BEFORE THEY DIE Tulsa Race Riot Survivors

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It was the worst race riot in the  history of the United States; however, most people have never heard of  it. Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1921, in less than 24 hours the prosperous  African-American section of Greenwood, also known as  “Black Wall Street,” was completely destroyed. An estimated 300 were  killed and over 10,000 people displaced,  as a 42 square block area of  their homes and businesses were burned to the ground by a white mob that  had been deputized by the sheriff.

This  documentary is the story of the survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot  and their quest for justice before they died. 

This is a story about the struggle for the soul of America and efforts to 

right a wrong that is long past due.

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In an effort to seek justice for the victims of America’s worst racial attack, the living survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre, who were children in 1921 began to speak out against their treatment via America’s dirty little secret. 151 survivors (aged 90-105) engaged and led by the best civil rights lawyers in the country, filed actions in federal courts and including the Supreme CT seeking economic redress and the correction of the historical record. Denied their opportunity at trial, this film captures their legal fight and tells the story of the heinous events that transpired those 3 days in May 1921 in the words of the victims themselves. More than 10,000 Black Americans displaced 300 dead, 35 blocks of the wealthiest Black community in America destroyed and deliberately hidden from American history until revealed here in Before They Die!