100 years ago this year, roughly 240 miles from where I grew up, the Tulsa Race Massacre happened.... and I had no idea. This horrific event was not covered in Texas public education, and until recently with the spread of the Black Lives Matter movement, I had no knowledge of what happened. 

I want to thank the author for bringing attention to this dark mark in our nation's history that so few people know about. The book provides an excellent beginning level of teaching about the race war, and has sparked the desire for me to learn more about it. Though this book is intended for young readers, it's an important book for people of all ages for its educational content.

Unspeakable is one of the most important nonfiction picture books coming out in 2021. The Tulsa Massacre is a deeply important event that deserves more coverage. The illustrations are beautiful.

This is a fantastic childrens book accouting one of the most glossed over pieces of history in text books, the Tulsa Race Massacre.

It was simple and easy to follow for youger children, the artwork was fantastic and it touches on a very important piece of history that's often forgotten.

If you have children, this is a must read. Especially if you're working on teaching them about race and history that isn't in normal books.

Love this book! I was wondering how one would write about a horrible incidents of racial violence in a picture book. Is it written very well and the pictures are amazing. These are the type of books that need to be made. I have never heard about this incident and I am so very glad it was talked about and now written in a book. I have already added to my list of must have's for 2021. I can definitely see Caldecott in the future.

There was a black community that had their own hospital, libraries and many businesses. It was know as  "black wall street". One accusing another and hated spilled onto the streets. Rumors flying and next is death and destruction.

Books like Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper, are one way to start a conversation about injustice. I was so grateful to Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group for giving me the opportunity to review this book prior to its publication on February 2. The cover of this book is haunting. It shows two parents fleeing from destruction, grasping their children as they run. The mother, whose eyes are closed as she presses her youngest child’s face against her chest, looks to be praying. The father is holding on to everyone as he looks for safety. And the little girls look out at the reader; the oldest looks frightened, but the youngest is looking at us as if to say, “Open your eyes and do something.”

I do not recall learning about the Tulsa Race Massacre in any of my classes throughout school. I don’t think I heard or saw Black Wall Street mentioned until I started this blog a few years ago. I wish that had been different, especially so I could have taught about them in my own classroom as an educator. The success of Black entrepreneurs and the Black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the early twentieth century, is something that all Americans need to learn about. We so often talk about the struggles African Americans face, but we must talk about their triumphs as well, especially when we consider how hard they worked to make these achievements possible.

Unspeakable does an excellent job of introducing readers to the Greenwood community. I find it incredible how much history Weatherford includes in the short amount of text in this picture book. She introduces us to historical figures, Black newspapers, and Jim Crow laws, while Cooper’s illustrations tell a story of pride and joy that comes from family, community, and hard-earned success.

On a page with white writing on a black background, things start to change. The white community of Tulsa was not happy with the success of the people of Greenwood. When Dick Rowland, an African American teenager shining shoes, stepped on the foot of a white female elevator operator, he was arrested for assault. Fearing that he would be lynched, members of the Greenwood community rushed to guard him. They faced a mob of thousands. The mob was unable to reach Mr. Rowland and spread rumors that the Black community would soon attack.

The reaction was swift and deadly. Unspeakable tells the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre, yes, but it also tells the story of so much of American history. When lies are told about what “other” people might be doing or trying to do, bad things happen. In Tulsa, hundreds of people were killed and thousands left homeless over a sixteen hour period of time, because of a lie and because of a culture of white supremacist beliefs. This event was not discussed or taught in schools in Oklahoma for close to 80 years.

Weatherford and Cooper have created something extraordinary with Unspeakable. I hope that it encourages children, families, and teachers to have open and honest conversations about so many of the historical truths that have gone unspoken.

As disconcerting as it is to have amazingly beautiful illustrations depicting such a tragic and terrible story, it's at least in part because of them that you deeply feel the significance of what the Black citizens of Greenwood lost and suffered. Important reading for people of all ages. This part of history needs to be acknowledged. This book is a worthy monument to all who lived through and died from the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Note for adults with kids: I think the story is told in such a way, that you can walk through it with kids in a way they can understand and handle.

