Greenwood Rising: The Rise of Black Wall Street

There was a time when we all dared

to dream big,

At the heart of it was a man

named O,W, Gurley,

He was my husband, the love of my

life,

His dream was to build a black Wall

Street, a place of pride and possibility for

African Americans during an era where the laws

made this seem impossible,

As I watched him pour his heart and

soul into Greenwood, I fell in love with

him all over again,

This is our story of Black Wall Street

and how it all began,

Thank you,

Thank you all for being here,

This is just the beginning of something great,

In these difficult times, the African American Negro

faces many obstacles,

And it's easy to feel like our dreams

are out of reach,

But I stand here before you today to

let you know that we will rise above,

Together, we will build a community where dreams

come true,

A place where our children can prosper,

A place where our hard work and determination

will create a future filled with hope and

opportunities because we are the architects of our

destiny,

And here, we will rise together,

Our successes, our triumphs will be a testament

to our strength,

And unity,

Let this be a beacon to all those

who seek a better future,

This is for us, by us,

This is our legacy,

I think he's daydreaming again,

All right, Clyde, all right,

That's enough,

That's enough,

Excellent work, Lila,

You captured the key points of the Reconstruction

Amendments,

Now, let's dig a little deeper,

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery,

That's a big one,

The 14th Amendment is your citizenship and equal

protection,

The 15th Amendment is your voting rights,

Now, what I want you all to remember

is that amendments were more than just changes

to the Constitution,

They represent a new hope for equality and

the promise of a better future,

These amendments here, they laid the groundwork for

the civil rights that we're fighting for today,

right now,

Now, y'all remember something,

Understanding our past gives us the power to

change our future,

Every bit of knowledge you gain, it helps

build a better world,

You guys have the power to make a

difference because you are the future,

All right?

Now, that's all we got for today,

Remember your dreams are the blueprints to the

future,

And the future is built by those who

what?

Never give up,

All right,

Looks like y'all learning something,

All right, y'all,

Class dismissed,

She gonna start no trouble now, Lila,

O'Donnell,

Well, ain't I a dreamer?

You ready to join the real world?

Actually, I just finished class, you know,

Some of us have real jobs to buy

us,

Now, O'Doub, you know I love you,

But you can't keep putting posters on people's

properties,

That's gonna get us in trouble,

See, Tobias, the thing is, Cleveland here is

a reformer, okay?

His policies on land reform can actually help

us secure something for our community,

And you think politicians actually care about us?

Tobias, I gotta believe in something,

Look, Cleveland's policies can help us secure land

that can help us better our future,

If we don't push for change for ourselves,

who's gonna push for us?

O'Doub, O'Doub,

Man, what you dreaming about now?

Man, I know what you daydreaming about,

No, man, come on,

Ain't nobody got time for that, Tobias,

You know how much work we have to

do around here, man?

Ain't nobody got time to be thinking about

no woman,

You know what, O'Doub?

The world's always burning with you, man,

There's always gonna be kids that need educating

books, that need reading in elections, that need

winning,

But let me tell you something,

But if you're lucky, if you're really lucky,

you'll find that one true love,

Love?

Nobody thinking about that,

What's love got to do with it, man?

Besides, a woman that fine, she got to

be married to somebody,

You're probably right,

She's out of your league anyway,

That, I didn't say,

You didn't have to,

I know where you work,

Yeah, a man married to a woman like

that, already screamed it to the top of

his lungs,

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if he put

an ad in the front page of the

Arkansas Gazette,

Hey, Tobias, what time is it?

Oh, it's about 4 p,m, Hey, O'Doub,

ain't there somewhere you're supposed to be?

Yeah, I got to get to the post

office, man,

I can't be late again,

Mr, Porter's gonna kill me,

All right, all right,

Don't let your dreams make you late, O'Doub,

We got to establish a corporate fund,

Let me secure loans,

Come on, come on, Curly,

Focus,

You just got here, you're late,

Stop,

Stop,

Oh,

Oh, my goodness,

Oh, excuse me, ma'am,

I'm so sorry,

Excuse me,

This is yours,

Thank you,

Pardon me, ma'am,

I just, uh, it's you,

Me?

Have we met?

No, uh, we have not,

No, ma'am,

We haven't,

Um, wow,

I feel like, uh, this is one of

those Victorian novels,

Sir, do you think this is the first

moment of the rest of our lives?

No,

No, ma'am, I don't,

I'm just gonna stop talking right now, because

I'm really, uh, don't know what to,,,

I'm sorry,

No, it's, it's fine,

Actually, quite fitting, considering the day I've been

having,

Oh,

Seems like we've made quite the mess,

Yeah, we did,

I'll get all of it,

It's okay,

Um, let's say I usually save my clumsiness

for less public places,

You send a lot of letters?

Yes, I, I write to my family often,

It helps me feel connected,

That's good,

Family's very important,

Definitely,

So, how about you?

What brings you to the post office?

Just the usual,

Trying to make ends meet,

I work here,

Well, I suppose that's admirable,

Not everyone takes pride in their work,

Yeah, some of us appreciate the details,

I envy these letters sometimes,

Why envy the letters?

Because they get to travel to places I

could only dream of,