{"id":33788,"date":"2021-02-04T05:54:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T11:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33788"},"modified":"2021-06-11T14:10:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T19:10:17","slug":"oklahoma-educators-are-at-frontlines-of-remembering-tulsa-race-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2021\/02\/04\/oklahoma-educators-are-at-frontlines-of-remembering-tulsa-race-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma educators are at frontlines of remembering Tulsa Race Massacre"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_33793\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33793\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM-672x371.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM-672x371.png 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM-1920x1061.png 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM-768x424.png 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM-150x83.png 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM-620x343.png 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-01-26-at-3.30.32-PM.png 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Screengrab<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A screengrab of George Monroe from the oral history collected by the the Tulsa Race Riot Commission.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">George Monroe recalled bits and pieces of the Tulsa Race Massacre up until the end of his life.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The images never could escape his memory.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI remember seeing people getting shot,\u201d he said In a 1999 oral history.<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px;\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/9cdb99c0-42a9-4ef0-9d13-55cf8c2ebf87\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=37NItC7AUJY&list=PL2cTTbGugbsbeetQDlGqYMUc5Xnf1H61y&index=1&t=1639s\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">oral history,<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> collected by the Tulsa Race Riot Commission for their <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.okhistory.org\/research\/forms\/freport.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2001 report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Monroe vividly recalls his mother telling her four children to hide under a bed as a group of white men approached their home.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy sister grabbed me and pulled me under there,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd while I was under the bed, one of the guys come in past me and stepped on my finger. And as I was about to scream, my sister put her hand over my mouth so I couldn&#8217;t be heard.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monroe, who died in 2001, was a survivor of one of the most tragic race-based massacres in American history. Officially, 37 Black people were killed and but contemporary estimates range to as many as 300 dead. Additoinally, 35 blocks of property belonging to Black people were destroyed in the tragedy that was sparked by an unproven accusation from an elevator operator that she was assaulted by a Black man.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monroe was only 5 years old during the massacre. And for much of his life, its story was unheard by many Oklahomans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma educators are trying to amplify stories like his so the Tulsa Race Massacre isn\u2019t forgotten. And now, 100 years after the fact, educators are taking the time to make sure they\u2019re getting the lessons people need to take from the massacre across.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere has to be a lot of thought into presenting this material and a lot of care taken with it,\u201d Tulsa area teacher Crystal Patrick said<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_33794\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33794\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-672x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-672x672.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-1920x1920.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-620x620.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-1080x1080.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-32x32.jpg 32w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-64x64.jpg 64w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-96x96.jpg 96w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-128x128.jpg 128w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-1472x1472.jpg 1472w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-1104x1104.jpg 1104w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-912x912.jpg 912w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-550x550.jpg 550w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic-470x470.jpg 470w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/profile-pic.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy Crystal Patrick<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tulsa area teacher Crystal Patrick has helped design a curriculum with the Tri City Collective aimed at providing students with context of the Tulsa Race Massacre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3><b>Remembering the story<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the last couple decades, there has been a mountain of work looking back at the massacre. People can find it in places like the report from the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, journalistic work from outlets like the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/tulsaworld.com\/revisit-the-history-of-the-1921-tulsa-race-massacre\/article_0e9e3208-a109-11ea-8fcb-d779f15e9e22.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tulsa World<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and depictions in popular culture like in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/09\/18\/914361480\/emmy-nominated-watchmen-writer-explores-generational-trauma-and-racism\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HBO series Watchmen<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State leaders, though, have slowly shifted focus on the classroom.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think Oklahoma schools have an essential role in keeping that history known and understood,\u201d State public schools superintendent Joy Hofmeister said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hofmeister attended middle and high school in Tulsa. And she had never even heard about the massacre until she was an adult.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That ignorance of the event is unacceptable for students coming up today, Hofmeister said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe believe that we do need to be very much a part of embracing and understanding and recognizing the horror of the past of the city of Tulsa, of our state&#8217;s history,\u201d Hofmeister said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s common \u2014 especially for white Oklahomans \u2014 for adult Oklahomans to have never heard of the massacre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Patrick, who is Black, said even though she grew up in Tulsa and came through Tulsa Public Schools, she hadn\u2019t heard of the race massacre until she was in college in the late 1990s.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learning the story further drew her into teaching social studies and history.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, she said, for much of her career, resources have been lacking.