TULSA, Okla — Descendants of a Tulsa Race Massacre survivor built the Greenwood Reflection Garden and officially opened it up to the public Saturday afternoon.
The goal of the Greenwood Reflection Garden is to have a space where Tulsans can unwind, reflect, learn and spark intellectual dialogue.
The space is located on 46th near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard inside the Gibbs Shopping Center.
The shopping center was owned by Ernestine Gibbs, a survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Now her grandchildren own the shopping center and wanted to honor her as well as the other survivor's legacy through this reflection garden.
“To have the Gibbs Shopping Center be revived and restored not just for themselves as a family but for this community, it means a lot to me because it's an uprising," Tracy Gibbs said.
The space features arches, two murals, a banner with history, and QR codes that share survivor's testimony.
“I wanted to have the faces of a few and the testimonies of several so people can really begin to not only see the faces but hear their testimony because a lot of times when we talk about the 1921 race massacre and the survivors we never hear the testimonies outside of the ones living today," Gibbs said.
As for the mural inside the garden, there's more than meets the eye. The message is in the details.
“We made sure that they were hands that showed the years of the labor of love," Gibbs said. "They’re elderly hands. I hope when people see that reflection and see the different things within the mural they will ask themselves about challenge circumstances and situations that they too may face and how do they become more resilient.”
Depicting this labor of love and creating this space to reflect on history and resiliency couldn’t have been done without the help of donations and a large grant from the TYPROS Foundation.
Gibbs hopes people will visit the garden and enjoy the space so it isn't a hidden jewel.
“I wanted to be sure that we honored her and her legacy also not just her but I wanted to honor all of those individuals that told their stories back in 99 and 2000 and 2001," Gibbs said.
The Interim Executive Director for the TYPROS Foundation, David Tollette, said supporting this project meant a lot to them as it fits right into their mission.
“The Greenwood reflection garden fits as a place making space here in Tulsa as you create an environment where a community can come and gather together," Tollette said.
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