Tulsa Race Massacre Compelling Question 4
Storyboard Text
- What is Gentrification?
- Throughout history, groups of people have been pushed out of communities. This is known as gentrification. Gentrification happens in many different ways.
- Effects of Gentrification on Greenwood
- In the case of Black Wall Street's gentrification, there are many things that have led up to Greenwood Today. Black Wall Street today is not as prosperous as it once was. The whole Greenwood area is more than 10 times smaller than it used to be. I'm standing outside of the historic Vernon AME Church, part of BWS.
- Who benefits from the gentrification of Black Wall Street?
- Vast BankIn the Raw VU Sushi
- Did you know that this used to be Black Wall Street, honey?
- Gentrification is the process of pushing a certain group of people out of a community (typically poor or minority groups.) Gentrification is done in a number of ways.
- THINGS THAT HAVE INFLUENCED THE GENTRIFICATION OF BWS: "At the start of all of this, there was a race massacre. When it was over, people wanted to rebuild, of course. But, there were fire ordinances, and black people could not get loans from banks to rebuild their homes and businesses. But they persisted, and they rebuilt. However, then there was redlining to worry about. They could not get loans to buy houses, leaving them with fewer opportunities. Urban renewal influenced a highway to be built, leaving Greenwood only as a 1-block long stretch of 10 brick buildings. Recently, the rent prices of buildings in this area have gone up, leaving some families worried about having to move, and a new area 55 acres North of the interstate has been opened up for black developers. The City of Tulsa is also putting new shops and businesses in the area, turning it into a white-owned commercial area."
- Now, taking all of this information, I can narrow it down to one question: Who benefits from the gentrification of Black Wall Street? Well, what demographic of people is getting to open up new businesses over there, where BWS used to be? Who was pushed out of the area because of urban renewal? These side questions can help me answer the compelling question, and I know that the answer to the first question is: young, wealthy, white people. And, the answer to the second question is: minority groups, the black community. Based on all of this, the group of people benefitting from the gentrification of BWS is the white Tulsan community. The truth is that it didn't used to be BWS, it still is today.
Over 30 Million Storyboards Created