NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 24, 2000
BLACK WALL STREET LEGACY
TO BE PRESENTED IN CARY
CARY, NC – Author Jay Jay Wilson will discuss his book, Black Wall Street, at the Page-Walker Arts & History Center, 119 Ambassador Loop, Cary on Monday, August 28, at 7:30 PM. Black Wall street tells the story of Wilson’s and business partner Ron Wallace’s investigation of a 1921 racial incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma which destroyed a unique and thriving African American community, including the massacre of thousands of individuals and the destruction of more than 600 businesses.
According to Mr. Wilson, research revealed a 36-square block community of North Tulsa called Greenwood—nicknamed "Black Wall Street" by colleagues in the New York Financial District. At a time when African Americans were prevented by law from going into other parts of the city except to work for a white family or business, the community of Greenwood flourished and grew into a prosperous enclave. Highly educated and wealthy black doctors, lawyers, educators, and business owners controlled their own destinies and built a society that enabled its own citizens to thrive. The community became largely self-sustaining, with churches, hotels, general stores, feed and grain stores, livery stables, real estate companies, restaurants, nightclubs, hospitals, a bank, cab companies, a bus line and a 700-seat movie theatre. Mr. Wilson interviewed elderly survivors, city and government officials, historians and Klan members, then compiled evidence of the atrocity.
Mr. Wilson is presented in Cary cooperatively by the Martin Luther King Jr. Taskforce, the Ujima Group, and the Town of Cary Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Department.
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PRIMARY CONTACTS: |
Sara Maultsby, 460-4963 |