Examining the violent events of late May and June 1921 in Tulsa, Okla, The SpringHill Company and CNN Films have partnered to produce a documentary ‘Dreamland: The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street’. According to Variety, the documentary is expected to portray the event that led to the slaughter of hundreds of the city’s African American residents. The massacre took place in a prosperous community of Tulsa bankers, lawyers, and business owners, many of whom were the descendants of slaves.
‘Dreamland: The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street’ is being helmed and produced by Salima Koroma, and executive produced by James and Carter along with Jamal Henderson and Philip Byron of SpringHill, and Amy Entelis and Courtney Sexton of CNN Films. Jamila Jordan-Theus and Patrick Altema of SpringHill are co-executive producers for the film. CNN Films will be the linear television distributor throughout North America, and HBO Max has nabbed streaming rights to the film, as per Variety.
The tragic events documented came under light after a 17-year-old white woman accused a 19-year-old African American man of inappropriate behaviour in an elevator. Following which, a mob of white attempted to lynch the accused and they were rebuked by African American World War I veterans. As a result, 35 city blocks were destructed and hundreds of African Americans were murdered. The feature film will include a mix of archival media, contemporary interviews and narrated elements such as letters and diary entries. It will also include footage of the century-long search for physical evidence of the mass murder that some had tried to erase from the historic record. The partners expect the film to be completed in early 2021.
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