TULSA, OK (KJRH) — It’s a big step in a project Tulsa wants to be known for worldwide, as the community finds out about the next steps for the redesign of the Greenwood Cultural Center.
Thursday night, the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission showed off its plan for a renovated history facility at Carver Middle School.
It’s the first time since late May the Centennial Commission has shown what we can expect with the new renovations. The event allowed people to have their voices heard on the history facility, between the design and the exhibits.
The museum itself will detail the rise of Black Wall Street, the massacre itself, and the subsequent rise again of the area after 1921.
“Actually the heyday of Black Wall Street was actually after 1921," said Project Director Phil Armstrong. "So to be able to tell that full story and have a space dedicated to that that we don’t have the room for now is what the aim and the focus will be.”
It’s part of a major $25 million project that’s set to take place for the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 2021. As of right now, the commission says there is still a good chunk of fund raising to go.
The plans include a facade showing bricks being stacked to the final storefronts, a barber shop where you can take a seat 100 years back in time, and a full timeline of racial violence in America, including a minute-by-minute breakdown of the massacre.
The big questions from those at the meeting include how the survivors' fight for justice will be narrated, which the committee had recognized, but it will still take a deeper dive.
The committee also responded to questions about opportunities for the center to help Greenwood businesses, and rewording a few areas of the exhibit to more accurately reflect their histories.
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