1921 Race Riot Memorial

[MichaelC]

From KOTV

quote:
TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A Denver sculptor says he hopes one of his current projects, a memorial to the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, will help focus attention on a story that is mostly unknown outside of Oklahoma.

Ed Dwight's 27-foot-tall bronze sculpture is nearly finished. It will be known as the "John Hope Franklin Greenwood Memorial of Reconciliation" and will be located on land just below an elevated portion of I-244 northeast of downtown Tulsa.

Franklin is a former Tulsa resident and Duke University historian whose research produced formerly unknown details of the riot, which lasted two days, destroyed 35 blocks of the prosperous Greenwood neighborhood and resulted in at least 38 fatalities, although the death toll likely was higher.

The riot had almost faded into history before a 75th anniversary memorial service was held in 1996. That resulted in a state investigation, calls for reparations and up to $5-million in public funding for the memorial.

[rwarn17588]

I'll be interested to see how the sculpture turns out.

On a related note, I finished reading a book by Cynthia Carr called "Our Town," the story about a double-lynching in her hometown of Marion, Ind., in 1930 and the town's struggles to reconcile it (or sweep it under the rug) ever since.

http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0613,ards,72642,10.html

The Marion lynchings aren't as severe in scale as the Tulsa Race Riot, but it is no less infamous and it addresses many of the same issues Tulsa is dealing with today.

[papaspot]

I'm also curious as to what it'll look like, rwarn. I did a google search hoping to fine a photograph of a "mock up" of it but I didn't find anything.

[MichaelC]

Here's the sculptor's website.  It shows some examples of his work, but not this project.

http://www.eddwight.com/home.htm

[papaspot]

Well, I hope SOMEBODY saw what it's expected to look like before they committed that many geeters to make it. [B)]

[aoxamaxoa]

Outstanding! A true icon for Tulsa....not a big Indian nor a river reconstruction, but a way to remember and memorialize our gruesome past.....the truth shall set you free.