This exhilarating novel brings people together in a way that make loving both enjoyable and difficult.

A piercing, unforgettable love story set in Greenwood, Oklahoma, also known as the “Black Wall Street,” and against the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Isaiah Wilson is, on the surface, a town troublemaker, but is hiding that he is an avid reader and secret poet, never leaving home without his journal. Angel Hill is a loner, mostly disregarded by her peers as a goody-goody. Her father is dying, and her family’s financial situation is in turmoil. Though they’ve attended the same schools, Isaiah never noticed Angel as anything but a dorky, Bible toting church girl. Then their English teacher offers them a job on her mobile library, a three-wheel, two-seater bike. Angel can’t turn down the money and Isaiah is soon eager to be in such close quarters with Angel every afternoon. But life changes on May 31, 1921 when a vicious white mob storms the Black community of Greenwood, leaving the town destroyed and thousands of residents displaced. Only then, Isaiah, Angel, and their peers realize who their real enemies are.

In 1921 Tulsa’s Greenwood District, known then as the nation’s “Black Wall Street,” was one of the most prosperous African American communities in the United States. But on May 31 of that year, a white mob, inflamed by rumors that a young Black man had attempted to rape a white teenage girl, invaded Greenwood. By the end of the following day, thousands of homes and businesses lay in ashes, and perhaps as many as three hundred people were dead. Tulsa, 1921 shines new light into the shadows that have long been cast over this extraordinary instance of racial violence. With the clarity and descriptive power of a veteran journalist, author Randy Krehbiel digs deep into the events and their aftermath and investigates decades-old questions about the local culture at the root of what one writer has called a white-led pogrom. Krehbiel analyzes local newspaper accounts in an unprecedented effort to gain insight into the minds of contemporary Tulsans. In the process he considers how the Tulsa World, the Tulsa Tribune, and other publications contributed to the circumstances that led to the disaster and helped solidify enduring white justifications for it. Some historians have dismissed local newspapers as too biased to be of value for an honest account, but by contextualizing their reports, Krehbiel renders Tulsa’s papers an invaluable resource, highlighting the influence of news media on our actions in the present and our memories of the past. The Tulsa Massacre was a result of racial animosity and mistrust within a culture of political and economic corruption. In its wake, Black Tulsans were denied redress and even the right to rebuild on their own property, yet they ultimately prevailed and even prospered despite systemic racism and the rise during the 1920s of the second Ku Klux Klan. As Krehbiel considers the context and consequences of the violence and devastation, he asks, Has the city—indeed, the nation—exorcised the prejudices that led to this tragedy?

Never Again! is a heartbreaking story that brings to life the most heinous atrocity perpetrated by Americans against Americans in US history--the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. On May 31 and June 1, thousands of drunk, armed, and newly deputized white citizens invaded Tulsa's thriving Greenwood District, murdered an estimated three hundred Blacks, tortured thousands more, and incinerated nearly forty square blocks of homes, businesses, churches, and other institutions. Susan E. Atkins' work of historical fiction is also about how this horrific tragedy was condoned by most Tulsa civic leaders and then hidden by them and later generations for many years. Never Again! recounts in vivid detail how a star-crossed, interracial couple sparks the Massacre and its immediate aftermath. Events are told through the eyes of two fictional best friends, soul sisters, and courageous fighters for justice. Born after the Massacre, their timeline extends from late 1921 through 2005, when the two women remain disappointed about the lack of justice for victims of the Massacre and their descendants--an appalling circumstance that has yet to be corrected. All proceeds from the sale of Never Again! will be donated to Greenwood Rising, a state-of-the-art interactive exhibition of life before, after, and since the Massacre in Greenwood, the Black Wall Street History Center, Archer and Greenwood Avenues in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"On the morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob numbering in the thousands marched across the railroad tracks dividing black from white in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and obliterated a black community then celebrated as one of America's most prosperous. Thirty-four square blocks of Tulsa's Greenwood community, known then as the Negro Wall Street of America, were reduced to smoldering rubble. With chilling details, humanity, and the narrative thrust of compelling fiction. The Burning re-creates the town of Greenwood at the height of its prosperity, explores the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between its black residents and Tulsa's neighboring white population, narrates events leading up to and including Greenwood's annihilation, and documents the subsequent silence that surrounded the tragedy that became known as the Tulsa Race Riot."--Back cover

In the heart of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jackson, an army recruit, and Sophie, a determined civilian, find their paths crossing once again after years apart. As they reconnect, their friendship blossoms into a deep and enduring love. Together, they navigate the challenges of military life, personal struggles, and the complexities of their evolving relationship. Amidst the backdrop of Tulsa’s vibrant cityscape, their story unfolds—a tale of love, resilience, and the unbreakable bonds that tie them to each other and their hometown. “Heartland Echoes” is a touching narrative that explores the power of love and the strength of the human spirit.