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Requiem for the Massacre: A Black History on the Conflict, Hope, and Fallout of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
With journalistic skill, heart, and hope, Requiem for the Massacre reckons with the racial tension in Tulsa, Oklahoma one hundred years after the most infamous act of racial violence in American history
More than one hundred years ago, the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma perpetrated a massacre against its Black residents. For generations, the true story was ignored, covered up, and diminished by those in power and in a position to preserve a racist status quo. Blending memoir and immersive journalism, RJ Young shows how today Tulsa combats its racist past while still remaining all too tolerant of racial injustice. A collage of Black lives one hundred years after the massacre shows how things have changed and how they have not. Requiem for the Massacre includes interviews from survivors of the massacre and their descendants, as well as research from historical archives at the Greenwood Cultural Center, the University of Tulsa, and other sources, culminating in current efforts to excavate an empty sunken patch of land believed to be the site of an unmarked mass grave of victims of the massacre.
As the United States is in the throes of Black Lives Matter demonstrations spurned by the killing of George Floyd, and as Tulsa heads into the next one hundred years, Young's own reflections thread together the stories of a community trying to heal and trying to hope.
More than one hundred years ago, the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma perpetrated a massacre against its Black residents. For generations, the true story was ignored, covered up, and diminished by those in power and in a position to preserve a racist status quo. Blending memoir and immersive journalism, RJ Young shows how today Tulsa combats its racist past while still remaining all too tolerant of racial injustice. A collage of Black lives one hundred years after the massacre shows how things have changed and how they have not. Requiem for the Massacre includes interviews from survivors of the massacre and their descendants, as well as research from historical archives at the Greenwood Cultural Center, the University of Tulsa, and other sources, culminating in current efforts to excavate an empty sunken patch of land believed to be the site of an unmarked mass grave of victims of the massacre.
As the United States is in the throes of Black Lives Matter demonstrations spurned by the killing of George Floyd, and as Tulsa heads into the next one hundred years, Young's own reflections thread together the stories of a community trying to heal and trying to hope.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2022
65 people are currently reading
2755 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 14, 2022
(Review copy from Netgalley for review consideration)
While the primary focus of RJ Young's book is the Tulsa Race Massacre, its history, its reverberations in modern-day Tulsa Oklahoma, and his family history, the text is so much more.
The first time I heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre was from the first episode of the television adaptation of HBO's Watchmen (2019), starring Regina King. I remember feeling ashamed that I'd never been taught such a historically significant and tragic event and its aftermath. While I'm not American, the fact remains that Black American history has not been sufficiently taught in schools in several jurisdictions. Several white and other non-Black Americans expressed dismay at never having been aware of the Massacre prior to that episode. Young, author of 'Requiem for the Massacre,' discusses this toward the end of his book, as well as Matt Ruff's 2016 novel 'Lovecraft Country' and how the Tulsa Massacre forms the backbone of much of that novel. The showrunner, Damon Lindelof, had never been to Tulsa prior to filming the sequence in 'Watchmen' and described at a public event that he had not himself heard of the Massacre until reading a piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates in 'The Atlantic' called 'The Case for Reparations.' I'm not going to spoil the rest of that section, because it's fascinating, illuminating, painful, and makes clear that although Regina King had been trying to launch projects off the ground to feature the Massacre, a white man needed to say he wanted to make the story for HBO to greenlight it.
Since then, I have educated myself on the Tulsa Race Massacre and other massacres, other significant historical events that have been buried by textbooks who erase them, media who underreport and still try to dampen their impact, and of course, in spite of the horrendous streak of white supremacist denial that permeates through more people like its own pandemic in addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Young uses an evocative style to bring readers into the background of how things began, progressed, and combusted. He tells the story of Ottaway W. Gurley, the richest and most powerful Black man in Tulsa, who most readers have likely not heard of. He moved his family to Oklahoma for better opportunities and with other members of a burgeoning Black community, worked together to form a city within the city, Black-owned and operated businesses, as well as offices for local doctors and lawyers. This district came to be known as Greenwood.
