From Black Wall Street to Reparations

• In Event: Reckoning with Racism

Abstract

How does exposure to historical atrocities influence the way we think they should be
remembered and addressed in modern day? 2021 marked the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre. During the Tulsa Race Massacre dozens of Black Americans were killed and the neighborhood that was known as “Black Wall Street” was destroyed. In consideration of what occurred in Tulsa, there have been renewed discussions surrounding reparations. Although reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans in the United States has been a topic of discussion since the reconstruction era, Black Americans have yet to receive state sanctioned recognition or redress for the effects of American slavery and Jim Crow racism and segregation. Political scientists have examined the multiple explanations for why white Americans do not support aid to Black people (see, e.g., Mendelberg 2001; Gilens 2014; Valentino, Hutchings, and White 2004). However, research has yet to examine the context in which people do support reparations as a policy to address past wrongdoing. We argue that educational interventions like museums can alter political attitudes when it comes to reparations. To test this argument, we conducted focus groups and fielded an experiment at the Greenwood Rising Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Data collection extended from November 2021 to March 2022. Our focus groups helped us to refine our survey instrument. During our focus groups we found that the museum reinforces existing positions and facilitates perspective taking and empathy. We examined how museum visitors responded to survey questions before and after visiting the museum. We found that people who responded to the survey after visiting the museum were more likely to be willing to send a letter to their congressional representative in support of H.R. 40 a bill that would establish a commission to study and develop a reparations proposal for African Americans.

Authors

• Chaya Crowder, Loyola Marymount University

• Elsa Voytas, Princeton University