Across the Tracks
Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In the graphic novel history Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre, author Alverne Ball and illustrator Stacey Robinson have crafted a love letter to Greenwood, Oklahoma—also known as Black Wall Street—a community whose importance is often overshadowed by the atrocious slaughter that took place there in 1921.
Across the Tracks introduces the reader to the businesses and townsfolk who flourished in this unprecedented time of prosperity for Black Americans. We learn about Greenwood and why it is essential to remember the great achievements of the community as well as the tragedy which nearly erased it. However, Ball is careful to recount the eventual recovery of Greenwood.
With additional supplementary materials including a detailed preface, timeline, and historical essay, Across the Tracks offers a thorough examination of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Black Wall Street.
“Across the Tracks not only personalizes and therefore heightens the tragedy we know will come, but it also reframes that tragedy. Black perseverance and joy take center stage in a way it seldom does when discussing Greenwood.” —The Beat
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ball and Robinson commemorate a grim anniversary in this salient account: 100 years since a white lynch mob killed at least 300 African Americans and destroyed 1,200 homes as they torched the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Okla., a thriving community Booker T. Washington dubbed Black Wall Street. Robinson's bright artwork showcases the vibrancy of Greenwood, the pages spilling over with portraits of African American dentists, barbers, doctors, bus drivers, seamstresses, butchers, and chefs. "Now more than ever before it feels necessary to shine a light on the people that once lived in Greenwood," Ball writes, calling to attention the timely publication. After the horrific events of the massacre, Ball ends the history on a note of perseverance, with residents determined to rebuild. With fewer than 50 pages of story line, it offers a glimpse into the past, but the straightforward narrative is notably devoid of, for example, quotes from survivors or their descendants. An essay by scholars Reynaldo Anderson and Colette Yellow rounds things out and provides crucial context. Educational and accessible, this feels well crafted for any American history class, or as a primer for general readers unfamiliar with this dark chapter of American history.