Young describes the lead-up to a Black shoe-shiner, Rowland, who needed to use the restroom at a Drexel's top floor. A white girl, Sarah Page, operated the elevator. Someone heard a white girl scream, saw Rowland running away, and called the police. Rowland was arrested, Page did not press charges, but still, white mob violence sprang from this incident. Young chronicles the sensationalized newspaper reports that incited anger in white residents, who called the police station where Rowland was being detained and told them that they were going to lynch him. The police commissioner then asked that Rowland be moved to Tulsa County Jail, where the sherriff called on deputies to fortify the jail, on the fifth floor of a county courthouse.
Young also features testimonials from survivors of the Massacre and what they experienced, including people who were children at the time. In excruciating but necessary detail, Young chronicles the violence and terror that white mobs perpetrated during the Massacre, and what they did to Black families. White Tulsans "burned down Frissell Memorial Hospital and the Colored Library Branch...[they] took books from the library and burned them in the street."
He relays how White Tulsans looted Black homes and styole furniture, jewelry, and other things while burning Black family bibles. "...gangs of white Tulsa men cornered Black couples and Black families, killed Black fathers and husbands, separated Black wives and mothers from their children and raped them behind a brick wall just close enough so that those children could hear their mothers' violent screams."
Greenwood became a sea of ashes, piles of bricks, and destruction. Nearly the entire population of Black Tulsans who had not been killed or escaped had been detained at the fairgrounds.
It is infuriating and unacceptable that an all-white jury assembled less than a month after the Massacre predictably stated that they blamed Black men for starting the riots. They completely absolved any white residents of any wrong-doing. Neither the "World" nor the "Tribune" acknowledged the Massacre or its anniversary for thirty years. 30 YEARS.
To this day, Tulsa has not done anything to offer reparations to descendents of Black Tulsans impacted by this massacre. A few are trying to force the state to financially atone for its barbarism. Nonetheless, "[i]nstitutional racism and housing discrimination have made certain that Black Tulsans mostly live in the section of the city known as North Tulsa, and only in North Tulsa." A repeat of the blatant redlining, housing discrimination, and pushing out of Black communities to segregated enclaves.
Young also relays his own family history and experiences of direct as well as institutional racism. One of his teachers once accused Young of dressing up "like the kids who shot up Columbine," for which he was called into the principal's office. This was May 1999, a month after the Columbine Massacre. School officials were tasked with searching Young's locker for guns "or anything else that might lead someone to believe that I was going to commit such a heinous and horrible act." The intergenerational trauma that Young carries, not only from being the descendent of enslaved people, but also of the Tulsa Massacre, bleeds through his writing while also being a testament to his bravery and resilience.
At a different school and through a more benevolent teacher, Young discovered a book called 'Death of a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921' by Scott Elsworth. Reading this slim volume changed his life.
He also discusses the presidential nightmare of 2016 and the MAGA rallies in Tulsa, all of the political turmoil, protests, and Black Lives Matter.
A combination of personal memoir and history, 'Requiem for the Massacre' is a crucial text that needs to be taught in schools and colleges, highlighted, talked about, and revered as a testament not just to Black Wall Street, but a vital history that we must never forget. Recommended for fans of Kiese Laymon and Roxane Gay.
While the primary focus of RJ Young's book is the Tulsa Race Massacre, its history, its reverberations in modern-day Tulsa Oklahoma, and his family history, the text is so much more.
The first time I heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre was from the first episode of the television adaptation of HBO's Watchmen (2019), starring Regina King. I remember feeling ashamed that I'd never been taught such a historically significant and tragic event and its aftermath. While I'm not American, the fact remains that Black American history has not been sufficiently taught in schools in several jurisdictions. Several white and other non-Black Americans expressed dismay at never having been aware of the Massacre prior to that episode. Young, author of 'Requiem for the Massacre,' discusses this toward the end of his book, as well as Matt Ruff's 2016 novel 'Lovecraft Country' and how the Tulsa Massacre forms the backbone of much of that novel. The showrunner, Damon Lindelof, had never been to Tulsa prior to filming the sequence in 'Watchmen' and described at a public event that he had not himself heard of the Massacre until reading a piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates in 'The Atlantic' called 'The Case for Reparations.' I'm not going to spoil the rest of that section, because it's fascinating, illuminating, painful, and makes clear that although Regina King had been trying to launch projects off the ground to feature the Massacre, a white man needed to say he wanted to make the story for HBO to greenlight it.
