a segregated part of the city so prosperous and bustling, it was known as Black Wall Street. Back in 1921, a mob of white people tore down and burned the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Okla. Monday marks the 100th anniversary for one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history, the Tulsa Race Massacre. If all you know about the Tulsa Race Massacre is the re-creations of the attack featured in HBO series like Watchmen and Lovecraft Country, prepare yourself for a serious education over the next few weeks. University of Tulsa/McFarlin Library Special Collections The mystery of the crimes and the riots keeps the reader in suspense until the very end.'Little Africa on fire, Tulsa Race Riot, June 1, 1921'

With change of tone, speech, and references, the reader is able to completely fall into the two separate worlds. The split point of view between William and Rowan offers a unique perspective into the culture and society of each narrator’s time period. Though they have nearly one hundred years of history between them, they both must reconcile with the truth of their hometown. The awareness of the body forces Rowan to re-evaluate her privileged life while the riots themselves must force William to re-evaluate his. When Rowan finds a skeleton buried in the backyard of her family’s estate, she is faced with learning the brutal truth of what happened during the Tulsa race riot of 1921. I believe that good people working together can create meaningful change.“ĭreamland Burning follows two points of view: Rowan, living in modern day Tulsa, and William, living in 1921 Tulsa. “ I don’t believe that history holds easy answers or simple lessons, because those answers and lessons are stretched out over thousands-millions-of untold stories.īut I do believe that if we seek those stories out, and if we listen to them and talk to each other with open hearts and minds, we can start to heal. She lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma with her husband and two daughters. Trigger Warnings: violence, massacre, racismĪbout the Author: Dreamland Burning, Is Jennifer Latham’s second novel and has received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, and School Library Journal, was an Amazon Editors’ Top 20 YA Book of 2017, a New York Public Library Top YA of 2017, a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Teen Book of 2017, a Shelf Awareness Top Teen Book of 2017, a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and was recognized with an honorable mention for the Grateful American Book Prize. Dreamland Burning Jennifer Latham Little, Brown and Company, 2017 365 pages

Dream land burning