Reviews

Don't Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words by Ike Howard, Viola Ford Fletcher

cdjdhj's review against another edition

5.0

Viola Ford Fletcher was just seven years old when the Greenwood area of Tulsa, Oklahoma was burned to the ground and many of its black residents murdered in cold blood. Now known as the Tulsa Race Massacre, this horrible event destroyed the vibrant town that was known as the "Black Wall Street" and left many of its residents dead or displaced. The massacre became buried history for almost 100 years, and many people never heard of it. Personally, I lived part of my childhood in a town in Oklahoma less than 100 miles from Tulsa and neither me or my parents were aware of this stain on Oklahoma history, that, when I lived there, was only 40 years in the past. In this book, Viola Ford Fletcher, 109 when the book was published, recounts the horrifying events of the night in 1921 when her childhood hometown was burned and its residents, including some of Fletcher's playmates, were killed because of their skin color. Although Fletcher was not a professional writer, her first person descriptive account of what happened was horrifying. She tells not only of that night, but what happened after, as a result of the violent, destructive racism. She recounts the lifelong traumatic impact on her and her family. In 2021, she, her last living brother and one other woman were called to testify about the Tulsa Race Massacre before Congress. Finally, she was able to tell her story to the world, and the world listened. In July of 2023, she published her memoir, which is definitely worth reading. I read an electronic version of this book on the Kindle app on my phone. The book should be read by every American so that everyone can know of the horrors or racism and white supremacy. I gave the gook 5/5 stars on Goodreads and highly recommend it.

lochlyn's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Ms. Viola Ford Fletcher's story is so important to hear and keep alive, especially since Congress is essentially waiting for her and Ms. Randall to die so that the "issue" will just "go away". Even after the final survivors leave this earth, the generational trauma, lack of community and opportunities, and everything else the black community lost, will continue to be present. Until the Massacre is fully acknowledged and reparations made, descendants of survivors and the black community as a whole will never have a chance to begin a true process of healing.


I feel that the editors/publishing company did her such a disservice. The book was riddled with errors including punctuation and spelling (I want to clarify that I am not referring to AAVE, but errors such as "rea" instead of "real"). Each one took me out of her words and her world. It really felt like they dropped the ball and didn't give her the best possible support for her story.

literaryk's review against another edition

challenging inspiring fast-paced

4.0

Mother Fletcher's story is a tragic and unfair one, but her voice of resilience and hope is a reminder of what we are capable of. As infuriating as it is to know there is STILL no justice in regards to the Tulsa Race Massacre, having her story acknowledged and printed is a ray of hope that justice will arrive one day.

christinastar_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

A book everyone should read. Some reviewers mentioned they had trouble reading the book and yes while those are there, don't let them distract you from Viola's story, Tulsa's history, America's history and its current story still.

ashpaige's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

libkatem's review against another edition

challenging dark informative fast-paced

3.5

nic_hole42's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

5.0

emigrimm's review against another edition

informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

djwfyi's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

readingunderadesk's review against another edition

2.75

This one is a tough one ratings-wise because it was.... not great? If you're looking for a historical, biographical accounting of the Tulsa Massacre, this is only it... for a few pages. The more interesting parts -- both the prosperity of Black Wall Street and her family's unfortunately privileged escape (unfortunately because they had to have that privilege in order to get out when so many others did not, rather, this should never have happened in the first place!!) and also the effects of living through something so unspeakably traumatic had on the lives of her family, their early deaths from alcoholism or heart issues and the toll trauma can take on a body even so many years, and even generations, later. Besides that, it was more or less a normal woman living through the 1900s-early 2000s, trying to get by.

But a lot of the book also read like advertisements: for her lawyer, for the company that worked to get the book published (and then HAD it published.... rife with spelling and formatting errors..), to the movement that got her a trip to Africa where she had a lovely welcome by the people and government of Ghana, saying that "all Black people should go visit Africa" in a way that sort of rubbed me the wrong way, like 'what are you doing if you don't do this' oh I don't know, maybe not having the immense fortune to have a trip funded and given to her as so many are still living with the effects of redlining and so many other racially motivated rules? 

My book club also discussed how this didn't feel like an oral history, or something written by someone 108 years old, and while the cover credits her grandson for helping.... mm... I don't know. I would love to hear her talk in her own words about her own story I'm sure more than I enjoyed this. I think really the editing and how it was put together was the real problem though.