelmed by a backlog of entries in progress about the Tulsa City Council primary, now just eight days away, so we'll make do for now with links:...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 5, 2011 1:38 AM

Greenwood since the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

The story of Tulsa's Greenwood District did not end in 1921.

Posted by Michael Bates on May 30, 2011 11:53 PM

Tulsa Area Race Relations and History Survey online

The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation has posted an online survey for Tulsa area residents on race relations and history. By way of explaining what it covers, here's the text from the first page: Thank you for your willingness to help improve our understanding of perceptions about race relations...

Posted by Michael Bates on January 14, 2011 12:55 AM

The story of Mt. Zion Baptist Church

Pastor J. H. Dotson during the construction of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. The photos appear to show the remnant of the ruins of the 1921 structure, which had been roofed in 1937 and was being used for worship, being incorporated into the new structure, c. 1948. Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary...

Posted by Michael Bates on November 1, 2009 1:54 AM

The Greenwood Gap: My Ignite Tulsa talk

Here it is: Here are some previous entries on BatesLine that touch on Greenwood and include some of the material I shared at Ignite Tulsa.Greenwood's streetcar: The Sand Springs Railroad (includes photos) The rise and fall of Greenwood (includes high res 1951 aerial photo of Deep Greenwood) Greenwood 1957 Film...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 24, 2009 7:07 AM

Signs of Greenwood's rebuilding

In my Ignite Tulsa talk on the "Greenwood Gap," I mentioned in passing the physical indications of the rebuilding and flourishing of Tulsa's African-American district after it was burned in 1921 by a white mob. I would have included photos of some of those signs, and I had some that...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 19, 2009 10:26 PM

Watch this space: Notes on my Greenwood talk coming soon

Thanks to the organizers, speakers, and audience for last night's Ignite Tulsa event. It was a great experience, and I only wish I could have stayed through the entire program -- family needs called me home shortly after I spoke. I'm happy I had the chance to come back to...

Posted by Michael Bates on September 18, 2009 12:08 PM