NPR Tulsa 100 Years Later
NPR | Tulsa, 100 Years Later — Case Study
Client: NPR / Code Switch
Project: Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Documentary Photography
Year: 2021 Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Overview: CreeseWorks was commissioned by NPR's Code Switch podcast to document Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood on the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — one of the deadliest acts of racial violence in American history, in which over 300 Black residents were killed and thousands left homeless.
The Work: Photography by Christopher Creese appeared throughout NPR's multimedia editorial coverage, published May 25–26, 2021. Images captured the tension between Tulsa's historic Greenwood district and its rapid new development, documenting key community figures including local business owners, historians, and descendants of massacre survivors. Credited as "Christopher Creese for NPR," the photographs anchored a narrative exploring who benefits from Greenwood's revitalization — and who gets left behind.
Impact: The story was part of NPR's broader Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial series, one of the most significant editorial moments of 2021. CreeseWorks' images gave visual weight to a national reckoning with racial history, community displacement, and the politics of memory.
NPR Tulsa 100 Years Later
NPR Tulsa 100 Years Later
NPR Tulsa 100 Years Later
NPR Tulsa 100 Years Later
NPR Tulsa 100 Years Later