On the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice report on the Tulsa Race Massacre, Middle Tennessee State University’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, or FIRE, will host a symposium April 29 to examine the history of one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history.
“Silent No More: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921” symposium will take place from 1-5 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in the Keathley University Center Theater, 1524 Military Memorial on campus. A screening of the PBS documentary, “Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten,” will take place from 6:30-9 p.m. Each session will be followed by a Q&A with audience members.
The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will feature a lineup of experts who will examine the 123-page Department of Justice report released in January and evaluation of the massacre.
According to historical accounts, the violence began after rumors spread that a Black teenager had assaulted a white elevator operator in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A white mob attacked the predominately Black and thriving Greenwood District, referred to as the city’s “Black Wall Street” for its successful businesses, cultural centers and residential neighborhoods.
In less than two days, the prosperous neighborhood was in ashes. An estimated 300 merchants and citizens in that community were murdered and their businesses and homes torched and destroyed.
Public awareness about the event has increased significantly the past several years in part due to its prominent placement in popular television series, first featured in the opening episode of the popular HBO series “Watchmen,” and then serving as the backdrop for another popular HBO series, “Lovecraft Country.”
Lineup of speakers
Symposium speakers and their expertise include:
• Sekou Franklin, MTSU political science professor and author of “After the Rebellion: Black Youth, Social Movement Activism and the Post-Civil Rights Generation.”
• Tom Holland, director of FIRE who previously served as scientific director of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• Suzette Malveaux, Roger D. Groot Professor of Law at Washington and Lee School of Law and pro-bono counsel for victims of the massacre in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. federal and international courts.
• Eric Stover, research professor and co-faculty director of the Human Rights Center at University of California Berkley School of Law, and producer of the PBS documentary on the Tulsa Massacre.
• Phoebe Stubblefield, director of the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory at the University of Florida and forensic anthropologist leading the effort to locate the graves and identify victims of the massacre.
For off-campus visitors, a parking permit is required for daytime events. Visit https://bit.ly/4jMPsRb and follow the prompts to create a guest account and print out the permit. Visit https://parking.mtsu.edu/ for more details. A campus parking map is available at https://bit.ly/MTSUParking.
MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education, or FIRE, is part of the College of Liberal Arts. Call 615-494-7713 or visit https://fire.mtsu.edu/ to learn more about FIRE, which is housed in Room 106 of Wiser-Patten Science Hall, 422 Old Main Circle on campus.
Nancy DeGennaro