Finally.
A chapter of our nation’s history that had long gone underreported will now be seeing the light of day, thanks to a recent announcement made by media mogul Oprah Winfrey.
Winfrey’s OWN network shared that it would be developing a two-part miniseries titled Tulsa. The film stars Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer (The Help), who plays a journalist who investigates the 1921 Oklahoma race riots.
If you’re unfamiliar with the tragic history, an estimated 300 people were said to have been murdered thanks to racial tensions surrounding segregation laws, and the subsequent ill will that white men felt toward the prosperous black community of Greenwood. According to a 2011 New York Times story on the subject, “The Tulsa race riot of 1921 was rarely mentioned in history books, classrooms or even in private … an episode so brutal that this city, in a bout of collective amnesia that extended more than a half-century, simply chose to forget it ever happened.”
In addition to that announcement, OWN also revealed the rest of their upcoming programming, which also included the network’s first scripted movie, My Name is Love: The Darlene Love Story.
The period biopic will star Toni Braxton.
In it, Braxton plays Love, a singer who worked with Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen, among others. From the network’s release:
“Whether it was the wild parties Tom Jones used to throw, how Elvis came on to her backstage at his 1968 comeback special, or her love affair with Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers, Love holds nothing back as she recalls the exciting events that make up her life…This is the dishy and dramatic story of a woman who had it all, lost it all, but never, ever refused to give up.” Love herself has an executive producer credit on the film, along with Winfrey and filmmaker Morgan Neville.
The movie is set to debut in December.
