2021 National Book Award Longlist 2022 Carnegie Medal Nonfiction Longlist One of The New York Times' “11 New Books We Recommend This Week”
One of Oprah Daily's “ 20 of the Best Books to Pick Up This May ”
One of The Oklahoman 's “ 15 Books to Help You Learn About the Tulsa Race Massacre as the 100-Year Anniversary Approaches ”
A The Week book of the week As seen in documentaries on the History Channel, CNN, and Lebron James’s SpringHill Productions And then they were gone. More than one thousand homes and businesses. Restaurants and movie theaters, churches and doctors’ offices, a hospital, a public library, a post office. Looted, burned, and bombed from the air. Over the course of less than twenty-four hours in the spring of 1921, Tulsa’s infamous “Black Wall Street” was wiped off the map—and erased from the history books. Official records were disappeared, researchers were threatened, and the worst single incident of racial violence in American history was kept hidden for more than fifty years. But there were some secrets that would not die. A riveting and essential new book, The Ground Breaking not only tells the long-suppressed story of the notorious Tulsa race massacre. It also unearths the lost history of how the massacre was covered up, and of the courageous individuals who fought to keep the story alive. Most important, it recounts the ongoing archaeological saga and the search for the unmarked graves of the victims of the massacre, and of the fight to win restitution for the survivors and their families. Both a forgotten chronicle from the nation’s past and a story ripped from today’s headlines, The Ground Breaking is a page-turning reflection on how we, as Americans, must wrestle with the parts of our history that have been buried for far too long. Praise for The Ground Breaking : “A skillful narrative of excavating the truth about the Tulsa race massacre. . . . Candid and self-aware. . . . Part of what makes this book so riveting is Ellsworth’s skillful narration, his impeccable sense for when to reveal a piece of information and when to hold something back.” —The New York Times “A moving and humane portrait of the massacre . . . The Ground Breaking sends a powerful message at this 100th anniversary: that reconciliation is possible only when we directly confront the truth of a painful past and take concrete steps to redress it.” —The Washington Post “A stunning narrative.” — NPR’s Code Switch “ The Ground Breaking documents Ellsworth’s dogged pursuit to excavate the details of what occurred on those days a hundred years ago, since facts about what transpired were intentionally suppressed for decades. . . . By weaving in his personal history and conversations with Tulsa survivors and other natives, Ellsworth combines his gift for storytelling with a historian’s dogged persistence to not only track the latest information on the existence and locations of those mass graves but to offer essential insights as to why the Tulsa race massacre is emblematic of why American racial inequality persists and how we need to reckon with it so we can begin to seek true reconciliation. . . . Ellsworth—whose previous book on the massacre, published in 1982, was entitled Death in a Promised Land —with his latest masterful work of history, illuminates the hard, never-finished work of unlearning racism and nurturing truth. He also prompts us to question how many other American stories and voices remain buried, waiting for dedicated historians with Ellsworth’s persistence and passion to uncover them.” — OprahDaily.com “A thoughtful exploration of the importance of collective memory. It is particularly poignant as 2021 marks the centennial of the massacre. A must-read for all who are interested in how history continues to impact the present.” —Rebekah Kati, Library Journal (starred review) “Historian Ellsworth ( Death in a Promised Land ) delivers a riveting investigation into the origins and aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. . . . Interviews with survivors and reflections on the debate over reparations and the social, economic, and racial divisions of modern-day Tulsa add depth to Ellsworth’s portrait of a community attempting to heal from an unimaginable injustice. This eloquent, deeply moving history isn’t to be missed.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Immensely readable and thoroughly engaging, The Ground Breaking is a remarkable blend of history and memoir that could not be more timely and informative. Taut, tense, and meticulously composed, Scott Ellsworth’s elegant narrative is both mesmerizing and enlightening.” —Gilbert King , Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove “This is a book that fuses history and memory with the unresolved search for justice for the victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. It is also a searing story of Ellsworth’s personal journey as he struggles to unearth and come to terms w
