U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt has designated the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park as an official member of the African American Civil Rights Network (AACRN), formally recognizing the historical and national significance of the tragic Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and Dr. John Hope Franklin’s work to advance the African American civil rights movement.

“At the direction of President Trump, it is my honor to designate the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park as the 29th addition to the African American Civil Rights Network,” said Secretary Bernhardt.

“My father, historian John Hope Franklin, Chairman of the National Park Service Advisory Board from 1999-2001, would be pleased that the National Park Service is adding Greenwood’s story to the African American Civil Rights Network,” said Dr. John Hope Franklin’s son, Dr. John W. Franklin.

“Tulsa’s John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park will serve as the first Oklahoma site to join the federal register as an official African American Civil Rights Network (AACRN), joining other historic sites in the country such as the Selma Highway and the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr., which leave a significant and historic legacy in our country’s history,” said Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum.

The John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park features Hope Plaza and the Tower of Reconciliation, memorializing the history of African Americans in Oklahoma, including the lives lost at the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, with the goal of transforming years of racial division into a hopeful future of reconciliation and cooperation for Tulsa and the Nation.