HBO and The Atlantic debuted “The Massacre of Black Wall Street,” a one-shot webcomic, earlier today. The story, written by Natalie Chang (senior editor/writer, The Atlantic), illustrated by Clayton Henry (“Alpha Flight,” “Savage”), and colored by Marcel Maiolo (“Old Man Logan,” “I, Vampire”), tells the true story of the Tulsa Riot of 1921. The Riot plays a major part in HBO’s Watchmen series, which opened its pilot with scenes from the riot.
The opening scene was a shocking one as the scene depicted a predominantly black neighborhood being ransacked, and its residents killed by KKK members and other radical white citizens. The comic explains and gives a visual depiction to the event, which stemmed from a mistaken situation between a white girl and a black man in an elevator. Between May 31st and June 1st, 1921, whites rioted in Greenwood by burning buildings, killing black residents, and even dropping bombs onto the neighborhood with air support. When it was over 300 residents were killed, 1,200 buildings were burned, and 9,000 residents were left homeless. No one was arrested or brought to justice for the riot, and the effects of what happened can still be felt today in Tulsa. The comic also provides a wealth of detailed information for anyone that would like to know more about Black Wall Street massacre and what happened after.
Watchmen, which airs its seventh episode this Sunday on HBO, is a sequel to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s iconic 1985 maxiseries of the same name. While “Watchmen” did not deal with race as overtly or substantially as Watchmen does, the show continues the comic’s tradition of exploring questions of morality, politics, and the ever shifting grey area between good and evil. You can read (and listen to) more of our Watchmen coverage here.
