50 years ago, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was a taboo subject when Tulsan Ed Wheeler set out to write an article ‘to find out what happened.’ He had no idea the threats and resistance he would face just for trying.

A man walks gingerly through the ruins of the Greenwood District in the aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. The riot was sparked after an assault complaint was filed against a black man by a white woman. “With the coming of dawn this morning, following a night of race rioting and death, hundreds of armed white men in motor cars formed a circle of steel around ‘Little Africa,’ and a continuous rattle of rifle and revolver fire could be heard,” the Tulsa World reported in an “extra” edition on June 1, 1921.