Since then, I have educated myself on the Tulsa Race Massacre and other massacres, other significant historical events that have been buried by textbooks who erase them, media who underreport and still try to dampen their impact, and of course, in spite of the horrendous streak of white supremacist denial that permeates through more people like its own pandemic in addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Young uses an evocative style to bring readers into the background of how things began, progressed, and combusted. He tells the story of Ottaway W. Gurley, the richest and most powerful Black man in Tulsa, who most readers have likely not heard of. He moved his family to Oklahoma for better opportunities and with other members of a burgeoning Black community, worked together to form a city within the city, Black-owned and operated businesses, as well as offices for local doctors and lawyers. This district came to be known as Greenwood.
Young describes the lead-up to a Black shoe-shiner, Rowland, who needed to use the restroom at a Drexel's top floor. A white girl, Sarah Page, operated the elevator. Someone heard a white girl scream, saw Rowland running away, and called the police. Rowland was arrested, Page did not press charges, but still, white mob violence sprang from this incident. Young chronicles the sensationalized newspaper reports that incited anger in white residents, who called the police station where Rowland was being detained and told them that they were going to lynch him. The police commissioner then asked that Rowland be moved to Tulsa County Jail, where the sherriff called on deputies to fortify the jail, on the fifth floor of a county courthouse.
Young also features testimonials from survivors of the Massacre and what they experienced, including people who were children at the time. In excruciating but necessary detail, Young chronicles the violence and terror that white mobs perpetrated during the Massacre, and what they did to Black families. White Tulsans "burned down Frissell Memorial Hospital and the Colored Library Branch...[they] took books from the library and burned them in the street."
He relays how White Tulsans looted Black homes and styole furniture, jewelry, and other things while burning Black family bibles. "...gangs of white Tulsa men cornered Black couples and Black families, killed Black fathers and husbands, separated Black wives and mothers from their children and raped them behind a brick wall just close enough so that those children could hear their mothers' violent screams."
Greenwood became a sea of ashes, piles of bricks, and destruction. Nearly the entire population of Black Tulsans who had not been killed or escaped had been detained at the fairgrounds.
It is infuriating and unacceptable that an all-white jury assembled less than a month after the Massacre predictably stated that they blamed Black men for starting the riots. They completely absolved any white residents of any wrong-doing. Neither the "World" nor the "Tribune" acknowledged the Massacre or its anniversary for thirty years. 30 YEARS.
To this day, Tulsa has not done anything to offer reparations to descendents of Black Tulsans impacted by this massacre. A few are trying to force the state to financially atone for its barbarism. Nonetheless, "[i]nstitutional racism and housing discrimination have made certain that Black Tulsans mostly live in the section of the city known as North Tulsa, and only in North Tulsa." A repeat of the blatant redlining, housing discrimination, and pushing out of Black communities to segregated enclaves.
Young also relays his own family history and experiences of direct as well as institutional racism. One of his teachers once accused Young of dressing up "like the kids who shot up Columbine," for which he was called into the principal's office. This was May 1999, a month after the Columbine Massacre. School officials were tasked with searching Young's locker for guns "or anything else that might lead someone to believe that I was going to commit such a heinous and horrible act." The intergenerational trauma that Young carries, not only from being the descendent of enslaved people, but also of the Tulsa Massacre, bleeds through his writing while also being a testament to his bravery and resilience.
At a different school and through a more benevolent teacher, Young discovered a book called 'Death of a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921' by Scott Elsworth. Reading this slim volume changed his life.
He also discusses the presidential nightmare of 2016 and the MAGA rallies in Tulsa, all of the political turmoil, protests, and Black Lives Matter.
A combination of personal memoir and history, 'Requiem for the Massacre' is a crucial text that needs to be taught in schools and colleges, highlighted, talked about, and revered as a testament not just to Black Wall Street, but a vital history that we must never forget. Recommended for fans of Kiese Laymon and Roxane Gay.
September 2, 2022
"Requiem for the Massacre" is part narrative, part autobiography, something I did not expect it to be.
Author RJ Young begins the book with an account of the 1921 Tulsa Masscre, in which the prosperous African-American community of Greenwood in Northern Tulsa, Oklahoma was destroyed due to a false accusation of assault. The victim: a white woman; the accused: a black man. But this alleged assault was not the true reason for the death and destruction wreaked on Greenwood. The real crime: that this community of African-Americans had the nerve to be thriving without the input of white Tulsans.
