John Legend Teams Up with WGN Again to Produce ‘Black Wall Street’ Series
John Legend's Get Lifted Film Co. is teaming up with WGN once more, this time to produce a new project with actress Tika Sumpter called, Black Wall Street.
Legend also produces the network's breakout, critically-acclaimed hit series, Underground starring Jurnee Smollette-Bell and Straight Outta Compton's Alris Hodge. Sumpter will team with Legend as executive producer of the project, which focuses on the oil boom of the late 1910s in Tulsa, Oklahoma, specifically the prosperous Greenwood neighborhood which later became known as "Black Wall Street." The series will explore the group of black people that lived in the area and made it successful, leading up to the infamous destruction of the neighborhood in 1921 by racist white attackers. The Tulsa Race Riot was one of the largest mass killings in the history of the U.S., though the story was largely covered up.
“We’re so excited to continue to grow our relationship with WGN America,” Get Lifted’s Mike Jackson told Deadline yesterday (Aug. 22). “Our experience working with them on Underground has been fantastic. Additionally we’re looking forward to working with our friend Tika Sumpter to help tell this incredible story that many people know nothing about.”
It's still in the early stages of production, but if it's picked up as a series, Black Wall Street could debut on WGN in 2018.