The Tulsa Race Massacre
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 May 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Greenwood was a flourishing and prosperous black neighbourhood of Tulsa, often referred to as Black Wall Street. But in May 1921, a white mob descended on the district, destroying homes, businesses and lives. In this Witness History, Josephine Casserly talks to historian John W. Franklin, of Franklin Global, about the story of his grandfather, Buck Franklin, who survived the massacre. The words of Buck Franklin are voiced by Stefan Adegbola.
Image: An African-American man with a camera examining the ashes of a burned-out block after the Tulsa Race Massacre. Credit: Oklahoma Historical Society/Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Josephine |
| 0:46.1 | Kassily. Today I'll be looking at one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the |
| 0:51.2 | history of the United States, the |
| 0:53.2 | 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. |
| 0:56.4 | This program contains some offensive language |
| 0:58.5 | from the time, as well as some upsetting descriptions. |
| 1:02.1 | But our story starts on a sunny morning that feels a world away from where this day will end. |
| 1:08.8 | It is now May 31st, 1921. the day is just beginning. |
| 1:14.0 | Sweet-throated birds warble their songs of joy in the treetops, |
| 1:18.0 | and the dews sparkles upon the grass |
| 1:20.0 | like countless little diamonds. |
| 1:22.0 | We're going to see what happened in Tulsa through the eyes of Buck Franklin. |
| 1:26.0 | He was an African American lawyer and these are words from his autobiography. |
| 1:30.0 | An unbroken stream of pedestrians, male and female, passes down Greenwood Avenue. |
| 1:36.0 | It is made up of laborers and others on their way to work. |
| 1:39.0 | A few of the more pretentious ones pass in their own cars or in jitneys or upon buses. |
... |
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