American Experience (TV Series) Goin' Back to T-Town (1993) User Reviews

Great Documentary

[pdozier-604-414127 · 10/10 · 27 February 2021]

I live and work in T-town. I learned more about what happened in this documentary than the 16+ years of tulsa-based schooling (including the local private University).

I went to Booker T. Washington High School (magnet school) and none of my friends/classmates learned anything about the Tulsa Race Riot. We heard stories, but no details. This subject and perhaps this film should be required for every student in this city and state. I've recommended this documentary to friends and have made this required viewing for my 2 college sons, who frankly are more educated on this subject than your typical Tulsan. I think the film maker did an excellent job of interviewing people that lived and affected by this tragic event. Tulsa needs to find the correct reparations.

Well worth seeing

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 5 August 2023]

"Goin' Back to T-Town" is an installment of "The American Experience" which is about the town of Greenwood, a suburb of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is narrated by Ossie Davis. It also was rebroadcast in 2021...the 100th anniversary of the Greenwood riot.

It seems that many black families in the Tulsa area decided to move to this small enclave and establish their own businesses. It was successful and life there was pretty good. However, the show talks about what follows...including a famous riot in which white burned most of Greenwood as well as later integration and the eventual death of Greenwood as folks simply moved away. In many ways, it's like a microcosm of the black experience in America in the 20th century...from being at the very bottom of the social rung to eventually gaining more and more rights and respect.

Overall, the film is wonderful and NOT all negative but offers a lot of hope and promise. Well worth seeing.