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Greenwood Rising offers both self-guided and docent-led tours of its four galleries:
The Human Spirit focuses locally on the Greenwood District and the remarkable human spirit of its people. It tells the story of how Oklahomans collided, and sometimes connected, in a land that mirrored the race-based policy and practice that dominated the nation. Gallery #1 includes information about the Freedmen, the story of the formation and success of Black Wall Street, and profiles of Greenwood District icons.
Arc of Oppression—Systems of Anti-Blackness addresses the national context of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (“Massacre”) and centers on the Massacre itself. Tulsa’s historical racial trauma, while emblematic of a larger system of racial oppression in America, maintains a uniqueness born of magnitude. The Massacre devastated a nationally renowned Black entrepreneurial community. This gallery provides context for what happened in Tulsa in 1921. It looks at Red Summer and lynchings.
Changing Fortunes highlights the remarkable resilience of the African American community post-Massacre, including the up-from-the-ashes philosophy that immediate rebuilding and a second Black Wall Street resurgence that peaked in the 1940s. This gallery also recalls the second Greenwood District decline hastened by integration, Urban Renewal, and a host of other social and economic factors.
Journey to Reconciliation highlights prospects for reconciliation, which is a process, not a point. This space offers visitors an opportunity to transcend divisions and create an unflinchingly honest acknowledgment of biases and understanding of others. Prompt questions around social justice issues in this gallery stimulate thought and dialogue. A space at the end allows patrons to pledge personal commitments to racial reconciliation that are projected on the wall.
Greenwood Rising takes inspiration from other prominent facilities in the United States that chronicle the African American experience, including the Legacy Museum and the Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio.
An independent board of directors oversees its planning, operations, and programs and operations. An Executive Director answerable to the board manages the day-to-day operations and collaborates with the board on strategic issues.
Greenwood Rising is not a part of any governmental entity—city, county, state, or national—and never has been such.
Greenwood Rising is the flagship project of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission (“TRMCC”). Its location on the southeast corner of Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street is the gateway to the celebrated Black Wall Street.
Greenwood Rising honors the icons of Black Wall Street, memorializes the victims of the Massacre, and examines the lessons of the past to inspire meaningful, sustainable action in the present. Its multimedia presentation includes voices of Massacre survivors and profiles of historic figures, all contextualized in the history of America.
This truth-telling and education for all are aimed at repairing lingering historical racial trauma--working toward restoration--and charting a new, vibrant, inclusive course for the future. Most importantly, it will allow visitors to commit to racial justice and reconciliation and will educate the youth of tomorrow on race relations.
Since its inception in mid-2021, Greenwood Rising has welcomed more than 60,000 visitors, not just from Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma, but from throughout the United States and foreign countries. Guests have included descendants of massacre victims, tourists, business and professional groups, elected officials, civic organizations, students, and scholars.
Tulsa Public Schools and the Tulsa Police Department are among many collaborators. All Tulsa Public School eighth-graders come to Greenwood Rising on a field trip experience. A visit to Greenwood Rising has been integrated into the training for Tulsa Police Department cadets.
Other notable collaborative projects include a youth race and leadership forum in conjunction with the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, a teachers’ institute in alliance with Tulsa Public Schools, and a youth exchange in partnership with the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum in Oklahoma City.
Thanks to a donation made by the Hille Foundation during construction, Greenwood Rising owns the land upon which it was built.
TRMCC members collectively identified five key areas of focus: (1) education; (2) arts and culture; (3) cultural tourism; (4) commemoration; and (5) economic development. Members chose these focus areas believing the first step in the process of reconciliation is knowledge and acknowledgement of the past. The team of over thirty people traveled to Montgomery to visit other examples of social justice institutions and met for months to determine the TRMCC’s defining work.
As a group, TRMCC then developed a list of projects to be completed by 2021 that would meet the core purpose of truth-telling, educate the world about the history of Greenwood, and spur entrepreneurial opportunities. TRMCC recognized that the Centennial and these projects would be the start of Greenwood’s renaissance, not simply the culmination of the 2021 Centennial. The budgeted projects resulted in a robust fundraising goal of nearly $30M million. TRMCC achieved its goal.
(City funds solicited by the Commission)
The Oklahoma Commission heard the voices of survivors and descendants, recording and transcribing the testimonies of most identified survivors. Local educator and historian Eddie Faye Gates led this effort. The consensus from the survivors’ and descendants’ testimonies was that they wanted their stories told, as they had not been, and to never have history repeat itself.
TRMCC was developed to build upon the work of the Oklahoma Commission, not to override it. As such, all its projects, including creating Greenwood Rising, funding renovations at the Greenwood Cultural Center, and building the Pathway to Hope, aligned with the overarching mission of telling the full story of Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District and, in so doing, giving voice to survivors and descendants.
The Greenwood Rising creative team read survivor testimonials and listened to recordings of survivor interviews to inform its exhibits. While John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park serves as a memorial to the Massacre, Greenwood Rising shares the full narrative of Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District, with emphasis on its resilience and the indomitable human spirit that characterized its residents.
Reparations, as discussed in the 2001 final report of the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, involve compensation at the individual and community levels, and there are organizations and advocates working diligently for that purpose.
Reparations may take both individual and communal forms. Monetary damages are a type of individual reparations, and we believe that this is an important subject for discussion. Monetary investments in public spaces, public facilities, and economic initiatives are a type of communal reparations. These forms of reparations are complementary, not mutually exclusive. Both are important.
Greenwood Rising seeks to provide a platform where these issues can be discussed and moved forward in a meaningful manner.
Greenwood Rising honors the icons of Black Wall Street, memorializes the victims of the Massacre, and examines the lessons of the past to inspire meaningful, sustainable action in the present. This truth-telling and education for all are aimed at repairing lingering historical racial trauma—working toward restoration—and charting a new, vibrant, inclusive course for the future.
Greenwood Rising supports the work of others who are similarly committed to the pursuit of justice through reparations and racial reconciliation.
Its focus is on the larger scope of reparations, which means repairing past damages and making amends through acknowledgment, apology, and atonement. This process is central to racial reconciliation in Tulsa.
Survivors and descendants deserve remedy and reparation for the atrocities of 1921. Greenwood Rising’s work toward reparations falls in restitution through advocacy for investment in education, infrastructure, and economic development in North Tulsa. While far from comprehensive, Greenwood Rising and subsequent programming and initiatives will serve to hold space for visitors to learn about our past and present to work for a future in which these horrific events never occur again.
