OSU-Tulsa Offers New Course On History Of Black Wall Street

A new course at OSU-Tulsa is shedding light on a part of the city's history that hasn't often been talked about until recently.

The class, aptly called "Black Wall Street: The History and Evolution of Greenwood, is an Africana American studies course being offered at OSU-Tulsa for the first time this semester.

Right now, only a couple people are enrolled,  but Professor Quraysh Lansana hopes that will change.

Looking back at history, Tulsa's is storied with a big part of it kept quiet for years.

"Oklahoma by design did not teach Black Wall Street or the massacre in history books" said Lansana. 

Professor Quraysh Lansana teaches the new course at the OSU-Tulsa campus. In fact, he created it.

Lansana spent 17 years researching Black Wall Street and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Now back in his native Oklahoma after 28 years in Chicago, he's excited to flip through the pages of history with his class.

"This land is important. It was important 20 years ago, and it's certainly important next year for the centennial of the massacre" Lansana said. 

Just as interesting as what's taught in class is where it's taught: here; where the massacre happened nearly a century ago.

"The clock tower where OSU-Tulsa stands on Standpipe Hill...Standpipe Hill is where white men pulled a wagon with a machine gun and mowed down black folks from that hill where that clock tower stands."

Though the course covers the massacre, it also dives into the rich history of Black Wall Street as well as how African Americans got to the Tulsa area in the first place.

Rows of empty seats remain in his class as only two people are currently enrolled, but Lansana hopes that will change.

"I have a great sense of responsibility, I feel, in helping folks in Tulsa, the state, and country understand the significance of what happened here" said Lansana. 

You don't need to be a student to attend the class, but if you want to join you'll need to act fast as the enrollment deadline is Friday, January 24th.

For more information, click here.