Two 109-year-old women appeared in Oklahoma Supreme Court this week in their ongoing push for reparations. Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Ford Fletcher are the last two survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Their lawsuit against the city was dismissed, but now the women are appealing it.
The massacre was one of the worst acts of racist violence in U.S. history; an estimated 300 African Americans were killed in the Greenwood district. Journalist Victor Luckerson has taken a multi-generational look at that neighborhood since the massacre. In his book, “Built from Fire,” he explores the evolution of the area since 1921, including how it was affected by urban renewal, gentrification, and more.
Luckerson is in Rochester as a guest of RIT. He joins us for the hour on Connections.
In studio:
