Connecting Local History To Beloved

By Author: solo chen
Total Articles: 129
Comment this article

Teaching Morrison provides an important literary avenue to examine the complex historical framework suggested by Zinn. Since history is recursive, Morrison's themes are prevalent in a variety of historical eras, and by asking students to locate other historical artifacts, we give students an opportunity to "'see' history from the standpoint of others" (Zinn 10). When I taught Beloved, students spoke with a sense of disbelief, a feeling that Morrison's perspective on slavery was somewhat unreal. To best "'see' history from the standpoint of others" (Zinn 10), students should be challenged to locate a more immediate history, perhaps one hidden in their community.

The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot provided a good example for my students in Oklahoma. Although called one of the most horrific incidents' in US history (Ellsworth 7), the riot is rarely discussed, causing some to call it a "conspiracy of silence" (Franklin and Ellsworth 25). Unlike the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, the Tulsa Race Riot is more elusive, often not included in school curricula, yet this tragedy can provide valuable lessons "about not only who we are, but ...
... also about who we would like to be". A mysterious altercation between Dick Rowland, a black 19-year-old high school dropout, and Sarah Page, a white elevator attendant, is cited as the impetus for the event. Rowland shined shoes in affluent downtown Tulsa. On May 31, 1921, he went to use one of the only African American bathrooms in this white area of Tulsa. As the bathroom was on an upper floor, he entered an elevator run by Page. No witnesses could say with certainty what transpired between the two, but by the time the elevator reopened, Page was screaming, and Rowland ran for his life (Night).

Rowland was arrested and held in the local jail. Later that day, the Tulsa Tribune ran an inflammatory editorial entitled "To Lynch a Negro Tonight" (Ellsworth 48). A large white mob began to form around the jail where Rowland was held. A lynching seemed imminent, but several armed African American men, some World War I veterans, arrived and offered support to the police (Night). Afraid of a riot, Tulsa's first black police officer asked the African American group to disperse. They agreed, but as they began to leave, members of the white mob challenged them. As a white man tried to disarm a black man, a shot was fired. The riot had begun (Ellsworth 52). In a mere 18 hours, over 1,000 homes were burned, and 40 square blocks of an African American residential district were decimated. Close to 9,000 people were left homeless. The National Guard was called in and marshal law was declared. Thousands of African Americans were taken to internment camps, and they remained there until their white employers vouched for them (Night). For a month after the riot, they had to carry or wear green cards with the words "Police Protection" printed on one side (Ellsworth 72).Cartier Ballon Bleu Replica are even free shipping! Well, I don't have much to say, I can hardly wait! I just wanner sweep my Replica Replica Cartier Ballon Bleu Calibre de Flying W7100010 home!

I used several texts that study the riot in my class. Scott Ellsworth's Death in a Promised Land: The Titlsa Race Riot of 1921 provides one of the first overviews of the events leading up to and after the riot. The Oklahoma Historical Society's website has several links to photographs and manuscripts from that era. Also, Anna Myers' young adult novel, Tulsa Burning, offers a perspective contextualized in the relationship between a white boy and his African American friend.