Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

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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Community Reviews
So much happened in the history of the African people who were brought to America, mostly against their wills. We have come a long way, but not far enough. I was impressed that the author brought all the issues up into present times, ending in February 2021.
This is information that all people need in order to make progress in making racial issues disappear. As I said, we've come a long way, but we have a long way to go, still.
I grew up in a very small town in the panhandle of TX, genuinely like 15 mins away from OK, so I was v surprised to have never heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre until I read a picture book in 2020 discussing it. When I started reading Black Birds, I expected to suddenly recognize the lectures on this event I must have been blocking out. This realization did not happen.
I am disgusted with myself and with society that I am just now learning about this horrific event as an adult. This book is such a necessary read. History really does repeat itself, and in order to stop atrocities from reoccurring we all have the responsibility of learning about them.
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