The book then segues into the autobiographical phase, in which author RJ Young details his awakening of what it is to be Black in America. His various experiences demonstrate to the reader his struggle to deal with how he is viewed and how he views himself in America's racial landscape.
Finally, Young talks about the various events and exhibits regarding the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. The overall point he makes in this part of the book: that the narrative about the massacre has been and continues to be controlled by white Tulsans. For 75 years after the massacre occurred, all details of it were scrubbed from history at large. So many people had no idea it happened, unless it was something they knew through family lore or through academic study on a collegiate level. In more recent years, as it has become more widely known, the narrative has gone from complete silence to focusing on the myth of Greenwood being America's Black Wall Street rather than on the horrific death and destruction that happened. Incidentally, the phrase 'Black Wall Street' was coined by Booker T. Washington, the poster child of appeasing white people.
RJ Young makes some salient points in this book I agree with. They can all be boiled down to one thing: Black people are still, in 2022, fighting to be seen and treated as equal to white people. This fight has lasted for 403 years. 403!!! It may seem like Young belabors this overall point in the book, but it's a point that bears repeating. As I said initially, this book is not what I expected, but I am glad to have read it. It is a definite must-read.
Author RJ Young begins the book with an account of the 1921 Tulsa Masscre, in which the prosperous African-American community of Greenwood in Northern Tulsa, Oklahoma was destroyed due to a false accusation of assault. The victim: a white woman; the accused: a black man. But this alleged assault was not the true reason for the death and destruction wreaked on Greenwood. The real crime: that this community of African-Americans had the nerve to be thriving without the input of white Tulsans.
The book then segues into the autobiographical phase, in which author RJ Young details his awakening of what it is to be Black in America. His various experiences demonstrate to the reader his struggle to deal with how he is viewed and how he views himself in America's racial landscape.
Finally, Young talks about the various events and exhibits regarding the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. The overall point he makes in this part of the book: that the narrative about the massacre has been and continues to be controlled by white Tulsans. For 75 years after the massacre occurred, all details of it were scrubbed from history at large. So many people had no idea it happened, unless it was something they knew through family lore or through academic study on a collegiate level. In more recent years, as it has become more widely known, the narrative has gone from complete silence to focusing on the myth of Greenwood being America's Black Wall Street rather than on the horrific death and destruction that happened. Incidentally, the phrase 'Black Wall Street' was coined by Booker T. Washington, the poster child of appeasing white people.
RJ Young makes some salient points in this book I agree with. They can all be boiled down to one thing: Black people are still, in 2022, fighting to be seen and treated as equal to white people. This fight has lasted for 403 years. 403!!! It may seem like Young belabors this overall point in the book, but it's a point that bears repeating. As I said initially, this book is not what I expected, but I am glad to have read it. It is a definite must-read.
August 27, 2022
This was an excellent read but not what I thought it would going to be. I thought it would be more of a historical account of the Tulsa Race Massacre and then psychological and economic fall out to the Black community. And, it was that, but so much more. It's also the author's memoir, growing up in mostly in OK, his religious upbringing, his conservative parents as well as his sports expertise and his love of writing. Young effortless weaves his personal background, with Tulsa's history and it's riveting. For readers of Clint Smith, Isabel Wilkerson, Annette Gordon-Reed and Jessmyn Ward.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
May 7, 2023
The massacre was the focus early on, maybe 1-2 chapters which I found the most interesting. The majority of the book is more memoir, which certainly provided a new perspective for me but I had some trouble connecting it.
The last few chapters were first-hand accounts of the centennial ceremonies and while I can certainly appreciate the author's criticisms, they seemed redundant after awhile.
The latter half of the book had its moments, like when he doggedly tracked down the origins of the phrase "Black Wall Street," but otherwise belabored his points over the last number of chapters. Struck by what seemed like a half-dozen typos.
The last few chapters were first-hand accounts of the centennial ceremonies and while I can certainly appreciate the author's criticisms, they seemed redundant after awhile.
