Understanding Racial Massacres: Elaine, Catcher, and Tulsa

“Understanding Racial Massacres in Arkansas and Oklahoma: Elaine, Catcher, and Tulsa”

Distinguished Speaker, Mr. Hannibal B. Johnson, Esq.

This event is part of a Fort Smith Museum of History Culture Series Program in Partnership with 64.6 Downtown

Sunday, February 12, 2023 @ 1:30 pm

Venue: Fort Smith Museum of History

320 Rogers Avenue

Fort Smith, AR

This event is free and open to the public however, tickets ARE REQUIRED. Limited seating available.

Tickets can be found at our website: fortsmithmuseum.org

For more information contact:

479-783-7841

info@fortsmithmuseum.com

Contact: Caroline Speir

The Fort Smith Museum of History and 64.6 Downtown are collaborating to bring Fort Smith native, Mr. Hannibal B. Johnson to Fort Smith as the distinguished guest speaker for, "Understanding Racial Massacres in Arkansas and Oklahoma: Elaine, Catcher, and Tulsa.” Scheduled for February 12, 2023 @ 1:30, this one-day public program and speaking engagement will be held at the Fort Smith Museum of History in celebration of Black History Month. Mr. Johnson is an author, attorney, and consultant whose books include "Images of America: Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District" and "Black Wall Street–From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District." https://www.hannibalbjohnson.com/

Mr. Johnson's program will educate and discuss the history and impact of the Race Massacres at Elaine, AR in 1919, Catcher, AR in 1923, and the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. The Tulsa Race Massacre will be a core part of a discussion that reaches out to include the events of Elaine and Catcher, examining the resulting disfranchisement these shared, complicated, and tragic events left the Black populations and communities they invaded. The 1912 lynching of Sanford Lewis in Fort Smith will also be discussed, as it was the same racial and cultural perceptions pervasive of the Jim Crow era that led to Lewis' death. The audience will have the opportunity to interact with Mr. Johnson in a Q & A at the conclusion of his presentation.

As part of this culture series program, following "Understanding Racial Massacres in Arkansas and Oklahoma: Elaine, Catcher, and Tulsa.” the afternoon will continue with a community round table on the civil rights movement form the lens of discussion with local members of Black fraternities and sororities; Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Psi, and Omega Psi Phi. 

HANNIBAL B. JOHNSON, a Harvard Law School graduate, is an author, attorney, and

consultant specializing in diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, human relations,

leadership, and non-profit leadership and management. He has taught at The

University of Tulsa College of Law, Oklahoma State University, and The University of

Oklahoma. Johnson serves on the federal 400 Years of African-American History

Commission. He chaired the Education Committee for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Centennial Commission and served as local curator of its world-class history center,

Greenwood Rising. His books, including Black Wall Street 100: An American City

Grapples With Its Historical Racial Trauma, chronicle the African American experience

in Oklahoma and its indelible impact on American history. Johnson’s play, Big Mama

Speaks—A Tulsa Race Riot Survivor’s Story, was selected for the 2011 National Black

Theatre Festival and has been staged in Caux, Switzerland. He has received numerous

honors and awards for this work and his community service, including a lifetime

achievement award from the Oklahoma Center for the Book and induction into the

Tulsa Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Mr. Johnson is a native of Fort Smith, AR.