First Alert 4 and St. Louis Public Radio Feature Recent SIUE Visit by Oldest Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre
The March 19 visit to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville by Viola Ford Fletcher was featured in a number of reports by KMOV News/First Alert 4 and St. Louis Public Radio’s Andrea Henderson. At 109 years old, “Mother” Fletcher traveled to the campus to continue her testimony documented in the book “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Massacre in Her Own Words." She co-authored the book with her grandson, Ike Howard.
Steve Harris with First Alert 4 captured the crowds who lined up at Dunham Hall Theater to meet and hear the living legend who described the harrowing scenes of death and destruction. The First Alert 4 broadcast report may be found here.
Henderson reported on St. Louis Public Radio that Fletcher “is still traumatized by the terror she faced at the age of seven. She has nightmares of the evening her parents woke her up to flee.” Henderson also interviewed Bryan Jack, PhD, professor of history, who shared that violence against Black people, including the East St. Louis massacre is “a part of the continuum of American history.”
Henderson’s reporting may be found on the St. Louis Public Radio site.
The SIUE program was made possible with support from the College of Arts and Sciences Arts and Issues, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the Department of Theater and Dance and the Lovejoy Library.
PHOTO: Ike Howard, Mother Fletcher and Jana “J.P.” Haynes; Ike Howard, co-author, interviewed by First Alert 4's Steve Harris; photos by Howard Ash