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHonestly, right now the curriculum, it&#8217;s really, it&#8217;s up to the teachers to teach it,\u201d Patrick said.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_33795\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33795\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-672x504.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-672x504.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-620x465.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-632x474.jpg 632w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2021\/02\/Hofmeister-at-TRM-event-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy Oklahoma State Department of Education<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Superintendent for Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister speaks at a February 2020 Tulsa Race Massacre Commission Leadership Meeting at Tulsa&#8217;s Greenwood Cultural Center.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3><b>Curricula on the massacre<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Improvements have been gradual, the state\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/oksocialstudies.pbworks.com\/w\/page\/138679164\/OKH%205-2%20D-F%20Instructional%20Resources\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">frameworks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have grown over the years and there\u2019s more and more added in different grades about the history of the Greenwood district where the massacre happened. The antiquated term the \u201cTulsa Race Riot\u201d has also largely been replaced.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curriculum builders want to give teachers the tools they need to actually teach about the massacre. A leader in translating the massacre and its effects to Oklahoma classrooms has been Tulsa Public Schools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have taken that what they have been doing for a number of years and then have looked at how can we do this at the state level,\u201d Hofmeister said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But one of the most significant changes has come in the form of professional development focused on teaching the massacre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summer, the district hosted a multi-day workshop via Zoom for social studies teachers. It was attended by educators from across Oklahoma and the country.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tulsa\u2019s role in educating about the tragedy is a point of pride for the district, said Danielle Neves, Tulsa Public Schools\u2019 deputy chief of academics<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt&#8217;s everyone&#8217;s history, but it&#8217;s very personally and locally Tulsa&#8217;s history,\u201d Neves said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main way it\u2019s been accomplished is through a more modern approach to teaching, said Amanda Solivan, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the social studies content manager for the district.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSocial studies curriculum has really changed from a \u2018we&#8217;re going to stand and tell you the facts\u2019 to \u2018we want you to review the resources and come up with a response based on the primary sources and the secondary sources that we have,\u2019\u201d Solivan said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neves said conversations need to be sparked about connecting the past to the present to move society forward.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere&#8217;s an active responsibility we have to contribute to that healing, to that reconciliation and to creating a different future that really values, includes and elevates all of the members of our community,\u201d Neves said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a pair of curricula that are starting to be more widely used: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/5ea8334f5334b8122b5ac3e6\/t\/5f2c96f65a26801a0e064371\/1596757824741\/TRMCC+Curriculum+-+COMPLETE+LESSON+PLAN\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> put together by the state\u2019s history center and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jhfcenter.org\/curriculum\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">another<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by the John Hope Franklin Center.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the Tulsa educators said those are a good starting place.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Neves said there\u2019s been an absence of the positives of the Greenwood district before the massacre in how the tragedy is taught.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s where a curriculum like the one Patrick and the social justice and education organization Tri-City Collective put together comes in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patrick teaches students in varying grade levels and in different districts in short-term sessions about the Tulsa Race Massacre. But she said she likes to put an emphasis on what Black Wall Street and the Greenwood District represented.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The area was a thriving district and it\u2019s important kids today understand what successes came for Black people amid adversity at the beginning of the 20th century, Patrick said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor black children and for kids of color, it really flies in the face of this narrative that defines us as a culture, as a people, you know, that we&#8217;re lazy or poor or unmotivated,\u201d Patrick said. \u201c[Black Wall Street] is a clear picture of what we as people are capable of.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Lessons learned<\/b><\/h3><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Tulsa Race Massacre was a collective trauma for Black Tulsans on a dizzying scale.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The COVID-19 pandemic, which has left more than 3,600 Oklahomans dead and many more sick, has had a similar effect.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And as students and their families face down the trauma of the pandemic on their communities, there\u2019s a lesson to be learned from Tulsa: Sweeping tragedy under the rug is unproductive. Avoiding difficult conversations about the pandemic related to trauma can\u2019t happen, Hofmeister said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cKids need to talk about what they&#8217;ve experienced,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that can be through current events or through history, Patrick said. The massacre and resiliency of people is so important for students to grasp, she said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s not just black history,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cIt&#8217;s Oklahoma history. It&#8217;s American history. And so by teaching these kids that this is a part of your story, too, I really feel like it makes an impact.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Monroe recalled bits and pieces of the Tulsa Race Massacre up until the end of his life.The images never could escape his memory.\u201cI remember seeing people getting shot,\u201d he said In a 1999 oral history. In that oral history, collected by the Tulsa Race Riot Commission for their 2001 report, Monroe vividly recalls his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":33789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[174,1333],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33788"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33788"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34090,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33788\/revisions\/34090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}