Tyler Lockett wins Emmy award for feature on Black Wall Street documentary

Lockett discussed the history of the Greenwood District of his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, most prominently the Tulsa race massacre in 1921.

On Tuesday, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Long Feature for his feature the NFL 360 documentary Black Wall Street. In it, Lockett discussed the history of the Greenwood District of his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, most prominently the Tulsa race massacre in 1921.

Lockett stated that his intention with his visit to Tulsa in the documentary was to shed light on racial injustice in his hometown and highlight how the effects of the Tulsa race massacre are still palpable there today.

“I just want people to learn the truth about Tulsa,” Lockett told Seahawks.com a few months ago. “It’s hard to be able to explain because when you really look at all the events that took place, a lot of this was just a hundred years ago. When people understand the history and what Tulsa once was, I just want them to be able to understand that, now that they’re learning this, imagine all of this being swept under the rug. Imagine it being hidden. But also, not only was this swept under the rug but people were threatened not to talk about it.”

Lockett is one of numerous NFL players known for using his platform to bring attention to real-life issues outside of the sport he plays, and he has expressed confidence that learning about incidents like this will convince the NFL community, players and fans alike, to look under the surface a little bit more.

“So when the NFL community sees this, they’re not going to see entertainment; they’re going to see reality,” Lockett stated at the end of the documentary. “They’re going to see the truth about life. Something that we can’t hide from, something that has been hidden, something that can’t be no longer a secret. This is real life.”

Black Wall Street can be viewed on YouTube here.

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LeBron announces SpringHill documentary about 1921 Tulsa race massacre, Black Wall Street

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James’ production company SpringHill Entertainment announced a new project that is in development.

As protests continue all over the United States against racial violence against black people, LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter announced a new project about one of the biggest incidents of racial violence in the history of the nation, one that you very likely didn’t hear about in history class.

Writer Salima Koroma is developing a documentary for LeBron’s SpringHill Entertainment about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 in the Tulsa neighborhood of Greenwood, colloquially known as the “Black Wall Street,” for the neighborhood’s affluence and financial success. However, those markers of success and the town’s growth became threats to their white neighbors, at a time of segregation, and it led to one of the worst racial massacres in American history and the decimation of the community.

Many of the productions from LeBron and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill have been about black history in the United States, including “Shut Up and Dribble,” “Self Made: Inspired by the life of Madam C.J. Walker.” and “What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali.”

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