The latter half of the book had its moments, like when he doggedly tracked down the origins of the phrase "Black Wall Street," but otherwise belabored his points over the last number of chapters. Struck by what seemed like a half-dozen typos.
October 31, 2022
From its title, Requiem for the Massacre makes it clear that it will be an emotional unpacking of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. R. J. Young presents a history of the Tulsa Race Massacre, a memoir of his and his family's life and of contemporary life in Tulsa. It is impossible to separate history form the present day, and by detailing the history and lack of justice for the losses and lack of reparations as continued evidence of America's white supremacist culture.
Young begins the book by detailing the chain of events that began on May 31, 1921, culminating with loss of life and the destruction of more than 35 square blocks. Young then shares his life story. Growing up the child of military parents and a civil rights activist grandmother. After living several other places, Young's family moved to Tulsa where he currently lives. He is a very open an honest narrator, sharing the pivotal moments of his life and his struggles with mental health.
As a work focused on the Massacre, it builds on the work of others, and Young is very clear on naming his sources. He also integrates them very well, showing how the narratives have always been largely controlled by white people who never present themselves as active participants or having benefited from the massacre, and how, a century later the story is no different.
The particular section I find myself reflecting on is when Young explores some of the popular perceptions of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In particular who gave it the name the "Black Wall Street?' Young also continually looks at the quotes or figures portrayed in public life in Tulsa and questions their placement or attribution. How much of it is determined by popularity or familiarity? Who are the intended audience? Why was it an HBO TV show written by white men, based on a book by a white man that finally seems to have brought this event to public prominence?
A powerful, moving exploration of being Black in an America built on slavery, focused on the place of one of America's worst racial acts of terrorism.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
Young begins the book by detailing the chain of events that began on May 31, 1921, culminating with loss of life and the destruction of more than 35 square blocks. Young then shares his life story. Growing up the child of military parents and a civil rights activist grandmother. After living several other places, Young's family moved to Tulsa where he currently lives. He is a very open an honest narrator, sharing the pivotal moments of his life and his struggles with mental health.
As a work focused on the Massacre, it builds on the work of others, and Young is very clear on naming his sources. He also integrates them very well, showing how the narratives have always been largely controlled by white people who never present themselves as active participants or having benefited from the massacre, and how, a century later the story is no different.
The particular section I find myself reflecting on is when Young explores some of the popular perceptions of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In particular who gave it the name the "Black Wall Street?' Young also continually looks at the quotes or figures portrayed in public life in Tulsa and questions their placement or attribution. How much of it is determined by popularity or familiarity? Who are the intended audience? Why was it an HBO TV show written by white men, based on a book by a white man that finally seems to have brought this event to public prominence?
A powerful, moving exploration of being Black in an America built on slavery, focused on the place of one of America's worst racial acts of terrorism.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
July 1, 2023
Powerful, personal, and infuriating. I enjoyed how the narrative was tied into a well researched history (while claiming there are better historical accounts out there already). Much like St. Louis, Tulsa's racist history and Black trauma should be studied and addressed with the entire public community.
January 9, 2023
This was an amazing work that went in directions that I did not expect, but was clearly where it needed to go. I picked this up at the library and thought it would be a pretty straightforward history account of the Tulsa Race Massacre and the mark left in its aftermath. I was not expecting the deep personal memoir contained within.
This book has made me look at the legacy of racism in this country from a whole new lens. It made me ask the question: has there ever been true emancipation for African-Americans in the US? Or have we just went from the imprisonment of slavery to imprisonment by economic means, by environmental conditions, by the disparities in the criminal justice system, or by the saddest of all imprisonment, imprisonment of your own psyche and mind. If we are ever to truly make progress in this country, we cannot hide behind the argument that this was all perpetuated by people from the past and everyone should move on. It is absurd to not realize that these events still have a legacy and an impact, and we must respect and be aware of that impact.
Without going further on, I think this is an essential work to understanding the legacy of racism, and that it is still very much alive and needs the genuine attention of all of us. I want to thank RJ Young for his willingness to be open, personal, and vulnerable with this work. It is powerful and certainly has impacted my thoughts and understanding on such a vital topic for our country.
