'Deep Greenwood' Looks Forward With Final Event

My final 'Deep Greenwood' discussion on May 30 coincides with the 1-year anniversary of my book and the 103rd anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre

It’s been about a year since Built From the Fire came into the world, and more than anything else I remember how terribly nervous I was to actually talk about this book in Greenwood. I’m quite an introvert and have spent most of my life feeling like something of an outsider. Greenwood has been exploited by interlopers many times in its history—real estate men, urban planners, politicians, creatives. I didn’t know how my words would land here, either on the written page or through a microphone.

My voice was shaky. I talked too fast. I had probably not spoken in front of such a large audience since a play in elementary school. But the energy—from the audience, from the many people featured in the book, from my interlocutors Dreisen Heath and Stevie Johnson—was like a political rally mixed with a family reunion. People were rooting for me to succeed. They had not read the book yet, but they trusted that I had represented their story well. I and they became us.

That night focused on the past, as I walked through Greenwood’s history step by step. This week, we’re going to focus on the future.

On Thursday, May 30 at 6 p.m. at Rudisill Regional Library, I’ll be hosting my last major book event in Tulsa, the final leg of the Deep Greenwood Community Read. Instead of hearing me talk, you’ll mostly get to hear from the people who are building new things in and around Greenwood—storefronts, wellness initiatives, meeting spaces for black-owned businesses, DIY classrooms, and grassroots political movements. I hope you’ll walk away with a clearer sense of some of the programs you may have seen glancing headlines about, and some new ideas for how be part of building Greenwood’s future.

There will be two panels that I will moderate, one on entrepreneurship and the other on community building. Featured panelists include:

• Angela Brown, educator in the Black History Saturdays program

• Tiffany Crutcher, founder and executive director of the Terence Crutcher Foundation

• Regina Goodwin, Oklahoma state legislator for House District 73

• Cleo Harris, owner of Black Wall Street Tees & Souvenirs

• Shayla Pickett, Founder of P.O.I.S.E Health & Wellness

• Kuma Roberts, president of the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce

After the panels, attendees will have a chance to record short video testimonials explaining their own hopes for the future of Greenwood. These recordings will be saved in the Rudisill Regional Library archives as a time capsule of modern Greenwood.

Rudisill Regional Library is located at 1520 N Hartford Ave (just north of Carver Middle School). Refreshments will be served at the event.