Unspeakable

Weatherford depicts a vibrant and thriving Black Wall Street in Tulsa until one elevator ride brings it all crashing down.

Unspeakable has received numerous starred reviews and awards—all richly deserved for shining a light on this horrifying history and reminding us at the book’s conclusion that it is the responsibility of us all to reject hatred and choose hope. It’s a stunning work from a powerhouse author and illustrator team.

Don’t let its picture book format keep you from sharing this important book with teens and adults. The format makes the difficult subject both more accessible and more relatable.  

Unspeakable is a beautifully illustrated look at the economic and entrepreneurial community that was the African American sector in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the "Greenwood District" or, as it was heralded, "Black Wall Street," and its calamitous destruction in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The book aims to familiarize children with the full breadth of history—warts and all—such that they might one day leverage their learning to fashion a society in which shared humanity is a core value.

I consider this book to be the late Floyd Cooper’s masterpiece. The illustrations are as powerful as the story. News of this incident was suppressed and it took 75 years for an official investigation into this tragedy to come out. The front endpaper shows a birds-eye view of the thriving African American community before the massacre and the back endpapers show an actual photograph of the same community afterward. What comes between is haunting and masterfully told.