Tulsa offers plenty of walkable districts worth the exploration, from historic staples to newer innovations. Plan a day trip or a full weekend spent visiting local arts, entertainment, dining and nightlife options with the help of this guide to Tulsa’s most unique districts.Learn More
John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park
The John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park near downtown Tulsa is a beautiful piece of landscape architecture that tells the history of black Americans and the town of Tulsa - from the trip over to the United States from Africa all the way until the civil rights era. The park's namesake was a civil rights leader who thought it was important to tell this often forgotten history. The park was built as part of the 2001 Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.
Reconciliation Park memorializes the history of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. 300 people died and many more were injured in acts of senseless violence in the city's thriving black neighborhood. Hope Plaza is comprised of a 16-foot granite structure that holds three bronze sculptures, each showing a different stage of the Race Riot. "Hostility" depicts a white man holding two shot guns, "Humiliation" displays a black man with his hands raised above his head and "Hope" shows the white director of the Red Cross holding a black baby.
All of the statues were created by Ed Dwight, the first African American astronaut and artist from Denver. Each representation was taken from an actual photo from 1921 and has been recreated to be larger than life. The center piece of the park called the Tower of Reconciliation is 25-feet tall. Various parts of African American history can be found while examining the different elements including slaves' migration on the Trail of Tears, the Battle of Honey Springs, statehood, the founding of Oklahoma's all-black towns as well as prominent black Tulsa leaders.