Coretta Scott King winner: Unspeakable- The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper

 

 

 

Summary 

 

Equipped with its own school system, libraries, churches, restaurants, post offices, and movie theaters among other businesses, an African-American community named Greenwood set in Tulsa, Oklahoma was thriving and full of promise and opportunity.

 

Then, on May 31 and June 1, 1921, Greenwood was attacked by a mob of armed white supremacists. This led to the looting and destruction of many of the black businesses within the community and the deaths of more than 300 African-Americans. Other African-American families fled the community and many were left homeless.

 

Justification for this text

 

I chose this text because of the multiple awards that the book has won (i.e., Coretta Scott King Award, Caldecott Honor, and Sibert Honor). As a future school librarian, it is important to read, review, and analyze books that are award winners in order to be able to provide a clear justification as to why it should be recommended to young readers.

Attractive Design

The late illustrator Floyd Cooper encompassed each vital aspect of the book with not only attractive illustrations throughout this informational picture book, but also accurately depicted the pain and destruction of this historical event with his vivid imagery. The imagery presented throughout this picture is more than enough to lure young readers to the book and pique their curiosity about this catastrophic historical event.

Little-Known Facts

It took many years for the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma to be properly investigated and in that time, many of those who would have had a first-hand account of the event and its aftermath had already passed away. According to the text itself,  "Seventy-five years passed before lawmakers launched an investigation to uncover the painful truth about the worst racial attack in United States history: police and city officials had plotted with the white mob to destroy the nation's wealthiest Black community" (para. 23). When informational books contains little known facts and information, there is a provocation for the reader to research and investigate the information more--beyond the text itself.

Fascinating Comparisons

 

Young readers of this book can draw parallels of the events of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre to other catastrophic events in history that led to many casualties and others to become displaced like the Holocaust during World War II. In a comparison and contrast assignment, students could compare and contrast the events of this book with the ones presented in the Diary of Anne Frank. Such a lesson could be extended further to draw parallels among different cultures and the different struggles that are presented within each text.

 

 

 

Citation

Weatherford, C.B. (2021). Unspeakable: The Tulsa race massacre. Carolrhoda Books.