Restorative Justice Archaeology: Searching for Life in Landscapes of Trauma

This book brings to light the power of Restorative Justice Archaeology (RJA) to shift the focus of traumatic histories beyond single story narratives of death and violence to use archaeology as a means to uncover legacies of resilience and survivance in the present day. Using the Historic Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK as a case study for how RJA projects can foster an environment of collective healing, readers will explore how the cultural landscape of Greenwood has changed over the course of the last century in the wake of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. This book explores not only my complicated journey to becoming an Black woman archaeologist, but also the other RJA projects that connect to or have inspired our work in Tulsa. The book is tentatively titled “Restorative Justice Archaeology: Searching for Life in Landscapes of Trauma” and serves as the anchor for a more in-depth reading in connection to my National Geographic Live show entitled “Greenwood: A Century of Resilience” and a new undergraduate course in development that is tentatively titled “Fragments that Heal: Archaeology, Historical Trauma, and Multivocal Storytelling in Historic Greenwood”

New Non-Profit Organization Launching in October 2023

The mission of the Greenwood Diaspora Project is to support the dreams of educators, students, and descendants across the Greenwood Diaspora. At the epicenter of our diaspora, lies the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the legacy of community resilience that has allowed the people and spirit of Greenwood to survive for generations. People who reside in Greenwood today and those scattered across this diaspora but call Greenwood home, are part of this same legacy of resilience. Together we provide partial scholarships to ensure that educators, students, and families from Greenwood have the freedom to live out their educational dreams. Dreams of achieving a graduate degree, blazing a trail in a non-traditional field, and implementing innovative curriculum design can be made real for more people in North Tulsa with our support. Inspired by the work of Eddie Faye Gates, Mary Jones Parrish, Mabel B. Little, Dorothy DeWitty, Debra Robinson and many others who worked behind the scenes in Greenwood to record, teach, protect, and share the stories of Greenwood for the next generation, we hope to carry on Greenwood’s legacy of excellence in education and reconnect the Greenwood Diaspora in a shared mission of love.

In Celebration of Juneteenth, I decided to do something different this year to help my Greenwood family and colleagues get some additional tools as we continue to fight for justice…

About 4 years ago for Juneteenth, historians in Charleston shared the #CharlestonSyllabus in response to the shooting deaths of 9 parishioners at Emanuel AME Church.

For Juneteenth 2020, Tulsa based scholars came together to launch the #TulsaSyllabus, an online resource guide for anyone who wants to get an understanding of the history of race relations in Tulsa, OK and where you should go if you want to learn about Black heritage in Oklahoma pre-statehood, race/enslavement in Indian Territory, the rise/destruction/rebuilding of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, All-Black Towns in Oklahoma, and Greenwood’s reconciliation efforts on the road to the Centennial of the Massacre – Starting June 19, 2020 you can tap into this online bibliography of sources for free.https://tulsasyllabus.web.unc.edu/

Featured photo courtesy of Tulsa World

For the 2024 Society for Historical Archaeologists (SHA) Conference coming to Oakland, CA January 3-6th, a new panel experience is underway. Chaired by myself and Dr. Peggy Brunache, and led by an amazing group of panelists, this panel is set to make history as the first time a conversation surrounding Black and Indigenous mothering is taking center stage in our field. And I can’t wait to see it all unfold!

Look out for our panel at the next SHA meeting.