This book has made me look at the legacy of racism in this country from a whole new lens. It made me ask the question: has there ever been true emancipation for African-Americans in the US? Or have we just went from the imprisonment of slavery to imprisonment by economic means, by environmental conditions, by the disparities in the criminal justice system, or by the saddest of all imprisonment, imprisonment of your own psyche and mind. If we are ever to truly make progress in this country, we cannot hide behind the argument that this was all perpetuated by people from the past and everyone should move on. It is absurd to not realize that these events still have a legacy and an impact, and we must respect and be aware of that impact.
Without going further on, I think this is an essential work to understanding the legacy of racism, and that it is still very much alive and needs the genuine attention of all of us. I want to thank RJ Young for his willingness to be open, personal, and vulnerable with this work. It is powerful and certainly has impacted my thoughts and understanding on such a vital topic for our country.
February 21, 2023
Given my most recent review before this one, I'm pretty sure I'm coming to the conclusion that I tend to dislike the marriage of autobiographies/memoirs and historical non-fiction narratives; I think I'd just prefer to read two separate books and really delve into the weeds about the two topics on their own. I suspect this dynamic is what made this book not really land for me given that the two main topics are interesting and important in their own right, but seem to detract rather than add to each other when combined.
February 1, 2023
Raw. Honest. Powerful. 100 years of history from the perspective of a single male Black Tulsan. This is not always an easy emotional read but it draws you and it's worth it.
November 6, 2023
This book I found to be a bit confusing as the title is, in my opinion, not what the book is really about. It is more of a loose biography of the author with the last quarter or so of it actually about the Tulsa Massacre.
With that being said I still found the book interesting and challenging to read. As a white male I cannot understand the struggles and obstacles thrown at the black community be they on purpose or unconsciously so it was interesting to read about them from a black man from Tulsa.
One theme that comes through from the book is the author’s cynicism, hostility, skepticism about almost anything that anyone, be they black or white, does to bring to the forefront the racism that still exists today unless what is being said or done the author completely agrees with. He seems to be always looking for the ulterior motive or the hidden agenda. Although I cannot understand him in his stance on this I do feel pity that with the exception of the last 4-5 pages he sees no hope in the world. For anyone. Anywhere.
The best part of the book is that at times it made me feel uncomfortable reading it which is a good thing as it challenges my beliefs and my own prejudices.
With that being said I still found the book interesting and challenging to read. As a white male I cannot understand the struggles and obstacles thrown at the black community be they on purpose or unconsciously so it was interesting to read about them from a black man from Tulsa.
One theme that comes through from the book is the author’s cynicism, hostility, skepticism about almost anything that anyone, be they black or white, does to bring to the forefront the racism that still exists today unless what is being said or done the author completely agrees with. He seems to be always looking for the ulterior motive or the hidden agenda. Although I cannot understand him in his stance on this I do feel pity that with the exception of the last 4-5 pages he sees no hope in the world. For anyone. Anywhere.
The best part of the book is that at times it made me feel uncomfortable reading it which is a good thing as it challenges my beliefs and my own prejudices.
February 18, 2023
Despite the title most of the book is not about the Tulsa Race Massacre. If you know nothing about it going in, you will be fairly confused. I liked the first half of the book, which is where most of parts about the massacre were, although it also veers off into a memoir. That was interesting, so I was fine going along for the ride even though that is definitely not how the book is described. But then it took another odd turn and the second half of the book was mainly random rants, the most confusing of which was the anger he feels about the term Black Wall Street. If when he was ranting about something and I agreed with him, I had no idea what it had to do with the massacre or why he was writing about it. This may have worked better as a series of essays on race and the massacre being tied in for some of them but as a book supposedly about the massacre this fails. I think it should have just been marketed another way. Expecting a book about the massacre, this was disappointing. If I had gone into expecting essays on various topics, I think I would have liked it.
January 7, 2024
This was an intense account of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, the 100 year remembrance, and the impact it has had in the life of Black Tulsa native RJ Young. It chronicles his life and the impact of incidents that have impacted him, as well as his family as he grew up. It takes an in depth and personal view of the events from 1921 to the present. It entails a great deal of research into the history of the people and the events surrounding Greenwood, also known as Black Wall Street (a name which he tries to find out specifically who coined that phrase). RJ Young tracks the events including those that directly effected and continue to effect his life and through personal accounts, extensive research and historical events. A quote which was quite poignant from RJ Young stayed with me,
"They will allow guns in school, but not black history." An impactful and important book.
