Alverne Ball

From Amazon description:

One hundred years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, Across the Tracks is a celebration and memorial of Greenwood, Oklahoma

In Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre, author Alverne Ball and illustrator Stacey Robinson have crafted a love letter to Greenwood, Oklahoma. Also known as Black Wall Street, Greenwood was a community whose importance is often overshadowed by the atrocious massacre that took place there in 1921.

Across the Tracks introduces the reader to the businesses and townsfolk who flourished in this unprecedented time of prosperity for Black Americans. We learn about Greenwood and why it is essential to remember the great achievements of the community as well as the tragedy which nearly erased it. However, Ball is careful to recount the eventual recovery of Greenwood. With additional supplementary materials including a detailed preface, timeline, and historical essay, Across the Tracks offers a thorough examination of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Black Wall Street.… (mere)

graphic nonfiction (adult/teen/children)
Lots of background about how the Greenwood community was built from the ground up, and how the community thrived when it was allowed to reinvest in itself and support its members. Even if you think you're familiar with the subject (from the multiple news reports on the anniversary of the Massacre) this is worth a read--it is very quick yet very informative. If you can, also read the backmatter that explains more of the complicated history of the area, including an abbreviated history of the various Indigenous Nations that lived in the area.… (mere)

A simple but effective introduction to the atrocious massacre of hundreds of Black Americans and the razing of their neighborhood in Tulsa in 1921 because they dared to thwart a White lynch mob. We see over a decade of hard work building a community undone in one hate-filled day. This is a shameful moment in American history that needs to be understood and remembered.

The end matter fills out the parallel history of Indigenous people in the area, touching briefly on the events detailed in Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.… (mere)