How can we use maps to reimagine our history? Read “Reimagining History with Heritage Maps” to learn how Explorer Alicia Odewale uses maps to help students visualize and understand life in Oklahoma’s historic all-Black towns one hundred years ago.

Alicia Odewale, an archeologist and National Geographic Explorer, researches the Historic Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a community that was devastated by a racially-motivated massacre in 1921. She uses archives, maps, artifacts, oral histories, and cultural landscapes to explore the lingering impacts of racial violence and the power of community resilience to bring light to this dark history. Dr. Odewale uncovers spaces of Black freedom and resilience within an urban landscape while exploring the twists and turns of her own family origin story. In this Explorer Mapping Case Study, we use one interactive map to examine the spaces of Black freedom that existed in Oklahoma in the early 20th century. Then we use a second map to uncover Sundown Towns, anti-Black spaces that surrounded Black areas. Creating this reimagined heritage map reveals a landscape of terror in Oklahoma and illuminates the spirit of Black resilience that existed across the state in the early 1900s.

Dr. Odewale developed this Explorer Mapping Case Study using the Explorer Mapping Case Study organizer. This tool was created by National Geographic Explorers and educators to organize relevant information about complex maps into an inquiry-based story and series of questions. Maps and stories presented in this format can engage audiences and learners of all ages in map-based inquiry, drawing them into conversations about places and phenomena.

National Geographic invites all Explorers and educators to use the Explorer Mapping Case Study organizer, which is available as an Open Education Resource (OER), to develop case studies based on maps from their own work or educational planning.