Dick Rowland collapses into the back room of his Aunt Damie's boarding house. He has just sprinted from the Drexler building in downtown Tulsa. Having escaped immediate danger, anxious ruminations about his current predicament start to take hold. He was just discovered alone in an elevator with a white woman named Sarah Page whose scream upon discovery acted as his death knell.

Having heard the commotion in her back room, Damie Rowland enters to find her adopted son writhing in deep emotional distress. She brings him back down to earth from the clouds of anxiety and coaxes a confession from him. After Dick recounts the events from the Drexler building, Damie can't help but be filled with the same anxiety that has plagued her son.

A year prior in Tulsa, a Ku Klux Klan lynch mob lynched a white man named Roy Belton because they thought that the law was taking too long to enact "justice." Damie feels deep powerlessness in her ability to protect Dick from the same fate. 

The only thing she can think to do is to reprise a lullaby from an earlier time when Dick Rowland wasn't Dick Rowland but was Jimmie Jones; a skinny orphan boy from Vinita, OK, who wandered into Damie's store several years ago with wide eyes and an empty belly. 

Personnel: 

Dick Rowland, tenor

Damie Rowland, soprano

Loula Williams takes a rare breather to bask in the miracle of "Black Wall Street." Her husband, John Williams, enters their confectionary and witnesses his typically industrious wife in a state of repose. Upon being discovered she gets right back to work! It is Monday, May 31, 1921, the Greenwood Promenade is on Thursday and there was much to be done before then if the Williams are to provide entertainment and leisure for the hardworking people of Greenwood!

Loula and John are joined by O.W. Gurley, the first negro businessman in Greenwood, and the grizzled war veteran, O.B. Mann. Amid the impromptu meeting of the Greenwood Gentry, a dejected Dick Rowland shows up. Sensing that Dick was not himself, the Gentry elders encourage him to come out of his temporarily introverted state and become the confident, smooth-talking, woman-loving, self they all knew and loved. 

Just as Dick is back to his old self, Sheriff Willard McCullough arrives with 2 police officers. To everyone's surprise, they are here to arrest Dick for assaulting a white woman in an elevator the day before. After watching Dick being whisked away by the police, the Gentry starts contemplating the aftermath of this revelation. Everyone's mind is on the lynching of Roy Belton the year prior and the "Red Summer" of 1919 and are unsure of what their position truly is let alone what moves to play next.  

Personnel: 

Loula Williams, mezzo soprano

John Williams, actor

O.W. Gurley, tenor

O.B. Mann, baritone

Sheriff McCullough, tenor

Greenwood Gentry, SATB choir

Richard Lloyd Jones and Amy Comstock are hard at work in the former's office. The deadline for the afternoon edition of the Tulsa Tribune is fast approaching. The pressure from creditors and political enemies is starting to get to him. 

With no leads on a story that will move the needle, RLJ calls his contact at the downtown Tulsa courthouse and learns of the arrest of Dick Rowland for assaulting a white woman in an elevator. The Tulsa World wasn't putting much weight behind the story and the police were not seriously investigating the matter as the two parties were known to rendezvous from time to time. Richard saw an opportunity to sell some more papers and to cozy up to the rising power structure that was the Klan. 

Richard Lloyd-Jones exerts this "power" by dictating the article that all but leads to the Tulsa Race Massacre. He may not be as pious or win as many souls to the Lord as his father but he can activate multitudes of men with hatred and curry favor with the new iteration of the Ku Klux Klan; a civilian vigilante social group that is gaining more power with each passing day. 

Personnel: 

Richard Lloyd Jones, baritone

Amy Comstock, mezzo soprano

It is the Afternoon in downtown Tulsa when the newsies arrive with the afternoon edition of the Tulsa Tribune. The good people of Tulsa are confronted with the headline of the editorial "Nab negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator." 

Emotions are high as their sense of safety is put into question but it doesn't take long for the dominant feeling of anger to settle in. Just as the dull hum of the populace escalates to a disquieted outrage three Kleagles, recruiters for the Ku, Klux, Klan, enter the town square to restore order. 

