Weatherford, Carole Boston. Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre. Floyd Cooper, Illus. Non-fiction. Carolrhoda, 02/2021. [32]pp. $17.99. 978-1-5415-8120-3. HIGH ADDITIONAL. GRADES 2-5.
Weatherford brings her talents to tell the true story of this race-based massacre in a Black neighborhood in segregated Tulsa that left 8 thousand people without housing. Evocative prose captures the pride of Greenwood residents in the community that took years of carefully building wealth and resources to develop and only days to destroy. However, so much time is devoted to describing Greenwood that the subsequent lack of investigation for 75 years is only lightly touched upon. Cooper’s softly focused trademark oil and erasure illustrations bring the reader back in time to 1921. An author’s note includes five photographs, as well as additional information on Tulsa’s history and the piece of her own family history that led her to the story.
Beth Gousman, Montclair School