Tulsa - Black Wall Street

In September 2021, No Tears Project Ensemble went to Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a performance at historic Vernon AME Church on what was Black Wall Street, presented in partnership with Woody Guthrie Center and Fayetteville Roots Festival.  Vernon AME Church was under construction and burned to its basement during the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, but later rebuilt and thriving by the 1930s and 1940s. 

Special guests for this Tulsa performance included Tulsa resident singer-songwriter John Fullbright, playing a newly restored Hammond C-3 organ, originally purchased and installed in Vernon AME Church in the 1940s. Additionally, guitarist Bryan Hembree and singer Bernice Hembree joined the No Tears Ensemble for an encore.