Using their experience with the "negro question" dating back to the summer of 1919 and even last year in town, they let the people know that their outrage and pain were justified. Maybe it was wishful thinking to integrate fully with the negro in this country and maybe it is time for the good people of Tulsa to do soothing to protect their women and to ensure a future for their children. With the angry fire concentrated they make their way to the downtown courthouse where the criminal in question was housed looking for justice. 

Personnel: 

3 Kleagles, soprano, tenor, bass-baritone

Tulsa Choir, SATB choir

In a panic, the Greenwood Gentry congregates at the Williams confectionary. Their worst dreams have come true. Since the publishing of the Tulsa Tribune, an angry mob of white men has formed outside of the downtown courthouse demanding Dick Rowland. Like the Tulsa World and the police, they don't take the accusations against Dick Rowland seriously.  

Attempting to act as the voice of reason, O.W. Gurley takes a cost-benefit analysis of the situation. If they hand over the bow and disavow his behavior their community gets to continue to make money and thrive. If they resist, they risk the backlash from the Klan mob the likes of haven't been seen since the Red Summer. 

O.B. Mann rebuts the notion of appeasing the crowd and passionately argues that this is more than business.  Recounting the stories of his treatment by his countrymen overseas, Mann argues that the people of Greenwood needed to stand up to this show of power. This would only be the beginning of any trouble as the Klan has been ramping up violence for years. 

After a hotly contested debate, the men of Greenwood ultimately decide to arm themselves and offer their protective services to Sheriff McCullough to protect Dick Rowland from the unruly mob. 

Personnel: 

O.W. Gurley, tenor

O.B. Mann, baritone

Loula WIlliams, mezzo soprano

Damie Rowland, soprano

Greenwood Gentry, SATB choir

An angry mob is outside of the Tulsa courthouse. The 3 Kleagles emerge from the crowd and approach the front doors where Sheriff McCullough stands. Their request is simple, "hand over the boy." McCullough denies their request and in return, the 3 headed monster turns back to the crowd and turns up the temperature of their anger. 

In response, Sheriff McCullough takes Dick Rowland up to the top level of the courthouse and disables the elevator. Confused, Dick Rowland asks the sheriff why he didn't just hand him over to the mob. After all, he was a white man and he didn't gain anything from keeping him alive. 

McCullough recounts the heartwrenching tale of the time he presided over the lynching of an innocent black boy. From that day on, he decided to ensure that no one circumvented the rule of law to pervert the judicial process.

Personnel: 

3 Kleagles, soprano, tenor, bass-baritone

Sheriff Willard McCullough, tenor

Dick Rowland, tenor

Tensions are at an all-time high. Outside the courthouse, the men of Greenwood arrive in arms and offer their services to Sheriff McCullough. To deescalate the situation McCullough declines their services. 

As the men of Greenwood turn around to go to their side of town, an elderly white man confronts O.B. Mann and attempts to disarm him. An intense struggle ensues between the two men. Suddenly, a gunshot goes off, and then things fall apart.

Personnel: 

Company

It is December 1921 six months after the burning of Greenwood. Dick Rowland was acquitted of the assault charges as Sarah Page chose not to testify against him in court. With contacts from Deputy Barney Cleaver, Dick skips town and train hops from town to town. He cannot stay in any one place for an extended time as the local community even;tually gets wind of his ties to the burning of “Black Wall Street” and runs him out of town. 

Back in Tulsa, the survivors of the burning are given tents to occupy the plots of land that once contained their homes. Here, we find Damie Rowland winding down for the evening with a prayer in a tent where her boarding house, her economic dream and legacy, once stood.

There is a faint knock on her tent. To Damie's surprise, it is Dick Rowland who has just snuck into town to say one last goodbye to his adoptive mother. Awkward pleasantries are exchanged until emotions bubble over. After the conversation dials down and knowing that Dick can't stay in Tulsa and Damie can't leave and mother him forever, the two say goodbye and part ways, never to see each other again. 

Personnel: 

Damie Rowland, soprano

Dick Rowland, tenor