Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre

Summary of Book

Celebrated author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Floyd Cooper provide a powerful look at the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in our nation's history. The book traces the history of African Americans in Tulsa's Greenwood district and chronicles the devastation that occurred in 1921 when a white mob attacked the Black community.

News of what happened was largely suppressed, and no official investigation occurred for seventy-five years. This picture book sensitively introduces young readers to this tragedy and concludes with a call for a better future.

Author Biography

Carole Boston Weatherford is the author of numerous award-winning books including BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom, illustrated by Michele Wood which received a Newbery Honor and R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, illustrated by Frank Morrison which won the 2021 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Book Award. When she's not traveling or visiting museums, Carole is mining the past for family stories, fading traditions, and forgotten struggles. She lives in North Carolina.

Illustrator Biography

Floyd Cooper is a Coretta Scott King Award winner and illustrator of numerous books for children including Ruth and the Green Book, A Spy Called James, and Unspeakable. He received a degree in fine arts from the University of Oklahoma, and currently lives in Easton, Pennsylvania with his wife and two sons.