Black Birds in the Sky
Books | Young Adult Nonfiction / Social Topics / Civil & Human Rights
4.6
Brandy Colbert
A searing new work of nonfiction from award-winning author Brandy Colbert about the history and legacy of one of the most deadly and destructive acts of racial violence in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre. Winner, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. In the early morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob marched across the train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and into its predominantly Black Greenwood District—a thriving, affluent neighborhood known as America's Black Wall Street. They brought with them firearms, gasoline, and explosives.In a few short hours, they'd razed thirty-five square blocks to the ground, leaving hundreds dead. The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating acts of racial violence in US history. But how did it come to pass? What exactly happened? And why are the events unknown to so many of us today?These are the questions that award-winning author Brandy Colbert seeks to answer in this unflinching nonfiction account of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In examining the tension that was brought to a boil by many factors—white resentment of Black economic and political advancement, the resurgence of white supremacist groups, the tone and perspective of the media, and more—a portrait is drawn of an event singular in its devastation, but not in its kind. It is part of a legacy of white violence that can be traced from our country's earliest days through Reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement in the mid–twentieth century, and the fight for justice and accountability Black Americans still face today.The Tulsa Race Massacre has long failed to fit into the story Americans like to tell themselves about the history of their country. This book, ambitious and intimate in turn, explores the ways in which the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre is the story of America—and by showing us who we are, points to a way forward.YALSA Honor Award for Excellence in Nonfiction
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More Details:
Author
Brandy Colbert
Pages
222
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published Date
2021-10-05
ISBN
0063056682 9780063056688
Community ReviewsSee all
"American History saturates the history taught in schools K-12. I have never heard of most of these people or half of these events. I feel robbed, a lie by omission. For all the time we spend talking about the Civil War let's talk about what life was like right after the war for people everywhere and not just zero in on the industrial revolution while we gloss over reconstruction and race riots. The fact that this history was hidden from Oklahoma itself, to whom this history belongs genuinely disgusts me. Well written. Loved the quotes from the survivors used to enrich the telling. "
E Hinkes
"This book had some really interesting and important pieces of history. It’s a little strange though how little of this book is actually about the Tulsa Massacre. Most of the book is giving historical context, some of which seemed very directly relevant to the Tulsa Massacre, but most was more indirectly related.<br/><br/>I understood why all the historical context was given and appreciated much of it, but was disappointed by the actual description of the neighborhood of Greenwood directly before, during, and after the massacre. It felt like a tiny blip in another greater story rather than the central point of the book. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just not what I was hoping for when I decided to pick this up.<br/><br/>A small note about a small part of this book in which the author discusses the participation of Black men in US wars. I don’t entirely understand the reasoning behind the author (and many news outlets, historians, etc) deciding to portray Black people fighting in every war after the end of slavery as wholeheartedly an act of patriotism and willingness to support their country instead of recognizing, what I’m sure what was—because it still is—the biggest factor in people (especially poor and disenfranchised people) joining the military today: the fact that you can get a job, housing, food, a relatively safe place to live, and education.<br/><br/>Again, I can’t claim to know the authors reasoning in making the choice to write it this way, but, particularly in a history book setting an important historical event straight, I think it’s harmful because it’s perpetuating historical myths."
Reading into the Void