Angel of Greewood: romance set in a tragedy

 

Angel of Greenwood is a historical fiction young adult chapter book written by Randi Pink.  Set 11 days before the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, the story alternates point of view between teenagers, Angel and Isaiah.  On the surface, they couldn't be more different: Angel is there to serve others, she's interested in studying and is always home tending to her ailing father.  Isaiah on the other hand is always out of his house he shares with his mother.  He has many hook-ups and runs around town with the community bully, Muggy.  After Isaiah notices Angel dancing at church, he cannot get her out of his mind.  He invokes the help of their teacher to give them a summer project delivering books to the community so they can have a chance at a relationship.

On the surface this is a romance of two interesting characters, however there is so much more to this story than that.  Pink brings alive the community of Greenwood in detail so that by the end of the story, the characters who remain and are affected by the massacre feel real.  The tension in the story lies in the fact that the attack is coming and each chapter reminds the reader through a countdown.  Another tension is the way Isiah and Muggy's relationship changes.  Readers can relate to when a friend's actions caused anxiety and when one needs to decide to cut ties with them.  The will-they-won't-they romance between Angel and Isaiah is a beautiful unfolding.  Although they debate about the merits of writers, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, they truly listen to one another and come around to understanding the other person.  

I highly recommend this book to 8th graders on up to adults.  The subject of the community in Tulsa is not taught very much in schools so this is an accurate feel for what it was like there, how the residents created this free space to thrive, and how they protected their own interests.  For further reading, Pink includes her sources and notes about the attack.  I am grateful that she set her romance story in this setting because it shows that even in the worst tragedies, the universal theme of love still resonates. 

Here is an excerpt of the novel read by Pink.