ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Greenwood District of Tulsa, known as Black Wall Street, was one of the most prosperous Black communities in the United States before it was destroyed in 1921. Justice for Greenwood has spent years keeping that history alive and pressing for accountability.
The 120th anniversary gala was a celebration of that resilience. The room held descendants of survivors, the last living survivor, national civil rights figures, and public officials. The event wasn't about marking a tragedy. It was about honoring what the community built, what it survived, and what it continues to fight for.
APPROACH
The research came first.
We looked at the business fronts along Greenwood Avenue as the community rebuilt, at civil rights-era publications, at contemporary artists working in Tulsa today. Understanding Greenwood's visual language had to come before any design decisions.
The monogram solved a practical problem first. With a name as long as Greenwood 120, a GW mark was a natural solution for smaller applications, but the goal was that it feel commemorative, not just functional. Something that could anchor the system with weight.
The Tulsa Star required the most thought. The client asked us to think about trophy design, about what could serve as a true emblem for the moment. We considered several directions, including an image of a woman from a Crisis magazine cover that felt connected to the spirit of the event. We moved away from it deliberately. It placed a familiar and unfair weight on Black women, and it had no direct ties to Tulsa.
The Tulsa Star did. It was a newspaper that existed in Greenwood before the massacre, documented by the people who lived there. Finding it felt significant precisely because so much of that history was destroyed or erased. Whether it was coverage of the massacre or an ad for an apartment, it was evidence of a life, a community, an existence that survived. That felt like the right thing to build an emblem from.
SUMMARY
This was a commission rooted in history, resilience, and repair.
Third Form Creative Studio was tasked with designing the complete visual identity system for the Greenwood 120 Awards Gala in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A ceremony hosted by Justice for Greenwood marking the 120th anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre.
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