Russell Westbrook served as executive producer for “Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre.”
The trailer for a new documentary executive produced by Washington Wizards star Russell Westbrook was unveiled on Tuesday. The 2-hour documentary is about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre and had been announced last summer in an article in Variety. It will debut on the History Channel on May 30 at 8 p.m. ET.
Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre 5/30 at 8pm on @HISTORY @firelightmedia #RememberTulsa pic.twitter.com/uxG2pzQbEm
— Russell Westbrook (@russwest44) April 27, 2021
Titled “Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre,” the documentary was a collaboration between Westbrook and documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson and the production company Blackfin. In an interview with The Associated Press in March, Westbrook explained what inspired him to take up the project.
“I was in Oklahoma for 11 years and kind of grew up in Oklahoma City,” Westbrook said in the interview. “I wanted to understand more about the origins of Oklahoma and Tulsa. I had been going to Tulsa almost every season, and I had a camp in Tulsa. I heard about Black Wall Street but never really dived into it or understood the impact of the people and community.
“Once I was able to learn the history and dive more deep into it, I was in shock. It’s truly sad what happened to all the business and African Americans and people of color that had their businesses wiped away. Now, more than ever, I want to be able to show how history can affect our future. To make sure we understand our history and know that there were people that paved the way and had to struggle and things were taken away from them. I want to be able to share that with the world and the significance of Black Wall Street.”
The Tulsa race massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when a white mob attacked Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, killing an estimated 300 mostly Black people and wounding 800 more, while robbing and burning businesses, homes and churches.
The massacre — which happened two years after what is known as the “Red Summer,” when hundreds of African Americans died at the hands of white mobs in violence around the U.S. — has been depicted in recent HBO shows “Watchmen” and “Lovecraft County.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
