Russell Westbrook executive producing Tulsa race massacre docuseries
'Terror in Tulsa: The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street' will chronicle the deadly massacre.
2021 will mark the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and Russell Westbrook is the latest celebrity to announce a project in the works to commemorate the tragedy.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Westbrook has teamed up with Blackfin Productions, – the same team behind Netflix’s popular docu-series Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez – and will serve as executive producer in the upcoming documentary series.
Smoke billowing over Tulsa, Oklahoma during 1921 race riots
Library of Congress
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THR reports that the series, entitled Terror in Tulsa: The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street, “[W]ill chronicle [the] deadly massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, between May 31 and June 1, 1921, where over 300 African Americans were killed and thousands more were displaced as the once-prosperous Greenwood District, called Black Wall Street by locals, was set ablaze.”
Previously, two other Tulsa Race Massacre projects where announced. Cineflix’s Black Wall Street, which will be directed by Dream Hampton, the showrunner and executive producer behind Lifetime’s docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, and a third documentary from LeBron James‘ the production company of SpringHill Entertainment are also both in the works.
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#terrorintulsa #blackwallstreet pic.twitter.com/BcJCzJHS0N
— Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) June 10, 2020
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“It’s upsetting that the atrocities that transpired then are still so relevant today,” Westbrook said in a statement. “It’s important we uncover the buried stories of African Americans in this country. We must amplify them now more than ever if we want to create change moving forward.”
Many credit HBO’s critically acclaimed series Watchmen for reinvigorating the public’s awareness about that dark chapter in American history after they depicted what took place during the opening scene of its pilot.
“Black people from Tulsa have refused to let the Greenwood District Massacre be erased from history,” explained Hampton while promoting her upcoming series on the subject. “As the centennial approaches, they are still searching for a mass grave they believe contains the bodies of the victims of the Black Wall Street Massacre, and they are still demanding reparations.”
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