Tulsa

A history of the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. Written in the 1940's, it is very much a history of its day when (perhaps) factual historicity is given over to conventions of the time, in 'above the board' notions of propriety. For example: On 31st May to the 1st of June 1921, Tulsa suffered a brutally violent, cataclysmic erasure of the wealthiest black district in America. What was then described as a 'Race Riot' was in reality a Race Massacre. Some 26 blocks were burnt to the ground. Conservative estimates of mortality, ie, murders, are ten whites and twenty-six black - quoted by Ms. Debo herself. She is then complicit in the quiet dismissal of the sheer scale and overarching implications to society in Tulsa. Implications which permeate Tulsan society to the present day. Ms. Debo devotes a mere half page to the events. While the actual death toll and related statistics of the massacre are still very much disputed, Ms. Debo's book is a triumph of minimisation yet, still worth reading for a demonstration of how the historical record can be distorted by the putative winners.