Survivors of 1921 Tulsa Race Riots Salvage History at New York Premiere of 'Before They Die'

Survivors of 1921 Tulsa Race Riots Salvage History at New York Premiere of 'Before They Die'

Devastation of "Black Wall Street" in Oklahoma Is Not Forgotten

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riots will give voice to a little-known and shameful chapter of history before hundreds of African American leaders from business, politics and media at the New York premiere of "Before They Die," a documentary produced by Reginald Turner, CEO of Mportant Films, and Harvard Law Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. as part of The Tulsa Project, a nonprofit foundation to raise awareness of the event and seek restitution for its survivors.

Otis Clark, 105, Wess Young, 92, and Dr. Olivia Hooker, 94, will speak about the 18-hour siege that destroyed 30 blocks of a thriving African-American residential and business community known as the "Black Wall Street," leaving 300 known dead and 10,000 homeless.

Hosted by The Executive Leadership Council and The New York Times, the screening is part a nationwide tour and fundraising effort.

"The time has come to correct the history books and seek justice for the Tulsa Race Riots survivors Before They Die," said Professor Ogletree. Since 2002, he and Mr. Turner have waged a legal battle on the survivors' behalf, leading up to an unsuccessful hearing in the Supreme Court in 2006. Professor Ogletree is a Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Founding and Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice.

"The film is focused on telling the story of the survivors, keeping African-American history alive and broadening awareness of it among all Americans," said Mr. Turner, who directed the film.

"Before They Die" follows the survivors and their legal team headed by Professor Ogletree through the court system all the way to the Supreme Court and on to the U.S. Congress. It will be shown at TheTimesCenter in New York.

"Showing our children the true light of history is the first step in teaching them the self-respect that will carry them to achievement and excellence," said Carl Brooks, President and CEO of The Executive Leadership Council and The Executive Leadership Foundation. The Council provides African-American executives of Fortune 500 companies with a network and leadership forum that adds perspective and direction to the achievement of excellence in business, economic and public policies for the African-American community, their corporations and the community at large.

"We at The New York Times are proud that we covered this notorious event at the time and are now increasing awareness of it again with this New York premiere," said Desiree L. Dancy, Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion, The New York Times Company.

New Yorker Dr. Olivia Hooker, 94, recalls with perfect clarity being woken from her bed by her mother and the sound of a hailstorm that was actually a rain of bullets -- fired from a gun carrying an American flag. Dr. Hooker went on to make history by becoming the first African American woman to enlist and go on active duty in the Coast Guard, then part of the US Navy in WWII. She earned an M.A. from Columbia University teachers College on the GI Bill, and a PhD at the University of Rochester where she was one of the two black female students. She has taught at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University, retiring as Associate Professor in 1985.

The event is chaired by Jessica C. Isaacs, Senior Vice President, Field Operations and Global Reinsurance, AIU Personal Lines, and Vice Chairman, The Executive Leadership Council; and Westina Matthews Shatteen, Managing Director, Community Business Development, Merrill Lynch, and Board Member, The Executive Leadership Council.

The Tulsa Race Riots took place in the segregated Tulsa neighborhood of Greenwood, which was known as the "Black Wall Street" of America. It was founded by O.W. Gurley, the son of two former slaves who moved to Tulsa in July 1906 and bought 40 acres that would be sold exclusively to African Americans. Black Wall Street was a completely black-owned and black-operated community. Its initial business was a rooming house and grocery store built by Gurley in 1906. It housed many migrants fleeing the oppression in Mississippi and those in search of a better life despite the segregation mandates of the Jim Crow era.

For more information about the documentary, see http://www.beforetheydiemovie.com/

Source: The Tulsa Project

CONTACT: Lynthia Romney, RomneyCom LLC, +1-914-238-2145,
romneycom@aol.com, for The Tulsa Project

Web Site: http://www.beforetheydiemovie.com/

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