‘Surviving R. Kelly’ Producer Dream Hampton to Direct Tulsa Race Massacre Docuseries

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Dream Hampton, the showrunner and executive producer behind Lifetime’s docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, is set to direct Cineflix’s Black Wall Street. As announced by Cineflix, Hampton will also serve as an executive producer on the project, which will depict the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. The docuseries will put a focus on Tulsa mayor G.T. Bynum’s push to find the mass graves of the over 300 black Americans who were killed by white mobs nearly a century ago.

“After 99 years of silence, Black Wall Street needs to be told, and there’s no one better than Dream Hampton to bring it to life,” said J.C. Mills, Cineflix Productions’ president. “Driven by social justice, her sensitive yet hard-hitting approach will honor the fallen and help heal a wound by shining a light on a story that’s been brushed under the rug for far too long. If the recent tragic stories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery have shown us anything, it’s that there’s still much work to be done.”

Hampton, who received an Emmy nomination for her work on Surviving R. Kelly, added, “Black people from Tulsa have refused to let the Greenwood District Massacre be erased from history.” Notably, HBO’s Watchmen gave a huge boost of awareness to the dark moment in history last year, depicting it in the opening scene of the first episode of the series. “As the centennial approaches, they are still searching for a mass grave they believe contains the bodies of the victims of the Black Wall Street Massacre, and they are still demanding reparations,” she continued. “I’m inspired to learn this history from them, and to tell their ongoing story.”

Cineflix has yet to announce when the series is expected to premiere.

—COMPLEX