May 24 (UPI) — MTV and Bassett Vance Productions announced development on a limited series about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 on Monday. Playwright Nathan Alan Davis will write the series.
Bassett Vance Productions is the production company of husband and wife actors Courtney B. Vance and Angela Bassett. Bassett Vance has an overall deal with MTV Entertainment Studios since 2020.
This is the first project in that deal. Bassett and Vance will executive produce the series.
The series will tell the story of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Okla. which was referred to as “The Black Wall Street.” On May 31, 1921, White mobs destroyed 1,000 homes, businesses, churches and schools leaving 300 dead and 10,000 homeless.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held hearings this month on the 100th anniversary of the attacks. The massacre was recently depicted at the beginning of HBO’s Watchmen series.
“Although the series will revisit the Black pain and tragedy that took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, it will also importantly introduce to many the stories of the extraordinary, entrepreneurial people who built Black Wall Street and all that this community accomplished,” Vance said in a statement.
