Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre

Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre

In the graphic novel history Across the Tracks: Remembering Greenwood, Black Wall Street, and the Tulsa Race Massacre, author Alverne Ball and illustrator Stacey Robinson have crafted a love letter to Greenwood, Oklahoma—also known as Black Wall Street—a community whose importance is often overshadowed by the atrocious slaughter that took place there in 1921. Across the Tracks introduces the reader to the businesses and townsfolk who flourished in this unprecedented time of prosperity for Black Americans. We learn about Greenwood and why it is essential to remember the great achievements of the community as well as the tragedy which nearly erased it. However, Ball is careful to recount the eventual recovery of Greenwood. With additional supplementary materials including a detailed preface, timeline, and historical essay, Across the Tracks offers a thorough examination of the rise, fall, and rebirth of Black Wall Street. “ Across the Tracks not only personalizes and therefore heightens the tragedy we know will come, but it also reframes that tragedy. Black perseverance and joy take center stage in a way it seldom does when discussing Greenwood.” — The Beat Gr 6 Up—This nonfiction graphic novel shares an important, often overlooked piece of American history—the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The community of Greenwood, in Tulsa, OK, in the early 1900s, also known as Black Wall Street, flourished even in the height of Jim Crow, with Black-owned businesses and cultural institutions. Wealthy businessman O.W. Gurley purchased land in Tulsa with a vision of creating a vibrant Black community. There he set up a grocery store and housing, as well as a church, a library and a community center. Separated from white communities by train tracks, residents of Greenwood continued to keep their business—and money—within Greenwood. When a Black man was accused of assaulting a white woman, a mob came to Greenwood to lynch him. Fighting ensued, and after a gun went off, the white mob was sanctioned by the sheriff of Tulsa to invade and destroy the town. What followed was a horrific destruction of property and massacre. Bold, full-color art enhances the enlightening text. The information is presented in a clear and accessible way; a preface and time line are included at the beginning, and an essay concludes the book. Back matter includes notes and sources. VERDICT This short yet powerful, nonfiction graphic novel is an essential purchase for all public and school libraries.—Marissa Lieberman, Cranford P.L., NJ “Focus on rebuilding efforts ends this brief but informative book on a hopeful note”― Booklist “ Across the Tracks not only personalizes and therefore heightens the tragedy we know will come, but it also reframes that tragedy. Black perseverance and joy take center stage in a way it seldom does when discussing Greenwood. This story is about Greenwood, not Tulsa and the race massacre, a deliberate choice on Ball and Stacey’s end.” ― The Beat “Educational and accessible, this feels well crafted for any American history class, or as a primer for general readers unfamiliar with this dark chapter of American history.”― Publishers Weekly Alverne Ball has an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia College Chicago. He is the recipient of the 2014 and 2015 Glyph Rising Star Award for his writing on One Nation: Old Druids . In 2009, he received the first-ever Luminarts graphic novel writing award. Ball lives in Joliet, Illinois. Stacey Robinson is an assistant professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As part of the collaborative team Black Kirby with artist John Jennings, Robinson creates graphic novels, gallery exhibitions, lectures, and workshops that use strategies to imagine new worlds inspired by design, hip-hop, the arts and sciences, and diasporic African belief systems.