Join Human Rights Watch to preview a new documentary by Jonathan Silvers, Tulsa: The Fire and Forgotten, for free, April 30–May 10 across the United States, and join a live discussion May 5 featuring:
Nicole Austin-Hillery, Human Rights Watch US Program Executive Director
DeNeen Brown, Washington Post Reporter
Rep. Regina Goodwin, OK House District 73
Dreisen Heath, Human Rights Watch Researcher and Advocate
Kristi Williams, REAL Black Wall Street Tour Co-Owner
FILM SCREENING
Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten
Reserve your free ticket today and watch the film at your own pace between
April 30–May 10
LIVE VIRTUAL DISCUSSION
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 8 PM ET/ 5pm PT
Free and globally accessible with RSVP
*Live captioning provided
About the film:
One of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history occurred 100 years ago, May 31-June 1, 1921. Known as the Tulsa Race Massacre, a mob of white residents set fire to “Black Wall Street”—hundreds of Black-owned businesses and homes in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma—killing an estimated 100-300 Black residents and leaving an estimated 10,000 Black residents homeless. The new documentary Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten, premiering Monday, May 31 on PBS, examines this deadly assault on the 100th anniversary of the crime in the context of other racial massacres and police killings, including the one-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd (May 25, 2020). Directed by Jonathan Silvers.
About the discussion:
Join Human Rights Watch for a live discussion of this film featuring Tulsa activist Kristi Williams, Washington Post reporter DeNeen Brown, and Human Rights Watch experts Nicole Austin-Hillery and Dreisen Heath. Panelists will discuss the legacy of the massacre and explore where we go from here—100 years on.
Participants in the United States must register to stream the film here, and RSVP separately for the discussion here. The discussion will be live-captioned and is available for free worldwide with RSVP.
For questions, please email Sophie Hilal at hilals@hrw.org.
Nicole Austin-Hillery
Nicole Austin-Hillery is the Executive Director of the US Program at Human Rights Watch. In this role, Ms. Austin-Hillery leads Human Rights Watch’s efforts to end violations in abusive systems within the United States. Her work focuses on addressing and combatting systemic racism, improving the U.S. immigration system, tackling rights problems within the domestic criminal justice system and advocating for policies to address poverty and inequality informed by international human rights standards.
DeNeen Brown
DeNeen L. Brown has been an award-winning writer for The Washington Post for more than 35 years. Brown is an associate professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, where she teaches feature writing and the “Power of the Writing Voice.”
At The Post, Brown continues to report and write, uncovering forgotten and untold stories in Black history and connecting today’s news to the histories of Black heroes and sheroes. She has written about the country’s history of racial terror, lynchings, and massacres. After Brown’s 2018 story on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was published on the front page of The Washington Post, the mayor of Tulsa announced he would reopen the city’s search for mass graves of victims of the massacre. In October 2020, the city discovered a mass grave that may be connected to the massacre. Scientists will begin examining the remains this summer.
Representative Regina Goodwin
Regina Goodwin was elected to serve in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, Tulsa, House District 73, in 2015. Guided by “The Power of We,” Rep. Goodwin fights for economic equity, criminal justice reform, health care and improving public education. She authored several bills now law, including HB 3393, which bans the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women during labor and delivery, and HB 2253, which clarifies voting rights for persons convicted of a felony. She has worked diligently on bills to mandate the use of body cams by police, revising the use of excessive force, banning jail time for fees and fines, and making hate crimes a felony. Rep. Goodwin led the blocking of HB 2328, where law enforcement would not be held to same standard of law as other citizens concerning excessive and deadly force, and aided in the removal of Live PD from the Tulsa community. Rep. Goodwin currently serves as Assistant Minority Floor Leader and Chairwoman of the Oklahoma Legislative Black Caucus.
Dreisen Heath
Dreisen Heath is a researcher/advocate focusing on racial justice issues, including reparations, in the United States Program at Human Rights Watch. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Dreisen worked as the Special Assistant to the Director and Counsel of the Brennan Center’s Washington DC Office and was a researcher at the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) at the University of Delaware examining emerging community health and education policy, with a particular focus on food insecurity and food access in low-income communities at the local, state and federal level. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.
Kristi Williams
Kristi Williams a.k.a. Orisabiyi is the great-great granddaughter of Creek Freedmen, 1874 Supreme Court Justice Jesse Franklin and the great granddaughter of Cherokee citizens Lillie Vann and Abraham “Abe” Mayberry, a World War 1 Veteran. She is a community activist/advocate/organizer, political consultant and campaign manager for Tulsa’s District 1 Councilor Vanessa Hall Harper as well as a bestselling author of Healing Me for Me, published in 2015.
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Header photo: Washington Post reporter DeNeen Brown contemplates a segment of the Arkansas River where forensic archeologists discovered anomalies consistent with possible mass graves. 20 October 2020.
© Jonathan Silvers/Saybrook Productions Ltd.