LIVE WITH OUR HOPE

The Pathway to Hope will provide a more direct walking route between John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park and other sites in the core of the Greenwood District. The 10-foot pathway will be built between Elgin and Greenwood Avenues in the area between ONEOK Field and I-244. The corridor will feature landscaping, lighting, and a retaining wall on the north side.

The Pathway to Hope will symbolically reconnect a Greenwood District bisected by I-244 during Tulsa’s urban renewal phase in the 1960s and 70s. What some locals called “urban removal” displaced citizens and businesses and plowed through “Black Wall Street,” Tulsa’s thriving Black business district known throughout the land. The Pathway to Hope will acknowledge this history, elevate Black Wall Street icons, and encourage present-day healing of past, yet lingering, wounds.

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, together with other community groups, provided invaluable input for the creation of this $5 million project. The Sanford and Irene Bernstein Foundation and the Tulsa Stadium Trust provided principal funding for the Pathway to Hope. Special thanks to Mike Melega and the Tulsa Drillers for their cooperation throughout the construction process.

The Pathway to Hope is among several projects to mark the 100th anniversary of the massacre. Completion and a formal dedication are slated for spring 2021.