Excellent #nonfiction picture book of a part of history to learn from and look towards hope as the people of Tulsa did!  Absolutely saddened that it took 75 years for an official investigation!  Releases 1/19/21!  #NetGalley #bookposse @poetweatherford @floydcooper4

I am heart-broken to admit that I have never learned about the Tulsa Massacre before this story. I am a well-educated student of the American School System. The fact that students, including myself, have not learned about this event in detail just further supports the wrongful injustices in our system.

The Tulsa Massacre was one of the worst racially-based attacks in our history. Through the beautifully-illustrated book, Unspeakable, kids around the world are going to have the opportunity to learn the truth of an event that we all should know and speak about.

Greenwood Avenue is the famous Black Wall Street. The district had its own school system, libraries, churches, restaurants, post office, hospital and more...until a mob of white Tulsans looted and burned the Black community for two straight days (May 31 and June 1, 1921). In a new short book titled Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, the history of Greenwood district and one of the worst racial incidents in U.S. history is told to young readers (ages 8-12). At less than 50 pages, it is a very short yet informative read. (This review is longer than the actual content.)

Thank you to Carole Boston Weatherford for her words and Floyd Cooper for his striking illustrations that paint the picture of this tragedy. It is very well written in a way that young people can understand and for adults to feel the heaviness of what, where, why and how. I especially appreciated the Author's Note, which gave a deeper personal perspective and details I never knew. It brings me to tears but history must be known and most importantly, educated. I highly recommend this book!

Unspeakable is a great reading selection for Black History Month intended for students and young family members. It is the best book I've read on this unfortunate event. This piece of our history is often not taught in schools or to the masses. I personally learned about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre not too many years ago as an adult. The illustrator himself, Floyd Cooper, first heard about it from his grandfather, who survived it. Such stories should be shared with our black youth. 

Happy Early Pub Day, Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper! Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre will be available Tuesday, February 2.

LiteraryMarie

I wondered how anyone could write honestly about the Tulsa Race Massacre in picture book form without traumatizing the intended audience, but Weatherford does so with grace and dignity, teaching children about this horrific event without softening its horror or going into the kinds of specific, graphic details that will give children nightmares. The best thing about this book, and the main reason why it works for children, is that the author doesn't just tell the story about the massacre, but introduces readers to what this thriving Black community was like before the destruction. 

Instead of bringing the horror home by focusing exclusively on all of the awful, heartbreaking details, Weatherford makes her readers fell the pain by letting them appreciate everything good, strong, dependable, and beautiful that this crisis took away from the community. She provides much-needed context to the event, and helps both child and adult readers understand what the Black community in Tulsa looked like before they suffered from this racial violence. The author's and illustrator's notes also include additional historical information, explanation about the massacre's longtime erasure from history, historic photographs, and pictures of memorials.

Full disclosure. I am from Canada and til this past June I had never heard of the Tulsa Massacre.  This was a really great book, while being completely gut wrenching. These atrocities that occurred at the hands of Americans need to be told as often as the stories about slavery. Racism did not die when the slaves were freed and once we kill that rhetoric more people can move forward.

This is a powerful, heartbreaking account of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. Reading it was difficult because this was never included in the history books I learned from as a child. I am grateful it is being told now, but I wish it didn't have to be told. Carole Boston Weatherford writes the story very honestly and appropriately for kids, and Floyd Cooper's illustrations are heartbreakingly beautiful. I highly recommend it for classrooms and libraries.

Grateful to have started 2021 with this incredible narrative nonfiction picture book, written by the inimitable Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Floyd Cooper. Cooper’s connection with Greenwood, OK and the massacre that occurred there in 1921 is especially poignant after seeing his heartfelt illustrations.
Weatherford, of course, is stellar in her prose, going from the language of a fairy tale (“once upon a time”) to the gruesome reality of racism and how hatred wiped out a community. The backmatter, including an author’s note, reveals more information, including the coverup and exclusion of this tragic event from history books. 
I would HIGHLY recommend this picture book to ALL librarians and educators who seek to include all voices and all stories in equitable teaching materials for their students.

In Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, author Carole Boston Weatherford and Illustrator Floyd Cooper introduce a target audience of eight to twelve-year-old children to a long covered-up American nightmare.  They open with two dedications, first by the author, whose family history has been repeatedly touched by racial violence but who dedicates the book to every Black life, hope, and dream; the second by the illustrator, who dedicates it to his grandfather who survived the massacre and first told him its story.

