Spoilers follow for the first episode of HBO’s Watchmen.
The first episode of HBO’s Watchmen opens with a horrific scene. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921, a race riot rages as white residents attack black residents, murdering many along the way. It’s shocking and painful to watch, and it turns out, it’s also an actual part of United States history, albeit not one that has been given much attention in the decades since.
If you were someone who learned about this horrific chapter of American history for the first time during Sunday’s broadcast, don’t feel alone. Even Watchmen creator, showrunner, and executive producer Damon Lindelof acknowledges that he had never heard of the incident — also known as the Black Wall Street Massacre or the Greenwood Massacre — until a few years ago.
Source: IGN.com Why Watchmen Used That Real Historical Event to Open the Show