Aamila’s Adventure: Remembering the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Aamila’s Adventures is a fictional book about a little girl who visits her grandparents in present-day Tulsa. Although the characters are fictional, they visit some of the present day shops currently located in Greenwood’s business district. Aamila’s grandparents also teach her about Historically Black Colleges and Universities like Langston University and the original need to start them due to legal segregation. The book further explains the early self-sufficiency of Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood and mentions the sidewalk plaques that commemorate the businesses that were destroyed in 1921. Approximately two and a half pages at the end of the book are dedicated to the historic events of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, but this is not the focus of this story. This book would be a great one to use in letting young readers know that Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood was not fully destroyed, and in spite of huge obstacles, its people persevered and rebuilt. OF special note: the books’ author, Tara Henderson, is the principal of Unity Learning Academy in Tulsa, Oklahoma.