The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice

I finished this book on May 31st, 2021. The hundredth anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre. How very sad and wrong that most, if not all, the people who lost everything they owned have never received any compensation or reparations for what they lost on May 31st and June 1st, 1921. Insurance? Nope, nothing. Tulsa buried not just the black citizens they murdered but every whisper of the massacre. I can imagine that many of the possessions that belonged to the wealthiest people in Greenwood are now the antique hand-me-downs passed from generation to generation in the white section of town after they finished their looting; they took everything that wasn't nailed down. The official reports, that can still be found, claimed that the blacks were actually blamed by the whites for the massacre. I guess it was just good fortune that only the black section of Tulsa was destroyed in the "riot"? Now so many states would like to bury this "type" of their history as being the fault of long-dead people. Yup, that's called history. If you're going to be proud of the good parts, you have to acknowledge the bad and learn from it. I have to admit that the first half of this book was heartbreaking, enlightening, eye-opening. I read until I had to stop. The last half deals with the search for bodies and was also enlightening...I did not know what Ellsworth and the others went through to discover the burial sites and how long it took. It just takes longer to get through all the many details. I'm glad I read this book; I'll be watching and listening to hear what comes from this important piece of history.

Great book. Very difficult to read but worth it. Some parts get long and boring but stick with it - worth the time.

If you are interested in history this is the book for you.

Ellsworth dug deep to uncover the story of the massacre of which almost all records were destroyed. He describes the events of 1921 in Tulsa and then goes on to tell of the fights for reparations and to locate the bodies of the dead. Worthwhile for anyone interested in the racial murders taking place after the return of black veterans from World War I.

Much to take away from this read. Take your time and be of personal integrity. It's not just what happened in 1921 that gets to me. Be honest.

I expected to see photos for visual depiction of what was written

I gave Mr Ellsworth's account of the Tulsa race riots several dozen pages and gave up.Gread and even good history writing takes into account that there are no saints and a lot of sinners in America. Mr Ellsworth would have the reader believe that this is a simple story of good versus evil: If so, why write a 300 page book about it? You could tweet out "Tulsa Race Riots: Evil Whites Murder Hundreds of Blacks. End of Story." And that would be it. But I believe that that is NOT the whole story. And this simplistic account is not worth reading.

Ellsworth has dedicated his life to unearthing the truths behind the 1921 destruction of Greenwood, a flourishing black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The book unveils the human tragedy of that event, as best anybody could from the perspective of a chronicler. I give it 5 stars.The “Ground Breaking” is the personal journey of Scott Ellsworth that walks side-by-side with the city of Tulsa and especially the destroyed community of Greenwood to rediscover their past. The book is divided into three parts. The first part tells us what is known about what happened through the lens of the author that documents the history in his 1982 book “Death of a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.” The second part shines light on why there are so many questions remaining, and what are those questions. Questions remain because there was a systematic purging of essentially all primary sources of documentation from newspaper headlines to police reports. The simplest and overarching unknown is how many died during the riot, or massacre as it has now described. The third part tells about the effort, ongoing to this day, to assess the death toll and where and how they disposed of the bodies.The book is very readable, and Scott Ellsworth captures how such a horrific event has impacted not only a community, city, and country, but particularly the many individuals involved.