The Burning Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

On the morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob of thousands marched across the railroad tracks dividing black from white in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and obliterated a black community then cele-brated as one of America's most prosperous. Thirty-four square blocks of Tulsa's Greenwood community, known then as the Negro Wall Street of America, were reduced to rubble. With chilling details, humanity, and the narrative thrust of compelling fiction, The Burning recreates Greenwood at the height of its prosperity; explores the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between its black residents and neighboring Tulsa's white population; narrates events leading up to and including Greenwood's annihilation; and documents the subsequent silence that surrounded the tragedy.

Tim Madigan is an award-winning writer with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram who in both 1996 and 1997 was named Texas Reporter of the Year in the state's most prestigious journalism competition. He is the author of See No Evil: Blind Devotion and Bloodshed in David Koresh's Holy War