One hundred years ago, the dazzling all-Black Broadway musical Shuffle Along ushered in the Jazz Age with a syncopated score and tap dancing chorus. One week later, white residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, murdered hundreds of Black residents and burned down the vibrant Black neighborhood of Greenwood.
On September 10, a remarkable group of artists, journalists, and scholars will mark the centennial of these two neglected but pivotal events in U.S. history with REACTIVATING MEMORY, a free and accessible virtual event. The symposium is a Humanities Council Magic Project, and will trace the legacies of both Shuffle Along and the Tulsa Race Massacre in the contemporary United States and examine gaps and silences in historical archives and the work currently being done to fill those gaps.
Presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts, the daylong event is open to the public. It will feature dynamic programming, including performances and three panel discussions among scholars, journalists, and artists.
Read the full story on the Lewis Center website, and learn more about the symposium here.
