Black Wall Street Legacy Festival, Led By Survivors, Kicks Off Friday

The 3rd Annual Black Wall Street Legacy Festival is preparing to start on Friday.

This event commemorates the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and celebrates the legacy carried on by the historic Greenwood community.

The festival will kick off Friday night at the Greenwood Cultural Center with a book launch, and several other literary events will happen throughout the course of the week.

The Black Wall Street Legacy Festival is a survivor and descendant-led week-long event recognizing history and rejoicing in resilience.

On Saturday, you can enjoy live R&B and jazz music, and a family-friendly street festival with vendors, face painting, and inflatables.

There will be a block party and music line-up in the evening. Bill White is the executive director of the Historic Greenwood District.

"Really it's going to be an opportunity for a lot of the Black-owned food trucks to come out and celebrate and share what their great foods are all about,” White said.

Next week, 109-year-old Tulsa Race Massacre survivor “Mother” Viola Fletcher is launching her new memoir. There will be group discussions, speakers, and town halls where people can gather and learn.

"This came about from wanting to honor the survivors of the Tulsa Massacre, but also pay homage to the community, since it is community-led and community guided. And we just wanted to have an opportunity not only just to celebrate, but to highlight all of the great work that people are actually doing in the community and for the community as well,” White said.

The festival starts Friday night and continues through next Thursday.

You can find the dates and times of each event here: Black Wall Street Legacy Festival