The 1921 Tulsa race massacre: the worst single incident of racial violence in US history A century ago, Americas simmering racial tensions boiled over on the streets of one Oklahoma city, leaving dozens dead and hundreds more injured. As the situation began to escalate, a second group of 75 veterans headed to the courthouse. The armory contained a supply of small arms and ammunition. Greenwood became so prosperous that it came to be known as "the Negro Wall Street" (now commonly referred to as "the Black Wall Street"). Several groups were deployed downtown to set up guard at the courthouse, police station, and other public facilities. [105] Eleven of them had come from outside of Oklahoma, and possibly as many as half were petroleum industry workers. Abreu says the Chili Bowl had a great safety crew which was on sight right away. This ensured any souvenir postcards would not be recreated. Smoke billowed over Tulsa, Okla., after a white mob massacred hundreds of black people and laid siege to a prosperous black business district in 1921. The Bloomberg Philanthropies gave Tulsa $1 million for an expansive public art project called the Greenwood Art Project. I had a bright future., Then, she said, came the rampage, still vivid in her mind 100 years later: I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. Meanwhile, white rioters threw lighted oil rags into several buildings along Archer Street, igniting them. Fairchild also debunked the persistent myth that Rowland and Page were romantically involved, said Ellsworth. [49] The Tulsa Race Riot Commission in 1997 offered a reward for a copy of the editorial, which went unclaimed. Planes circling in midair: They grew in number and hummed, darted, and dipped low. Beck's father stayed behind to help as much as possible and to assist injured people. In spite of the commission's recommendation for reparations in their report on the riot, the Oklahoma state legislature did not agree that reparations were appropriate and thus did not include them in the reconciliation act. Fire was a primary weapon of the Tulsa Massacre. The book was recently re-released. . As city streets throbbed with protests (and what some might call uprisings) during the summer of 2020, two science fiction dramas recalled the massacre of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which took place 100 years ago this spring. McCullough said "I did not" and a negro said you did tell us to come. What Happened Before The Tulsa Race Massacre. Most of the promised funding was never raised for the black residents, and they struggled to rebuild after the violence. She earned her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Rochester. There, he encountered Sarah Page, the 17-year-old white elevator operator who was on duty. The white mob blocked firefighters while 1,256 homes were destroyed and another 400 were looted. As stated by Kary Stackelbeck, a state archaeologist, the remains will not be moved until they can be properly exhumed because their deterioration needs to be prevented. Newspapers nationwide reported the massacre, reporting the growing number of people killed. They offered their support to the sheriff, who declined their help. Hooker also remembered vividly her schoolhouse being destroyed and blown up with dynamite. On May 31, 1921, McCondichie was nine years old. The massacre beginning on May 31, 1921 was sparked after a 19-year-old Black man allegedly offended a 17-year-old white female elevator attendant and the story became drummed up in local newspaper reports. I had everything a child could need. While some white Tulsans initially boasted of their role in the violence some sold postcards depicting the destruction everything soon disappeared as Tulsa officials realized the potential harm to the citys reputation. Another quarter-century passed before the breaking point: In 1995, when journalists flooded in to cover the terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Mr. Ross managed to get the attention of national outlets, Dr. Ellsworth said. He is author of, State and Jurisdictional Humanities Councils, HUMANITIES: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, SUBSCRIBE FOR HUMANITIES MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION, Sign up for HUMANITIES Magazine newsletter, Chronicling America: History American Newspapers. I still see Black businesses being burned. TULSA, Okla. A driver racing in the Chili Bowl Nationals is in the hospital after a crash Wednesday night. Over the course of three days, dead bodies were stacked up on trucks and railroad cars and buried in secret around the city by white aggressors. The most widely reported and corroborated inciting incident occurred as the group of black men left, when an elderly white man approached O. Between1865 and 1920, African Americans founded dozens of Black townships and settlements in the region. Fans saw Ashton Torgersons automobile flip many times during the accident. Many of her family's belongings were destroyed. The sites were examined, and no evidence of ground disturbance indicative of mass graves was found. His memoir My Life and An Era includes his first hand account of the massacre and the growing tensions in Tulsa in the years leading up to World War II. But many Black Tulsans did try to preserve the stories of what happened and the memories of those killed. When he heard of the Glenn Pool oil strike, Gurley saw opportunity and moved to Tulsa in 1906. The temporary indoor What to Know About the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/tulsa-greenwood-massacre.html. Every Negro was afforded the same treatment, regardless of his education or advantages. TULSA, Okla. A driver racing in the Chili Bowl Nationals is in the hospital after a crash Wednesday night. There is not a chance in the world to get through that mob into the negro district. Many of those smaller dwellings housed cooks, maids, chauffeurs and others who worked for white Tulsans. One particularly disturbing case involved the frequent rape, by her father, of an 11-year-old girl who had since become pregnant. The two women, however, encountered pressure, particularly among whites, to keep silent. [171] A promising spot in Washington Cemetery had turned out to be a layer of clay, and another promising spot in Newblock Park had turned out to be an old basement. This article is available for unedited republication, free of charge, using the following credit: Originally published as The 1921 Tulsa Massacre: What Happened to Black Wall Streetin the Winter 2021issue ofHumanitiesmagazine, a publication of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Please notify us atpublications@neh.govif you are republishing it or have any questions. According to some witnesses, the same edition of the Tribune