Randi Pink's The Angel of Greenwood is a historical YA
novel that takes place during the Greenwood Massacre of 1921, in an
area of Tulsa, OK, known as the "Black Wall Street."…
Seventeen-year-old
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. A passionate follower of W.E.B. Du Bois, he believes
that black people should rise up to claim their place as equals.
Sixteen-year-old
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. Also, as a loyal follower of Booker T.
Washington, she believes, through education and tolerance, that black
people should rise slowly and without forced conflict.
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 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.
