TULSA, OKLAHOMA – Community leaders and artists gathered under the Elgin Street underpass to unveil 20 murals depicting key figures of the Greenwood District of Tulsa on Saturday, June 1.

The event, named Doorways to Hope Celebration, was part of the fourth annual Black Wall Street Legacy Festival that commemorates the 1921 Race Massacre.

Marlon Hall, a Tulsa-based artist who hosted the event, introduced other artists including poet Kode Ransom, a descendant of the massacre. Ransom shared a poem with the audience depicting the image of a century-long struggle that Black Tulsans have endured.

“Artists are history teachers, and they paint a picture with words in whatever way they want to use it,” said Ransom. “They are telling you the mindset of people, and the feelings of people. I try to use my art to amplify the voices that most people don’t hear.”

Ransom explained the depth of Greenwood’s lineage and the need to share these stories, especially to the younger generation living in Greenwood.

“It’s so many people from Oklahoma that people don’t know. Someone has to let these kids know that people have made it out of here and people are also made [from] here,” said Ransom.

“I try to use my art to bring those bridges together, and make sure people know that.”

Hall ended the unveiling by inviting each of the descendants in attendance to explain what it meant for them to be representing their family.

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Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.  For more stories by Gaylord News go to Gaylord News.net