"They will allow guns in school, but not black history." An impactful and important book.
March 27, 2023
I wanted to learn from this book. I wanted to be educated.
Instead, the author goes on numerous rants about why financial reparations should be made, how his anger justifies himself, and how the various Commissions utterly failed to clarify what happened. The problem is, the author gives no verifiable references, mentions maybe one or two witnesses to the event, and offers no validation of his facts.
I finished the book, because I wanted to determine if the author would return to the point of the book; instead, it was more of the same - justifying his stances on the demand for strictly fiscal reparations, condemning the efforts made in commemoration of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, and making unfounded claims.
Really disappointing.
Instead, the author goes on numerous rants about why financial reparations should be made, how his anger justifies himself, and how the various Commissions utterly failed to clarify what happened. The problem is, the author gives no verifiable references, mentions maybe one or two witnesses to the event, and offers no validation of his facts.
I finished the book, because I wanted to determine if the author would return to the point of the book; instead, it was more of the same - justifying his stances on the demand for strictly fiscal reparations, condemning the efforts made in commemoration of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, and making unfounded claims.
Really disappointing.
July 10, 2023
This was a really good and effective creative nonfiction work that melted autobiography, essay, reporting, and historical research. I read an ARC, so I’m not sure what, if anything, was altered in the final version (esp around cover and description), but echo others in suggesting that it’s not an outright historical account of the Tulsa Race Massacre — instead, it’s a consideration of how we as a culture, especially in Tulsa, have grappled with it and ensuing (and previous) history. Rest for considering how and why we are where are, and thinking through how spectacle and “remembrance” can fall far short of reckoning and reparation.
March 3, 2023
Did not finish. I gave it four stars because that's the average rating of this book. I only got about 30% into it. It was not what I thought it was. Looking at the title and subtitle, I thought this was nonfiction , investigative type history book. The book begins like a history book, talking about the 1921 massacre, but then it quickly turns into a memoir. It is partly my fault, because I did not read the description. I picked up the book solely based on the title, and that's why i choose to give it 4 stars.
June 20, 2023
This book is incredibly informative in the parts it chooses to be. But it’s also ~50% memoir, which I was not expecting. Ultimately it’s a 3 because the writing style just didn’t sit right with me. I get writing about the massacre and our collective response to it from a place of passion and, moreover, anger. But there was some dialogue in there that seemed made up and other aspects that felt forced to move the narrative along. There were also probably a dozen grammatical errors, so his editor didn’t really help things either.
September 16, 2024
As other reviewers mentioned, this book wasn't entirely what I expected. It's not really a history of the Tulsa Race Massacre. It's part memoir and part commentary about dealing with it's ramifications through his personal experience. It's also strange reading a book about your hometown by someone who is your age. In some ways, we would have experienced Tulsa similarly.
I also experienced Watchmen and the recent coverage of the Tulsa Race Massacre from afar. I appreciated seeing from his perspective and learning what happened. I recommend this book--especially for Tulsans and other Oklahomans.
I also experienced Watchmen and the recent coverage of the Tulsa Race Massacre from afar. I appreciated seeing from his perspective and learning what happened. I recommend this book--especially for Tulsans and other Oklahomans.
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February 13, 2023First book that I have read about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre...
I really wish this book was divided into parts more than it was. For example, I would have had the history of the Massacre in one section. Then a different section about things that happened in history after the Massacre. Perhaps a third section solely on the author and his experiences...
I wish it had been more focused on the Massacre and less on the author.
I really wish this book was divided into parts more than it was. For example, I would have had the history of the Massacre in one section. Then a different section about things that happened in history after the Massacre. Perhaps a third section solely on the author and his experiences...
I wish it had been more focused on the Massacre and less on the author.
May 24, 2023
This is okay. More memoir about growing up in Tulsa and a case for reparations than anything else. That’s all fine but not really what I thought it would be. If you’re going to read this book, definitely do the actual book, not the audiobook. The audiobook is really awfully read. Two words, pause, three words, pause, two words, pause. The cadence is horrible. It’s like there is a comma between every other word. Ugh.
