“Redeem a Nation” Examines Tulsa, Reparations, and America’s Unfinished Quest for Justice

Photo Credit: Damario Solomon-Simmons

As national debates over reparations, racial violence, and institutional accountability intensify, Redeem a Nation: The Century-Long Battle to Restore the Soul of America (Storehouse Voices, hardcover; on sale May 12, 2026) arrives as a timely, deeply reported exploration of what justice looks like when history is acknowledged but never fully repaired.

Written by attorney and activist Damario Solomon-Simmons, the book has already earned praise from New York Times bestselling authors Bryan Stevenson, Resmaa Menakem, and Michael Harriott, as well as civil rights leaders such as Rev. Al Sharpton and Ben Crump.

At the heart of Redeem a Nation is the historic legal case filed on behalf of the last living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, a catastrophic attack on what was once known as Black Wall Street. Solomon-Simmons poses a central question: what does America owe when its systems fail by design? The book’s release coincides with two historical milestones—the 105th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence—underscoring its relevance to today’s national dialogue.

The narrative begins with a visit to a Tulsa front door. Lessie Randle, a child when she fled Greenwood as bullets tore through her community, opens the story. Nearly a century later, Solomon-Simmons knocks on her door to ask whether justice is still possible amid political and legal obstacles.

Through the lens of this ongoing reparations case, the book details how American institutions systematically destroyed Black wealth while shielding themselves from accountability. Greenwood’s stolen land and property were repurposed into highways, universities, and city infrastructure, and the resulting generational poverty was treated as incidental rather than engineered.

Tulsa becomes a case study for a broader national pattern. Solomon-Simmons traces how similar systems of dispossession continue to shape opportunity in cities across the country, linking historical violence to present-day disparities in housing, healthcare, education, and wealth.

Redeem a Nation offers several compelling perspectives for contemporary readers:

• Insight into the history of government-sanctioned violence, showing how Tulsa’s massacre—still unresolved—serves as a warning for today’s communities.

• A behind-the-scenes look at a live reparations case as courts and policymakers confront questions of historical responsibility.

• A reframing of the Tulsa Race Massacre as an unresolved moral and legal crisis rather than a closed chapter.

• An examination of how institutional failure compounds across generations.

• A challenge to American memory, questioning whether acknowledgment without repair constitutes justice.

  
  

Solomon-Simmons also provides a framework for action centered on accountability, strategic planning, investment, and restoration. Complemented by principles of disciplined community organizing, the book presents a practical blueprint for individuals and communities to build coalitions, marshal resources, and pursue long-term stability and progress.

Redeem a Nation is more than a history book—it is a call to action, reminding readers that America’s promise of justice remains unfinished, and that meaningful repair requires both recognition and accountability.