The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre destroyed an area known as “Black Wall Street,” but its effects were felt more widely than in just Oklahoma. In this episode of EconoFact Chats, Lisa D. Cook of Michigan State University joins Michael Klein to discuss her original research on how the Tulsa Massacre raised questions among African Americans about their equal protection under the law and, as a consequence, how this led to a nationwide falloff in patents awarded to Black inventors.  This represented a loss to these inventors, of course, but also to the economy as a whole.

New York Times economics reporter Eduardo Porter speaks with EconoFact’s Michael Klein about his book ‘American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise.’