Source: LUXIÈRE
Summary
Don Thompson, a veteran and photojournalist, documented the destruction of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the late 1960s. The area, also known as Black Wall Street, was torn down to make way for an interstate highway project. Thompson’s photos are now part of the permanent collection at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History in Washington, D.C. Thompson never intended to become a photojournalist, but he felt a calling to document injustice.
Our Reading
The habit gets a new name.
Urban renewal, a euphemism for destruction.
Bulldozers tearing down businesses and homes.
People losing their livelihoods.
The routine arrives with confidence.
Documenting injustice, one photo at a time.
Author: Evan Null
