From to Tim’s website: In a journalism career spanning more than three decades, Tim has written for the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Politico, Reader’s Digest, and for thirty years the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Tim’s books include the critically acclaimed and best-selling The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, which is the definitive account of America’s worst episode of racial violence. He’s also published a novel of the Greatest Generation, Every Common Sight; and another work of non-fiction, Of the First Class: A History of the Kimbell Art Museum, a behind-the-scenes account of how the world-renowned Fort Worth cultural institution came to be.
It was a 1995 assignment for the Star-Telegram that led to Tim’s interview with Fred Rogers, the icon of children’s television, and a close friendship between the two men that lasted until Rogers’ death in 2003. Tim’s memoir, I’m Proud of You: My Friendship With Fred Rogers is an intimate account of Rogers’ human greatness, and a testament to the healing power of friendship.
That transformative relationship and Tim’s own experiences as a seeking and healing human being remain at the heart of his work. More than a decade after it was first published, I’m Proud of You continues to inspire readers around the globe, and Tim continues to speak of Mister Rogers and matters of the heart to varied audiences around the nation.
His most recent major work is a cover story on the Tulsa Race Massacre for the April 1921 edition of Smithsonian magazine.
The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921
One of the worst acts of racist violence in American history took place in 1921 when a white mob numbering in the thousands decimated the thriving Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Burning recreates Greenwood at the height of its prosperity, explores the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between its Black residents and Tulsa’s White population, narrates events leading up to and including Greenwood’s devastation, and documents the subsequent silence that surrounded this tragedy. Delving into history that’s long been pushed aside, this is the true story of Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre, with updates that connect the historical significance of the massacre to the ongoing struggle for racial justice in America.