One of Oprah Daily's “ 20 of the Best Books to Pick Up This May ”
One of The Oklahoman 's “ 15 Books to Help You Learn About the Tulsa Race Massacre as the 100-Year Anniversary Approaches ”
A The Week book of the week As seen in documentaries on the History Channel, CNN, and Lebron James’s SpringHill Productions And then they were gone. More than one thousand homes and businesses. Restaurants and movie theaters, churches and doctors’ offices, a hospital, a public library, a post office. Looted, burned, and bombed from the air. Over the course of less than twenty-four hours in the spring of 1921, Tulsa’s infamous “Black Wall Street” was wiped off the map—and erased from the history books. Official records were disappeared, researchers were threatened, and the worst single incident of racial violence in American history was kept hidden for more than fifty years. But there were some secrets that would not die. A riveting and essential new book, The Ground Breaking not only tells the long-suppressed story of the notorious Tulsa race massacre. It also unearths the lost history of how the massacre was covered up, and of the courageous individuals who fought to keep the story alive. Most important, it recounts the ongoing archaeological saga and the search for the unmarked graves of the victims of the massacre, and of the fight to win restitution for the survivors and their families. Both a forgotten chronicle from the nation’s past and a story ripped from today’s headlines, The Ground Breaking is a page-turning reflection on how we, as Americans, must wrestle with the parts of our history that have been buried for far too long. Praise for The Ground Breaking : “A skillful narrative of excavating the truth about the Tulsa race massacre. . . . Candid and self-aware. . . . Part of what makes this book so riveting is Ellsworth’s skillful narration, his impeccable sense for when to reveal a piece of information and when to hold something back.” —The New York Times “A moving and humane portrait of the massacre . . . The Ground Breaking sends a powerful message at this 100th anniversary: that reconciliation is possible only when we directly confront the truth of a painful past and take concrete steps to redress it.” —The Washington Post “A stunning narrative.” — NPR’s Code Switch “ The Ground Breaking documents Ellsworth’s dogged pursuit to excavate the details of what occurred on those days a hundred years ago, since facts about what transpired were intentionally suppressed for decades. . . . By weaving in his personal history and conversations with Tulsa survivors and other natives, Ellsworth combines his gift for storytelling with a historian’s dogged persistence to not only track the latest information on the existence and locations of those mass graves but to offer essential insights as to why the Tulsa race massacre is emblematic of why American racial inequality persists and how we need to reckon with it so we can begin to seek true reconciliation. . . . Ellsworth—whose previous book on the massacre, published in 1982, was entitled Death in a Promised Land —with his latest masterful work of history, illuminates the hard, never-finished work of unlearning racism and nurturing truth. He also prompts us to question how many other American stories and voices remain buried, waiting for dedicated historians with Ellsworth’s persistence and passion to uncover them.” — OprahDaily.com “A thoughtful exploration of the importance of collective memory. It is particularly poignant as 2021 marks the centennial of the massacre. A must-read for all who are interested in how history continues to impact the present.” —Rebekah Kati, Library Journal (starred review) “Historian Ellsworth ( Death in a Promised Land ) delivers a riveting investigation into the origins and aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. . . . Interviews with survivors and reflections on the debate over reparations and the social, economic, and racial divisions of modern-day Tulsa add depth to Ellsworth’s portrait of a community attempting to heal from an unimaginable injustice. This eloquent, deeply moving history isn’t to be missed.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Immensely readable and thoroughly engaging, The Ground Breaking is a remarkable blend of history and memoir that could not be more timely and informative. Taut, tense, and meticulously composed, Scott Ellsworth’s elegant narrative is both mesmerizing and enlightening.” —Gilbert King , Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Devil in the Grove “This is a book that fuses history and memory with the unresolved search for justice for the victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. It is also a searing story of Ellsworth’s personal journey as he struggles to unearth and come to terms w