The history of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre will now be taught throughout Oklahoma schools, and we probably owe thanks to HBO’s Watchmen, which prominently featured the massacre as the central to its sprawling superheroic storyline.
According to CNN, Oklahoma’s department of education will add the Tulsa massacre to the state’s lesson plans in the fall, with the curriculum’s framework coming out months before in April. The framework will give teachers “extra support and resources” when teaching about the event.
Joy Hofmeister, Oklahoma State Superintendent, said at the Wednesday news conference that the education department wants to “ensure that…we are teaching [at] a grade-appropriate level those facts that have not been taught in a way they should have been taught in Oklahoma. “This is…our history and we should know it,” she said.
Writer N.K. Jemisin tweeted about her surprise, writing, “Decades of historians have been trying to let the world know about this massacre, and it took an alternate history comic book drama to break the wall of racism. IDK whether to laugh or cry, but let no one say fiction has no power in the real world.”
Because of “Watchmen.” Decades of historians have been trying to let the world know about this massacre, and it took an alternate history comic book drama to break the wall of racism. IDK whether to laugh or cry, but let no one say fiction has no power in the real world. https://t.co/l7ixJN5JlQ
— N. K. Jemisin (@nkjemisin) February 20, 2020
READ MORE:
‘Watchmen’ Star Yahya Abdul-Mateen On That Twist And The Love Story We Didn’t Know We Needed
Is Watchmen A Bold Critique Of White Supremacy Or More ‘Copaganda’?
What Are ‘Redfordations,’ And How Do Black People Qualify For Them On ‘Watchmen’?
How HBO Recreated The Tulsa Race Riots Of 1921 On ‘Watchmen’
Photo credit: HBO
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