Eagle Staff Report
Los Angeles, Cali. – LeBron James’ entertainment company, Springhill Productions, is funding a filmmaker’s documentary on Tulsa’s Greenwood District and the 1921 race massacre.
Salima Koroma, who made her directorial debut in “Bad Rap” a 2016 documentary about four Asian-American rappers, told The Oklahoma Eagle she pitched her documentary to Springhill in April. Springhill recently produced the Netflix series on Madame C.J. Walker and has 18 other television shows in productions and completed two feature films.
Koroma said she actually pitched the project a few years ago to production companies, only to be told that some people “weren’t ready for it.”
“The Tulsa Race Massacre is not just a black story but American history,” Koroma posted Twitter. “The fabric of this country is soaked in racism and today 99 years later, we’re still fighting for change. That’s why I’m partnering with @SpringHillEnt to tell the story of Black Wall Street.”
James and Springhill, where Maverick Carter serves as CEO, both congratulated Koroma on Twitter. “We knew we had to empower her to tell that story,” the company said, using the #BlackLives Matter hashtag. Added James, “Absolutely Empower (Salima Koroma)!”
Koroma said she will “collect and help show the stories of the people of Greenwood in a way that hasn’t been done before.”
She is the fourth filmmaker this year to produce a documentary on the Greenwood District. Two other filmmakers are in pre-production, and a fourth is a local company working on a historical feature. All filmmakers plan to air their documentaries as Greenwood marks the 100th occasion of the massacre in May and June 2021.
Koroma’s previous works includes film projects for Time magazine on the Michael Brown murder in Ferguson, Missouri; and for The Atlantic magazine, including “How Black Americans were robbed of their land,” and “The Black Travel Movement.”
