For 16 hours on May 31, 1921, mobs of white rioters threatened and then set fire to a 34-block black neighborhood of businesses and houses in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 was one of the worst civil disorders in U.S. history, leaving an estimated 10,000 homeless, 800 hospitalized and 300 or more dead.

On Thursday, Nov. 9 Schoolcraft College will host Scott Ellsworth, a leading historian on the riot and author of Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. Ellsworth began his research into the riot as an undergraduate student at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He continued his research at Duke University, interviewing eye witnesses, and researching old photos and newspapers, and ultimately published his book.

The event was largely ignored in the history books until the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City when Bryant Gumbel of the Today show was handed a copy of Ellsworth’s book. In 1997, the Tulsa Race Riot Commission was created to examine the riots and the possibility of reparations. Ellsworth served on the Commission as a consultant and the primary investigator.

At Schoolcraft, Ellsworth will make a keynote presentation, "Heartland Tragedy: Uncovering the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, " at 10:30 a.m. in the Presentation Room of the VisTaTech Center.

At 11:30, Ellsworth will join a panel of Schoolcraft faculty for a discussion on "Facing the Past: Where do we go from here?"

A documentary film on the riots will begin at 12:30 p.m. in room 200 of the Liberal Arts Building, featuring Ellsworth, who then will talk informally with students from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.

The Ellsworth visit will conclude with a discussion on oral history research techniques from 3 to 4 p.m. in room 200 of the Liberal Arts Building.

All the day’s events are free and open to the public. You can see pictures of the riot at file://U:\International\Scott_Ellsworth_11.9.2006. The event is sponsored by the Schoolcraft International Institute. For more information, contact Sam Hays at 248-559-8264 or Josselyn Moore at 734-462-4400, ext. 5271.

Schoolcraft College is a public two-year college, offering classes at the Livonia campus on Haggerty Road between Six and Seven Mile roads, at the Radcliff Center in Garden City and online.