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Built from the fire : the epic story of Tulsa's Greenwood district, America's Black Wall Street : one hundred years in the neighborhood that refused to be erased / Victor Luckerson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2023]Edition: First editionDescription: xiv, 656 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780593134375
  • 0593134370
Other title:
  • Epic story of Tulsa's Greenwood district, America's Black Wall Street
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue -- Do not hesitate, but come -- And sometimes better, besides -- Black capital -- False promises -- The war at home and abroad -- "Get a gun and get busy" -- The massacre -- A conspiracy in plain sight -- Far from home -- The myth of an impervious people -- Sugar Man -- Family business -- A world apart -- Separate but equal -- Crossing the line -- You'll be a man, my son -- Somewhere between hope and expectation -- A slower burn -- Handoffs -- In flesh and stone -- Reconciliation day -- "Trust the system" -- This is our time -- Dissolution -- The rituals of remembrance -- Beyond ceremony -- Epilogue.
Summary: "When Ed Goodwin moved with his parents to Greenwood, Tulsa, his family joined a growing community on the cusp of becoming the center of Black life in the West. But, just a few years later, on May 31, 1921, the teenaged Ed hid in a bathtub as a white mob descended on his neighborhood. They laid waste to 35 blocks and murdering as many as 300 people. The Tulsa Race Massacre was one of the worst acts of racist violence in United States history. The Goodwins and many of their neighbors soon rebuilt the district into "a Mecca," in Ed's words, where nightlife thrived, small businesses flourished, and an underworld economy lived comfortably alongside public storefronts. Ed grew into a prominent businessman and bought a community newspaper called the Oklahoma Eagle to chronicle its resurgence and battles against white bigotry. He and his genteel wife, Jeanne, raised an ambitious family, who became literal poster-children for black progress, and their son Jim, an attorney, embodied their hopes for the Civil Rights Movement. But, by the 1970s urban renewal policies had nearly emptied the neighborhood, even as Jim and his neighbors tried to hold onto pieces of Greenwood. Today, the newspaper remains, and Ed's granddaughter Regina represents the neighborhood in the Oklahoma state legislature, working alongside a new generation of local activists"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 976.686 L941 Available 33111011289192
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A multigenerational saga of a family and a community in Tulsa's Greenwood district, known as "Black Wall Street," that in one century survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, urban renewal, and gentrification

"Ambitious . . . absorbing . . . By the end of Luckerson's outstanding book, the idea of building something new from the ashes of what has been destroyed becomes comprehensible, even hopeful."--Marcia Chatelain, The New York Times

WINNER OF THE SABEW BEST IN BUSINESS BOOK AWARD * WINNER OF THE LILLIAN SMITH BOOK AWARD * A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

When Ed Goodwin moved with his parents to the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, his family joined a community soon to become the center of black life in the West. But just a few years later, on May 31, 1921, the teenaged Ed hid in a bathtub as a white mob descended on his neighborhood, laying waste to thirty-five blocks and murdering as many as three hundred people in one of the worst acts of racist violence in U.S. history.

The Goodwins and their neighbors soon rebuilt the district into "a Mecca," in Ed's words, where nightlife thrived and small businesses flourished. Ed bought a newspaper to chronicle Greenwood's resurgence and battles against white bigotry, and his son Jim, an attorney, embodied the family's hopes for the civil rights movement. But by the 1970s urban renewal policies had nearly emptied the neighborhood. Today the newspaper remains, and Ed's granddaughter Regina represents the neighborhood in the Oklahoma state legislature, working alongside a new generation of local activists to revive it once again.

In Built from the Fire, journalist Victor Luckerson tells the true story behind a potent national symbol of success and solidarity and weaves an epic tale about a neighborhood that refused, more than once, to be erased.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 493-619) and index.

Prologue -- Do not hesitate, but come -- And sometimes better, besides -- Black capital -- False promises -- The war at home and abroad -- "Get a gun and get busy" -- The massacre -- A conspiracy in plain sight -- Far from home -- The myth of an impervious people -- Sugar Man -- Family business -- A world apart -- Separate but equal -- Crossing the line -- You'll be a man, my son -- Somewhere between hope and expectation -- A slower burn -- Handoffs -- In flesh and stone -- Reconciliation day -- "Trust the system" -- This is our time -- Dissolution -- The rituals of remembrance -- Beyond ceremony -- Epilogue.

"When Ed Goodwin moved with his parents to Greenwood, Tulsa, his family joined a growing community on the cusp of becoming the center of Black life in the West. But, just a few years later, on May 31, 1921, the teenaged Ed hid in a bathtub as a white mob descended on his neighborhood. They laid waste to 35 blocks and murdering as many as 300 people. The Tulsa Race Massacre was one of the worst acts of racist violence in United States history. The Goodwins and many of their neighbors soon rebuilt the district into "a Mecca," in Ed's words, where nightlife thrived, small businesses flourished, and an underworld economy lived comfortably alongside public storefronts. Ed grew into a prominent businessman and bought a community newspaper called the Oklahoma Eagle to chronicle its resurgence and battles against white bigotry. He and his genteel wife, Jeanne, raised an ambitious family, who became literal poster-children for black progress, and their son Jim, an attorney, embodied their hopes for the Civil Rights Movement. But, by the 1970s urban renewal policies had nearly emptied the neighborhood, even as Jim and his neighbors tried to hold onto pieces of Greenwood. Today, the newspaper remains, and Ed's granddaughter Regina represents the neighborhood in the Oklahoma state legislature, working alongside a new generation of local activists"-- Provided by publisher.

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