The excellence of Black Wall Street is often overshadowed by the story of The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, which lead to the city’s demise. A once flourishing and self-sustained Black community was destroyed by a racist mob that left hundreds of Black citizens dead, and many Black-owned businesses reduced to ashes.
However, in the spirit of renewing and celebrating the community’s rich history, The Greenwood Chamber of Commerce has received a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service to renovate the historic city, according to Tulsa World.
Although the grant will be used to replace roofs and remodel the exterior of ten buildings in the Greenwood Centre, chamber president, Freeman Culver, hopes the grant will ignite the nostalgic spirit of Black excellence within Tulsa.
“We hope that it’s obvious we’re committed to preserving the history our ancestors left us,” Culver told Tulsa World.
The most recent renovation of the buildings took place in the 1980s after the block was officially named the Greenwood Centre. Since then, many residents have complained that the buildings were not being cared for properly, leading the chamber to take action and secure funding.
With new renovations and recently submitted paperwork to register the Centre with the National Register of Historic Places, it seems that Tulsa’s Black Wall Street is on track to thrive once more.