June 11, 2023
It was good! I thought it was going to be a straightforward history of the race massacre, but it was a kind of memoir/personal journey of Blackness interwoven with the history of the race massacre and the current efforts (author would say performative efforts) to memorialize the tragedy. He made good points of who controls the effort (white Tulsans) and how they’ve failed to repair the harm that Black Tulsans suffered and continue to suffer.
August 15, 2023
The book just doesn't live up to billing. Nearly half the book is little more than a straight memoir of the author, and when it does finally find its pace, it is less "A Black History" than it is "one man's coming to terms with that history". I was expecting, and looking for, a cultural history and the book just falls short, instead delivering a much more personal reckoning. I'm sure that will appeal to some, but definitely not what I had picked it up wanting.
April 15, 2023
The structure of this book was unexpected. I thought more of it was about the actual massacre. It is mostly memoir but also the legacy of the massacre, especially in the context of the times we are living in. I learned a lot.
October 17, 2023
DNR around 18% (audiobook). Tried 5x in 3 months to make some type of progress and I believe the audiobook format is just not compelling considering the density of information.
This might be better in print.
This might be better in print.
January 23, 2023
Not what I expected, but unlike any of the other books I've read about the Tulsa Race Massacre.
February 24, 2023
There is no way to describe this book accurately other than “deep and wide”.
January 13, 2024
"Will America listen?" Part history, part autobiography, part questioning of the legacy of the Massacre. A provoking look at the generational trauma and outcomes of racism in America.
July 24, 2024
3.75 stars
March 29, 2025
This wasn't exactly what I expected, more autobiography than history, but still a thought-provoking read about identity rooted in place.
August 18, 2023
If you juxtapose Adam Hochschild's American Midnight alongside RJ Young's Requiem, you will get an extraordinary vision of racist (and anti-Semitic) American in the early 1900s. Young develops his own story in the first hundred pages, his experience as a black boy and then young man, and he arrives in Tulsa at the time of his high school years. He will leave the city to pursue his own career paths after schooling and marriage, but then returns. As he says at the end, despite the hate that continues to fuel white Tulsans' unwillingness to confront their racist practices, "I have learned too much on this journey through the massacre to cede my space in Tulsa." This book provides a stark, clear, honest understanding of how whites, Tulsans and others, use the massacre as a way to create a myth around the events in 1921 rather than face the reality, which would require real reparations.
I grew up in Tulsa, moving there in 1960, finishing high school in 1967 and then moving (as did my mother) to go off to college, only returning a few times in the late 1960s, and then once or twice in the next 50 years until my 50th high school reunion in 2017. At no time in my middle school and high school years did I hear a single word about any massacre, and given that few if any of my teachers were native Tulsans, it is possible that in their cases, the conspiracy of silence was not overt on their part. But I am convinced that many families of my schoolmates, some of which were among the founders of the city, knew quite well what the unspoken was all about. And the name "Greenwood" was a key term referring to the black part of town, i.e., the part of town where we would not be welcome. And that proved to be untrue as I learned when, at age 16, I went looking for music other than the mainstream rock that I was used to.
In any case, Young's viewpoint must rankle nearly anyone around him, and he shows how many times he has to bite his tongue lest he create yet another uncomfortable confrontation with fellow Blacks, notably during the 100-year commemoration events that, as Young points out, were not at all funded by Tulsa, but by private donors. An amazing book!
I grew up in Tulsa, moving there in 1960, finishing high school in 1967 and then moving (as did my mother) to go off to college, only returning a few times in the late 1960s, and then once or twice in the next 50 years until my 50th high school reunion in 2017. At no time in my middle school and high school years did I hear a single word about any massacre, and given that few if any of my teachers were native Tulsans, it is possible that in their cases, the conspiracy of silence was not overt on their part. But I am convinced that many families of my schoolmates, some of which were among the founders of the city, knew quite well what the unspoken was all about. And the name "Greenwood" was a key term referring to the black part of town, i.e., the part of town where we would not be welcome. And that proved to be untrue as I learned when, at age 16, I went looking for music other than the mainstream rock that I was used to.
In any case, Young's viewpoint must rankle nearly anyone around him, and he shows how many times he has to bite his tongue lest he create yet another uncomfortable confrontation with fellow Blacks, notably during the 100-year commemoration events that, as Young points out, were not at all funded by Tulsa, but by private donors. An amazing book!
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