Weatherford repeatedly opens several of the book’s earlier pages with the typical “Once upon a time” fairy tale beginning as she recounts Tulsa’s early fairy tale-like history.  The city was founded after the discovery of oil, drawing people in search of a better future and fresh start.  In much the same way, the Greenwood area north of the railroad tracks was established and developed by black Indians, freed slaves, and those fleeing from bad conditions throughout the segregated Southeast. Together they built up the prosperous neighborhood that came to be called “Black Wall Street.”  She tells the story of black businesses and life in successful Greenwood that led to jealousy among whites on the south side of the tracks, and Cooper superbly illustrates her story.

The fairy tale ended on the night of May 31, 1921, following a young white elevator operator’s accusation that she had been accosted by a black shoeshine boy.  While sparing young readers the graphic horrors of the massacre, both author and illustrator tell an age-appropriate but factual history of a white lynch mob, the burning of Greenwood, and the resulting death, homelessness, exodus.

Although Weatherford reveals how survivors refused to talk about what had happened and the city government ignored and tried to cover it up for 75 years, the book ends on a hopeful note—with city’s ongoing investigation of the horrifying Tulsa Race Massacre and the establishment of the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park with its mission “to reject hatred and violence and to instead choose hope.”

Sadly, we do not talk about the Tulsa Massacre in our current history classes, but we absolutely need to. This book is a fantastic introduction for those who have just begun hearing about this awful event in our country's history. Written for ages 8-12 it is a great beginning to learning about the events of that horrible time in Tulsa. I highly recommend this for all libraries and teachers to have. And the publication date is the perfect way to kick off Black History Month.

Great book for young learners! It covers the main points of the Tulsa (i.e., Black Wallstreet) race riots. It also provides brilliantly drawn pictures to go along with the story. It’s ideal for introducing the reader to this historical event.

Complete with emotionally penetrating illustrations, Weatherford takes the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre and lays it at the feet of young readers. While the massacre was one the nation’s worst racially motivate events, she does not miss a beat when ensuring the youth who consume this text understand the gravity of what happened to those on Black Wall Street. 

Highly recommended reading for both elementary students, parents, and teachers.

This is an incredibly important, necessary, and valuable book and the combination of text and illustration bring the starring event in context and brings readers back in time. Weatherford uses a familiar and lyrical writing style to picture books in combination with beautiful drawings, full of color and life.

In 1921, the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was a thriving Black community. A stretch of businesses known as “Black Wall Street” included restaurants, shops, salons, libraries, schools, and a hospital. But many white Tulsans resented these symbols of Black prosperity and wealth. When a nineteen-year old old shoeshine man was arrested for assaulting a white, female elevator operator, the simmering anger boiled over. Fearing that the young man would be lynched, thirty Black men clashed with two thousand white men outside the jail on May 31, 1921. The white mob then stormed Greenwood, looting and burning homes and businesses alike. Hundreds of Black people were killed and the neighborhood was completely destroyed. With spare, straightforward text, Carole Boston Weatherford presents the story of the Tulsa Race Massacre to a young audience. Floyd Cooper’s oil and erasure illustrations vividly portray the prosperity, hostility, devastation, and hope in turn. A combination of landscapes, bustling storefronts, fashions, and expressive body language indelibly portray a place in time. The Author’s and Illustrator’s Notes contain valuable insights into the events, including some information about the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park in Tulsa. Particularly with the one hundred year mark approaching in May, Unspeakable is an essential read about a too-little-known moment in U.S. history.

Unspeakable handles the telling of The Tulsa Race Massacre with a appropriate tone and detail for younger readers. In retelling this long-overlooked horror in American history, it starts gently, explaining the background and providing context for those new to this time in history. The prose is direct and delivered in manageable increments. Young readers familiar with the Black Lives Matter movement will discover a part of the roots connecting to our modern reality. They will also take away a message of hope and responsibility. The author's note provides more detail for adults or older readers. The illustrations are exquisite, giving a strong sense of time, place, and humanity. This honest review is offered in exchange for an advanced view of the material courtesy of NetGalley.