Caleb Gayle Collection - I See My Light Shining

Often referred to as the nation’s heartland, Oklahoma sits at the convergence of several major cultural zones, with historical, political, and economic veins that have included white settlers, enslaved Africans, and Native Americans to its land. But as one can learn by studying the stories of Oklahoma, this heartland also has arteries. Tulsa, the state’s second-largest city—originating Black Wall Street—is at once a real place and a site of shared imagination. The accomplishments, struggles, and dreams of Oklahomans have informed the imaginations of the rest of the country.

Caleb Gayle, an award-winning author and journalist known for his writings on race and identity, chose Tulsa as the site for this oral history collection. Black Oklahomans are central to the collection, recounting their origins, the Tulsa Race Massacre and its afterlives, as well as contemporary life in their home state. This collection celebrates the stories and achievements of Oklahoman elders that have made Tulsa a critical nexus for understanding American life.

Gayle also ventured to California to interview three elders from East Palo Alto. Once a predominantly Black haven, East Palo Alto has faced demographic shifts driven in part by the region’s tech industry. This history is brought to life and refracted through the stories of Juanita Croft, Martha Hanks, and Omowale Satterwhite, who chart their remarkable lives against phenomena like gentrification and the legacies of Jim Crow.

Discussing Greenwood and the Tulsa Race Massacre, Oklahoma’s history as a “boom and bust” town inevitably emerges. One formative boom was the turn-of-the-century oil boom, driven by the discovery and development of oil fields. Narrator Wendy Thomas, who grew up on the outskirts of Tulsa, points out,  “And so, you know, there are many people who came together to make Tulsa what it is. And, you know—the oil wildcatters too, the people who made and lost millions through the oil business in the early days that, you know, wanted to create a city that was a rival of some of the cities they had left back east[...]”

Oklahoma’s booms and busts are both economic and cultural. In their interviews, elders describe urban renewal—a set of policies designed to revitalize cities—as an instigator of decline. In practice, these divided neighborhoods and displaced families.

Tulsa native, Chief Diversity Officer at Tulsa Tech, Joyce McClellan remembers urban renewal’s popularization:

Tulsa formed an urban renewal authority in July 1959, setting precedents for the rest of the state. For entrepreneur Lemmel Fields, the negative effects of urban renewal were glaring, “When they did urban renewal, they came in and wiped out a lot of—Greenwood had a lot of little shack homes and little building, juke joints and all that. [...] They took those people land and paid them a small amount of money and sold that land for more than that land was worth. Those people who built houses—people who lived on Greenwood, they tore their house down and gave them $1,500 to move to somewhere else. Fifteen hundred dollars isn’t enough money to me. But now that same piece of property that they lived on, that may have cost them $25,000, $35,000. So urban renewal wasn’t a good thing.”

Former Ronald McDonald House CEO Glenda Love recalls that urban renewal came in waves: “The second time was urban renewal, when they moved people from the Greenwood area, and they just kind of shifted. They just kept shifting north. And then the expressway. That was the biggest bone when the expressway came through, because that really pushed, I mean, that took—that wiped it clean.” The interstate derailed Greenwood’s revitalization efforts, dividing the historic Black neighborhood. “Then later on, in 2000 or 1999 or something like that, then there was another surge of urban renewal. [...] So it came through a couple of times, but the biggest, the hugest impact was when the expressway came. So there was urban renewal, and then there was the expressway. So those were the two pieces. The 1921 Race Massacre, the first time, I call it the demolition of Greenwood and the north side.”

Owing to these policies, neighborhoods have often been reshaped beyond recognition. Reverend Anthony Scott tells the story of North Tulsa’s decline through food access. “And as I think about my childhood, actually, growing up in the ‘70s, North Tulsa has actually experienced a digression from that time period. And what I mean, we recently celebrated the opening of a new grocery store in North Tulsa. Because North Tulsa was considered a food desert. When I was a little boy growing up in the ’70s, there were at least five grocery stores in North Tulsa that I could walk to or ride my bicycle to. And so while we were celebrating the opening of one grocery store for North Tulsa as progress, as I recollect, I don’t consider that progress, I consider that digression. Because there were five when I was a child, now we have one. So that, in my estimation, is not progress.” 

The scars of the violence and oppression are still felt as Black Tulsans strive to create community bonds in a variety of ways.

Mississippi-born narrator Rose Jones-Washington shares her tenure with the Tulsa Economic Development Corporation, during which she strengthened the organization’s community engagement efforts. In her interview, Jones-Washington describes idiosyncrasies in Tulsan Black culture and the steps she took to gain trust in the community. Jones-Washington is not alone in her leadership. In her interview, Lana Turner-Addison discusses how she views the possibilities of change in Tulsa through her work, including with the North Tulsa Economic Development Initiative and Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth. For Turner-Addison, part of the answer is rebuilding generational wealth.

"We have gotten to the point, in my opinion, where the handout becomes so important. We’ll never build and hold and regain or anything with that mentality. I’ve worked for nonprofits, I volunteer, I work with North Tulsa Economic Development Initiative. We’ve been going strong, but it’s been a labor of love just to try to hold people accountable, but at the same time, do the work ourselves that it’s going to take.”

In this collection Elders serve their communities through a variety of roles—through churches and non-profit organizations, as well as government positions and the press. The NAACP, Greater Grace Temple, Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Praise Center Church, Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, Tulsa Foundation for Architecture, and Tulsa Public Schools are among the many organizations.

Despite the challenges Tulsans have faced, the elders Gayle interviewed continue to defend and dream of Tulsa's future. Retired NFL player and Tulsa local Reuben Gant shares in his interview, “I look at Oklahoma as really a land of opportunity. It’s for the most part undeveloped. The only impediment is the equalization of opportunity. I can’t envision, at this moment, living anywhere else, because I still believe that there is opportunity here for people of color, if the equalization to opportunity occurs.”

Even before their dreams are fully realized, the resiliency and vibrancy of bonds that Tulsan elders have forged despite hardship make Tulsa a worthwhile home. As narrator Tanecia Davis puts simply,“Tulsa’s always going to be home.”