Greenwood summer camp teaches Tulsa kids about black history before, after 1619

A group of elementary school students put on a series of performances Wednesday at the Greenwood Cultural Center to highlight what they learned during a summer program based on The New York Times’ Project 1619.

In 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived in America. The project’s educational offerings, intended to drive home the impact of slavery on black communities, were controversial. Critics say the draft oversimplifies concepts and sometimes lacks context.

The program at the Greenwood Cultural Center is a pilot and exclusive to Drexel Academy Elementary students. Organizers hope that more programs like this can be arranged elsewhere in the country.

“The way the black experience, or black history, has often been told, even to this day … is very … lacking,” said Timothy Butler, a grant writer and one of the program’s coordinators.

Children who attended the camp not only learned about the history of slavery in America, but also read poems from well-known black writers and experienced African dance.

Butler said programs like this are important in Oklahoma.

“A lot of people don’t even know about the rich history here on historic Black Wall Street,” he said.

Oklahoma House Bill 1775, passed in 2021, prohibits schools from using instructional materials that could cause students to feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”

The law has sparked concerns about requiring educators to whitewash history and is currently awaiting a decision in federal court on its constitutionality.

Along with historical education, Butler said the program is a way for children to learn and develop outside of the regular school year.

“For minority children, cultural enrichment and understanding is key to their wholeness,” he said.

This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating to the link at the top of this webpage.