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Cultural Outing: Victor Luckerson at Town Hall

February 26 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Victor Luckersonportrait of Victor Luckerson, “A Scheme to Forget, a Demand to Remember: The Century-Long Battle Over the Memory of the Tulsa Race Massacre”

Feb 26, 2025, 6:30 p.m., Town Hall, Seattle

The Honors Program is proud to co-sponsor this important talk by Victor Luckerson, a journalist and author who works to bring neglected black history to light. 

Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood was an ascendant black business district when it was burned to the ground by a white mob in 1921. Since the days after the destruction, people in power have been trying to erase the memory of the Tulsa Race Massacre, going so far as to rip pages from the historical record to hide what unfolded. This purposeful forgetting continues today, as state governments in Oklahoma and elsewhere limit what histories can be taught to children in schools. But all along black Tulsans have provided their own historical ledger, through oral histories, legal battles, and the black press. They demand that the city and the nation remember. In his lecture, Built From the Fire author Victor Luckerson will explore this century-long battle over the “terrain of the mind” in Tulsa. His talk will explore why the story of Greenwood has been wiped from the American consciousness for so long, and the ongoing efforts by black Tulsans to make that legacy more widely known.

Please join Honors Director Stephanie Smallwood, Professor LaShawnDa Pittman and student co-host Tanvi Penubothu for this cultural outing. Click here to RSVP by Feb 19.

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Victor Luckerson’s first book, Built From the Fire, is a multigenerational saga of a community in Tulsa’s “Black Wall Street,” that in one century survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, urban renewal, and gentrification. Victor is now busy at work on his second book project. He travels the country speaking about the history of Greenwood at colleges and venues such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African History and Culture. He also continues to work as a journalist, freelancing for outlets such as The New Yorker, the New York Times and Smithsonian magazine. 

This cultural outing is supported by the UW Graduate Schools Public Lecture SeriesClick Here to visit their events page for more great opportunities to explore voices and perspectives connected with the UW’s mission, vision and values.

Details

Date:
February 26
Time:
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Venue

Town Hall Seattle
1119 8th Ave
Seattle, WA 98101 United States
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