STORY OF A CULTURE: Black History Month time to support African Americans

Feb. 8—Organizers of displays in Northeastern Oklahoma celebrating Black History Month say they want to highlight both the complexity of American American people, and strides they've made since the destruction of the "Black Wall Street" in Tulsa.

Black History Month, first proposed by black educators and Black United Students at Kent State in 1969, informs the public of the beauty of the African American culture.

At the Tahlequah Public Library, Clerk Michelle Barnfield is building a display of literature and movies that shares the stories and art produced by and about African Americans.

"I didn't want to make this just for adults. I wanted to have things for children that share the history. The theme is 'African Americans and the Arts,'" Barnfield said.

Kacey Rhone, when employed as diversity inclusion coordinator at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, put together BHM events. Rhone now works as education director at the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum. The 1921 Race Massacre display is housed at that location, and a new building is dedicated to it.

"Greenwood Rising is an entire museum dedicated to the massacre. It is stunning, and in a separate building. There is a room dedicated to the massacre with the [2001] commission report and archival photos of the aftermath," Rhone said. "[It] has items from the people of Greenwood — personal items, stories of descendants and survivors."

This exhibit is an immersive experience and the featured portion is titled "Behind the Veil: Tulsa in the Twenties." Four walls create a square, and on the outside is the Tulsa skyline and information about the era and the start-up newspapers, fashion, new businesses and infrastructure.

"All Tulsans were thriving, both Black and white," Rhone said.

Inside of the square of the exhibit, a lone Klu Klux Klan robe greets visitors. Information is given about prominent Tulsa figures and the legacy of racial violence and terror that plagued the city at that time.

The Tulsa museum loaned a display from the exhibit on the massacre to NSU's History Department in September, and Assistant Professor of History David Corcoran said the tragedy is only a portion of the story.

"One of the issues in teaching African American history is we tend to only focus on slavery, on the horrors of discrimination and treatment. The reality is we also look at a place like Greenwood, and there is a very broad history of community and people and achievement. That's what I like about this display; it shows that complexity," said Corcoran in Sept. 13, 2023, interview.

Greenwood — or "Black Wall Street," as it was known — was a prosperous African American community. But after a young black man was accused of raping a white woman, the community was attacked and most of the buildings were ransacked and burned.

According to the 2001 Race Riot Commission report, public officials provided firearms and ammunition to the mob at the eruption of violence. People — some of them agents for the government — deliberately burned or otherwise destroyed homes estimated to have numbered 1,256, along with every other structure including schools, businesses, a hospital and a library in the Greenwood district.

"Although the exact total can never be determined, credible evidence makes it probable that many people, likely numbering between 100-300, were killed during the massacre," states the report.

As a Black woman, Rhone sees BHM as a time to celebrate herself and her family, as well as what people have gone through and continue to go through, yet they still persevere.

Rhone said she doesn't like to glorify struggle, and in the Greenwood exhibit, she has curated a showcase titled "Flat Creativity."

"There's so much that Black people have brought to this country, our culture, our world. And BHM, for me, is the time to shine a spotlight on that," Rhone said.

The showcase features items that residents have loaned to the museum. A barber sent photos of a young boy with lightning bolts cut into his hair and a little girl with her hair braided in a heart shape. Select Sneakers designed a jersey based on a Negro baseball team from Tulsa, and it is in the case. There's also a poster from the first Greenwood Blues Festival in 1990, and Black bands like The Gap Band, to show "these are Black Tulsans," Rhone said.

"Even to the people here, and those who consider it 'flyover country,' [it shows the] impact on the country and the world just by [Black people] being themselves and showcasing their culture and their talents," Rhone said. "So every February, I say, 'Yes, let's talk about it.'"

Another thing Rhone hopes people come out of BHM with is how Africans Americans are faring in the present day.

"It also comes down to an intersectionality of race and class, as it was with red-lining, Jim Crow laws, etc. Black people could not build generational wealth. What I recently read in a National Public Radio article is millennials are the first generation who are doing worse than their parents were at the same age," Rhone said.

The fact that Black people already are not doing as well economically as those of other races is compounded by gender issues and how Black women are progressing, Rhone said.

"But most of what I want people to come away with from this discussion is that Black people are complex, and we all aren't just listening to rap," Rhone said. "I hope BHM helps people to be intentional and mindful in thinking of ways you can support the Black people in your lives and the Black community," Rhone said.