Lena and the Burning of Greenwood: A Tulsa Race Massacre Survival Story (Girls Survive)

by Nikki Shannon Smith (Author) Markia Jenai (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade
Series: Girls Survive
In the early 1920s, the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the wealthiest Black community in the United States. But Tulsa is still a segregated city. "Black Wall Street" and white Tulsa are very much divided. Twelve-year-old Lena knows this, but she feels safe and sheltered from the racism in her successful, flourishing neighborhood. That all changes when Dick Rowland, a young Black man from Greenwood, is accused of assaulting a white woman. Racial tensions boil over. Mobs of white citizens attack Greenwood, terrorizing Black residents and businesses, and forcing many--including Lena and her family--to flee. Now Lena must help her family survive one of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history. Readers can learn the real story of the Tulsa Race Massacre from the nonfiction backmatter, including a glossary, discussion questions, writing prompts, and author's note, in this Girls Survive story.
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Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781666329445
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Stone Arch Books
Publication date
January 01, 2022
Series
Girls Survive
BISAC categories
JUV016150 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | United States - 20th Century
JUV001010 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure | Survival Stories
JUV014000 - Juvenile Fiction | Girls & Women
JUV039120 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Prejudice & Racism
Library of Congress categories
History
20th century
Race relations
Survival
Historical fiction
Oklahoma
African American families
African American neighborhoods
Massacres
Tulsa
Tulsa (Okla.)
Greenwood (Tulsa, Okla.)
Tulsa Race Massacre, Tulsa, Okla., 1921

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