Lebron James’ SpringHill Company – an entertainment media business – and CNN Films are working together to produce Dreamland: The Rise and Fall of Black Wallstreet. The feature length film is a documentary highlighting the tragic massacre of hundreds of African-Americans in Tulsa, OK., leaving a prosperous black metropolis of bankers, businesses, and lawyers in ashes from May to June of 1921.
SpringHill will be offering some of their most talented players to the film – Salima Koroma (Bad Rep) is directing and producing with James and Carter, Jamal Henderson, and Phillip Byron executive producing on behalf of the company. From CNN, Amy Entelis and Courtney Sexton will be executive producing as well. CNN will be the films distributor throughout North America and HBO Max has secured all streaming rights.
The story behind Dreamland is one familiar to many in the African-American community, however, due to historical erasure, is not well known otherwise. SpringHill’s Chief Content Officer, Jamal Henderson, told Variety, “At SpringHill, we embody empowerment and focus on shining a light on stories that are the fabric of American history… We cannot move forward until we acknowledge our past and this is about honoring a prosperous, booming Black community, one of many, that was brought to an end because of hate. With the lack of historic journalism around ‘Black Wall Street’ and the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, we are honored to be partnered with CNN, which has a long-standing record of credible and groundbreaking journalism. We are bringing this documentary together with a diverse crew, including local Tulsans, and making it our mission to uplift voices and people while creating impactful content.”
The events documented in the film will recount what transpired after a 17 year old white woman accused a 19 year-old black man of inappropriate behavior in an elevator. This led to a white mob attempting to lynch the young man, resulting in a group of World War I veterans admonishing their actions. In the final rebuttal, the successful black owned and operated community known as Black Wall Street was ravaged leaving hundreds of the community’s members slaughtered.
Dreamland will be piecing together a surviving documentation of archival media, contemporary interviews, and letters and diary entries to be narrated. The film will shed some light on the century long search for evidence of what happened in the summer of 1921. The film is currently in production and is expected to be completed in early 2021.
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