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Tell the truth," he said of his reason for speaking out about the massacre.ĪBC News goes deep into the story of the Greenwood massacre in our podcast, which includes Charlie Wilson's story in "Soul of a Nation: Tulsa's Buried Truth." You can subscribe where you get your podcasts to hear more.The three brothers, Ronnie, Robert, and Charlie Wilson, sang to the piano tunes delivered by their mother at the church. He said he loves his hometown, and when touring, he's proud to say he's from Tulsa. He was received two NAACP Image awards, and in both 20 was named Billboard's No. Wilson is Grammy nominated, with 13 nods as a solo artist, and two recent No. I mean, the story needs to be told," he said. Wilson said he now wants to help solidify Greenwood's rightful place in American history books.
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They kept it quiet, so they could be would be protected in some way," said Wilson. "She watched people die and getting shot.
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In the last few years, shows like HBO's "Lovecraft Country" and "Watchmen" have recreated scenes from the massacre, raising interest is the lost history and leading viewers to search for evidence that the horrifying and violent stories indeed occurred. Historians have found pages missing in archives. Many believe that much of the story has been intentionally suppressed. How the details of what happened to Greenwood have been lost in history is a key part of the neighborhood's story. While promoting their albums and touring in the 1980s, Wilson said he shared the story of their neighborhood and the massacre many times: "People were just kinda lookin' at us like, 'Are you sure? I've never heard this story before.'" He said they knew "we'd have to talk about that, and where the name came from." "We knew we were going to go all over the world - at least I did," Charlie said with a laugh. The Gap Band lead singer Charlie Wilson grew up in Tulsa, just a few blocks from the Greenwood District.Īccording to Charlie Wilson, he and his brothers wanted the name of their band to mean something. The early 1920s were a particularly deadly time for Black Americans who lived in similar townships and neighborhoods across the country. This Black economy created a neighborhood where there were Black families who were better off than some of their white neighbors. The Greenwood neighborhood is often referred to as "Black Wall Street," a nod to the successful Black businesses that used to line Greenwood Avenue.īack in the day, Black businesses in the neighborhood thrived - partly because Black customers were not allowed to purchase many goods or services in white stores. In fact, the name of the band stands for Greenwood, Archer and Pine, the streets at the entrance of the neighborhood. "It's bringing attention back to the race riots. He said the band has been trying to draw attention to the massacre since they first started singing together.
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Charlie Wilson wrote the song, and said that despite the rumors, the only bomb the song is referring to is one made of love.īut Wilson said he's very happy about the confusion the title has caused. The Gap Band's lead singer, Charlie Wilson, said he and his brothers, Ronnie and Robert Wilson, grew up in Tulsa just a few blocks from the Greenwood District, the Black neighborhood that was destroyed in the massacre. MORE: Oklahoma begins Tulsa race massacre centennial remembrance