Surviving Destruction of ‘Black Wall Street’
Black business executives lend time, money to finance New York screening
Article written by Marcia Wade Talbert.
- Posted in Arts & Culture on Friday, November 21, 2008, 17:50
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Wess Young and Dr. Olivia Hooker are survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 and are featured in the documentary, "Before They Die!" (Source: Marcia Wade)
At the age of six, Hooker recalls being terribly affected by losing everything, particularly, her favorite doll and doll clothes. “It took a long time for me to really get to the point where I could sleep well.”
It took a lot longer for her family to recover financially. While their home was not burned to the ground like most others, her father and grandfather, Hank and Samuel Hooker, owners of one of the most prominent clothing stores in Greenwood, lost more than $100,000 in goods. The men in her family were placed in an internment camp and when they were finally allowed to return home, they found that whatever valuables that weren’t stolen had been destroyed.
Greenwood was plundered when a white mob, angry about the alleged molestation of a white girl by a black boy, descended upon the town’s black inhabitants overnight. When the sun rose on June 1, 1921, more than 300 black residents were dead or missing, and almost the entire community was burned to the ground. The 10,000 residents in the community were scattered across the country.
Hooker’s family moved to Topeka, Kansas, and the former professor, now 94, who remembers finding artillery shells in the dresser drawers, says she refused to attend school because she didn’t want anyone teaching her that didn’t look like her. “It was like having everything removed as if we had gone to another planet,” she says.
Decades later, Hooker, now a resident of Greenberg, New York, and two other survivors, Otis Clark, 105, of Seattle, Washington, and Wess Young, 92, of Tulsa, attended the screening of Before They Die!, a documentary detailing the accounts of several survivors and Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, who unsuccessfully petitioned the courts of Oklahoma and later the Supreme Court for reparations. Ogletree assembled a team of prominent attorneys that included Johnny Cochran and Adjoin A. Aiyetoro, a longtime activist and legal counsel for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America.
Otis Clark (seen here with his granddaughter Star Williams) is the oldest survivor of the Tulsa Race Riots at age 105.
“My law career has been put on hold, and I haven’t really worked because
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Kindly return any and all information at your disposal on the massacre of Black Wall Street.
If their are historical periodicals that I can research, please let me know.
Hope to hear from you soon.
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how can i get a copy of the movie
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I am so glad that this story is being put on film.
My Grandmother came out of Tulsa,OK but, she never talked about the "riot", too painful I guess.
"What's done in the dark, shall come to the light"
How can I get a copy of the film?
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The film can be purchased and donations to the Tulsa Project Inc.
the fund for the survivors can be made at http://www.beforetheydiemovie.com
You can also finds numerous links to documentation and information regarding the riot and the survivors Journey To Justice. A schedule of screenings dates is also available. Please sign our guest book and join our movement to pass the pending Congressional legislation on the survivors behalf....Before They Die!
Reggie Turner Director Producer Before They Die!
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I'm glad this film has been produced. There is another film about the riot that I rented from a public library many years ago. Sorry, I do not know the name of the film. Also, the History Channel did a piece called "The Night Tulsa Burned" back in 1999.
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I'm a student at an HBCU. I've ordered my copy of the film and I can't wait to get it. I've heard bits and pieces about this story and I've always wanted to know more. Hopefully we can get this shown on campus!
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I am doing a current event for a Eng Class and I would like to read more about The Black Wall St.; if possible. I would like to know if the movie is out and where could I find it? IF the movie is not ready when will it become public so I can include it in my report
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I just wanted to say that I love this site
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