2.11: Don’t Hold Back — Sherry Gamble Smith

Today, a conversation with Sherry Gamble Smith on Tulsa’s Juneteenth celebration, and how we as a city can continue to move toward reconciliation.

Then, editor Anne Brockman offers her top picnic tips for that perfect summer meal.

This episode of Tulsa Talks is brought to you by the Tulsa Regional Chamber.

So let’s talk, Tulsa.

Topics in this episode

• Juneteenth: its significance/history nationally and here in Tulsa. How Sherry and her committee helped reinvent Tulsa Juneteenth. What Tulsans can look forward to at the 2019 festival June 13-16 on Greenwood Avenue.
• Her 2018 reinvention of Tulsa’s black Chamber, called the Black Wall Street Chamber.

That’s the voice of Sherry Gamble Smith, president and CEO of the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce, a group she and other community organizers created in 2018 to educate, create and inspire economic vitality in Tulsa’s African-American community. Founding the Black Wall Street Chamber was a reinvention for Sherry, who had formerly served as executive director of another group, the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce. 

Beyond helping African-American businesses and professionals, the Black Wall Street Chamber advocates for other important changes identified by the black community.

Summer is in full swing, and Tulsans will soon be planning Fourth of July cookouts and fireworks shows. But before that holiday, there's another Independence Day to be celebrated.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day that the abolition of slavery was announced in Texas, the last U.S. state to free its slaves — nearly three years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

Juneteenth celebrations take place in many cities across the nation, including here in Tulsa for more than 20 years. This year’s celebration is June 13th-16th  in the historic Greenwood District. The festival is a multi-arts experience that recognizes and celebrates the rich heritage of African Americans.

Sherry Gamble Smith discusses the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. This month marks the 98th anniversary of the horrific event that likely killed hundreds and decimated Tulsa’s Black Wall Street on Greenwood Avenue.

For more information on the Black Wall Street Chamber of Commerce, visit bwschamber.com. And for a full schedule of Tulsa Juneteenth activities, go to tulsajuneteenth.org.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, @TulsaPeople, or head to our home on the web, TulsaPeople.com/podcast. There, you’ll find show notes and more info about our guests and topics. 

Every episode, we play you out with some local music. Here is Desi and Cody's new single, "Dandelion Wine."

For more music by the Tulsa folk duo, visit desiandcody.com.