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Oklahoma History Academic Standards

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OKH.5.2 Examine multiple points of view regarding the evolution of race relations in Oklahoma, including:

A. growth of all-black towns (1865–1920)
B. passage of Senate Bill 1 establishing Jim Crow Laws
C. rise of the Ku Klux Klan
D. emergence of "Black Wall Street" in the Greenwood District
E. causes of the Tulsa Race Riot and its continued social and economic impact
F. the role labels play in understanding historic events, for example “riot” versus “massacre”

Oklahoma History Center Education Resources


Lesson Plans, Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint™
The Curious Case of All-Black Towns
Senate Bill One
Black Wall Street
The Tulsa Race Massacre
Riot Versus Massacre

Additional Lesson Plans
One-Day Lesson
Five-Day Unit

E-Exhibits
 The African American Civil Rights Movement in Oklahoma
African Americans in Oklahoma Before 1954
The Tulsa Race Massacre

Traveling Trunks
African Americans in Oklahoma

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Jimmie Lewis Franklin, "African Americans"
James M. Smallwood, "Segregation"
Nudie E. Williams, "Newspapers, African American"
John H. L. Thompson, "Dunjee, Roscoe"
James M. Smallwood, "NAACP"
Larry O'Dell, "Colleges, African American"

Research Center Resources

Jimmie Lewis Franklin, The Blacks in Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1980)

Audio/Visual

Online Primary Sources

The Black Dispatch, The Gateway to Oklahoma History

Additional Resources

Rochelle Stephney-Roberson, Impact: Blacks in Oklahoma History (Oklahoma City, Okla: Forty-Sixth Star Press, 2011).
Luckerson, Victor. “The Promise of Oklahoma.” Smithsonian Magazine.
Luckerson, Victor. Run it Back. Ongoing series on the Tulsa Race Massacre.



A. growth of All-Black towns (1865–1920)

Oklahoma History Center Education Resources

Lesson Plans Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint™
The Curious Case of All-Black Towns

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Larry O'Dell, "All-Black Towns"
Larry O'Dell, "Clearview"
Larry O'Dell, "Rentiesville"
Larry O'Dell, "Taft"
Larry O'Dell, "Boley"
Larry O'Dell, "Tullahassee"
Larry O'Dell, "Vernon"
Linda Reese, "Freedmen"
Jere Roberson, "McCabe, Edward P."

Research Center Resources

Audio/Visual
Map of All-Black Towns
"Oklahoma Bound," the films of Reverend S.S. Jones

Online Primary Sources

"Rev. S. S. Jones's Films," National Geographic

Additional Resources

"All Black Towns," Oklahoma News Report, August 22, 2013, PBS
Hannibal B. Johnson, "The All-Black Towns in Oklahoma," Hannibalbjohnson.com, December 31, 2004
Brian Hardzinski, "Why Indian Territory's All-Black Towns Prospered While Most of Oklahoma Territory's Faded Away," KGOU, August 3, 2015
"Struggle & Hope," America Reframed, PBS



B. passage of Senate Bill 1 establishing Jim Crow Laws

Oklahoma History Center Education Resources

Lesson Plans Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint™
Senate Bill One

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Larry O'Dell, "Senate Bill One"
Bruce T. Fisher, "Currin, Green I."
Alfred L. Brophy, "Guinn v. United States (1915)"

Research Center Resources

Audio/Visual

Online Primary Sources

"1907 Senate Journal," Oklahoma Senate



C. rise of the Ku Klux Klan

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Larry O'Dell, "Ku Klux Klan"
Dianna Everett, "Lynching"

Additional Resources

Sam Anderson, "Ralph Ellison: Coming of Age During the Rise of the KKK," Literary Hub, August 21, 2018

Rich Fisher, "'Unmasked! The Rise and Dall of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan'—A New Book With Contemporary Overtones," Public Radio Tulsa



D. emergence of "Black Wall Street" in the Greenwood District

Oklahoma History Center Education Resources


Lesson Plans Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint™
Black Wall Street

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Hannibal B. Johnson, "Greenwood District"

Additional Resources

"Black Wall Street," Greenwood Cultural Center
"Greenwood and the Tulsa Race Riots," The Black Experience in Business, PBS
Victor Luckerson, "Black Wall Street: The African American Haven That Burned and Then Rose From the Ashes," The Ringer, June 28, 2018.
Hannibal B. Johnson, Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District (2014)



E. causes of the Tulsa Race Riot and its continued social and economic impact.

Oklahoma History Center Education Resources

Lesson Plans Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint™
The Tulsa Race Massacre
Riot Versus Massacre

E-Exhibits
 The Tulsa Race Massacre

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Scott Ellsworth, "Tulsa Race Massacre"
Larry O'Dell, "Robertson, James Brooks Ayers"

Research Center Resources

"Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921," Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

Audio/Visual

Online Primary Sources

Keyes, Allison. “A Long-Lost Manuscript Contains a Searing Eyewitness Account of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.” Smithsonian Magazine.
"Tulsa 1921 Race Massacre," Voices of Oklahoma
Alvin C. Krupnick Co, Tulsa, Oklahoma, race riot, June 1, 1921, Library of Congress
"Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921," OSU Digital Collections
Tulsa Race Massacre collection, Oklahoma Department of Libraries
"Tulsa Race Massacre," Tulsa World Library
Jones Parrish, Mary. “Events of the Tulsa Disaster.” 1922. One of the earliest histories of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Wheeler, Ed. “Profile of a Race Riot.” From Impact Magazine, 1971. Smithsonian Institution. One of the earliest histories of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

 

Additional Resources

"1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Materials in the Research Center," Tulsa City-County Library
"John Hope Franklin Interview," Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice
Hannibal B. Johnson, Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District (2013)
James S. Hirsch, Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy (Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014)
Natalie Chang, Clayton Henry, and Marcelo Maiolo, "The Massacre of Black Wall Street, The Atlantic
Inquiry-Driven Lesson Plans and Resources on the Tulsa Race Massacre, Tulsa Public Schools
“What the Tulsa Race Massacre Destroyed.” New York Times
Gardullo, Paul. “Artifacts from the Tulsa Race Massacre.” Smithsonian Magazine
Madigan, Tim. “American Terror.” Smithsonian Magazine
McGreevy, Nora. “Lawsuit Seeks Reparations for Victims of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.” Smithsonian Magazine
Summer, Juana. “Survivors of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Share Eyewitness Accounts.” NPR
“Confronting the Past” episode 3, season 1, Sidedoor podcast, Smithsonian Institution



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