included an editorial warning of a potential lynching of Rowland, titled "To Lynch Negro Tonight. So the white owner of the shoe shine parlor arranged for his shoe shiners to walk down the block to the Drexel building and to ride the elevator to the top floor where there was a colored restroom, said Ellsworth. This online exhibit offers many photos, audio recordings, documents, and resources that cannot be found anywhere else. There is not going to be a lynching, said Ellsworth, adding it is unlikely that any of the veterans actually knew Rowland. The next day, the same paper reported the count as nine white people and 21 black people. Her father owned a store in Tulsa which she recalled was absolutely destroyed and only one safe was left standing. The one thing that still happens is people say, Why haven't I heard about this before? noted Ellsworth, whose 1982 book Death in a Promised Land is considered a groundbreaking work on the massacre. A portrait of lawyer Buck Colbert Franklin, taken some years before he moved to Tulsa, where he opened a practice shortly before the 1921 massacre. The 10-page typewritten letter was authored by Buck Colbert Franklin, noted Oklahoma attorney and father of John Hope Franklin.[81][86]. She moved to Tulsa around 1919 and worked teaching typing and shorthand at a branch of the YMCA. "[197], On May 19, 2021, a 107-year old survivor, Viola Fletcher, her 100-year-old brother, Hughes Vann Ellis, and a 106-year old survivor, Lessie Benningfield Randle, testified about their experiences during the massacre and their reparations lawsuit before a House Judiciary subcommittee. According to an account by Scott Ellsworth, the sheriff was "hooted down". [36][38][39] By 1921, at least 31 people, mostly men and boys, had been lynched in the newly formed state; 26 were black. He became a musician, owner of a Tulsa nightclub, and the first black man in Tulsa to sell Coca-Cola. Beck recalls having to live in a tent on the dirt waiting for their house to be rebuilt. [122] The Black Dispatch describes the content of the following meeting at the First Baptist Church. Even afterward, few Black families had a chance to organize a funeral or mourn their dead. In The Black Oklahomans, Arthur B. Tolson shows that Africans, both Moors and Angolans, free and enslaved, accompanied Coronados expedition, which crossed the Oklahoma panhandle in 1541. [165], Vernice Simms was seventeen years old when the Massacre took place. Meanwhile, his troops paused to eat breakfast. Just this month, Tulsans pressured their mayor, G. T. Bynum, to end the citys contract with the now-defunct television show Live PD; the Tulsa police announced an inquiry into the arrest of a Black teenager who was accused of jaywalking and forced to the ground; and a police officer said in a radio interview that officers were shooting African-Americans about 24 percent less than we probably ought to be, based on the crimes being committed.. . Some still unidentified men in khakis, who come up frequently in the testimony, looked down and asked, Are you Dr. Jackson? Learning it was, indeed, Dr. Jackson on the ground, one of them said, Oh shit, those boys have done it now!. [185] Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor held a "celebration of conscience" at which she apologized to survivors and gave medals to those who could be located.[183]. [71] Mary E. Jones Parrish, a survivor of the massacre, gave only praise for the National Guard. The fighting was concentrated along sections of the Frisco tracks, a dividing line between the black and white commercial districts. [156], Mary Elizabeth Jones Parrish (18921972) was born in 1892 in Yazoo City, Mississippi. Also in August 1920, in Oklahoma City, an eighteen-year-old Black youth, Claude Chandler, was lynched by a mob that featured the future mayor of Oklahoma City, O. A Negro was a Negro on that day and was forced to march with his hands up for blocks. Many servicemen returned to Tulsa following the end of the First World War in 1918, and as they tried to re-enter the labor force, social tensions and white supremacist sentiment increased in cities where job competition was fierce. Parrish hoped that her book would "open the eyes of the thinking people to the impending danger of letting such conditions exist and in the 'Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.' [64] According to the Oklahoma Historical Society some in the mob were deputized by police and instructed to "get a gun and get a nigger". Her mother was trying to get her and her siblings to Golden Gate Park. See photos of Tulsa, before and after the 1921 attack here. WATCH: The full episode of Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre online now. Some witnesses later recounted hearing several attorneys defend Rowland in their conversations with one another. Now that Tulsa has scratched its way into popular culture, it stands as a symbol of Black tragedy and also of resurrection and resilience. I was under the impression that a man with authority could have stopped and disarmed them. [failed verification] The Guthrie Daily Leader reported that Rowland had been taken to the county jail before crowds started to gather. Take me. Dont shoot him! [116], Many black families spent the winter of 19211922 in tents as they worked to rebuild. DuBois had already warned the Black veterans of World War I, in the May 1919 issue of the Crisis, that they would be cowards and jackasses if now that the war is over, we do not marshal every ounce of our brain and brawn to fight a sterner, longer, more unbending battle against the forces of hell in our own land.. [104] C. Snow was able to confirm 39 casualties, all listed as male although four were unidentifiable; 26 were black and 13 were white. I paused and waited for an opportune time to escape. In 2001, the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 released a comprehensive report and in 2015 the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission was created in order to appropriately memorialize the 100th anniversary of the event, which is ongoing this year. The first grocery store since the 1940s or 1950s is just now under construction in North Tulsa! The Black residents of Greenwood did not passively endure the onslaught. Charles Page offered to build him a new home. As many as 300 people were killed in 1921 when a white mob attacked the Greenwood district of Tulsa, a thriving Black community, and burned it to the ground. [7], By June 6, the Associated Press reported that a citizens' Public Safety Committee had been established, made up of 250 white men who vowed to protect the city and put down any more disturbance. Older, more prosperous men feared a destructive confrontation that likely would cost them dearly. She recalls Booker T. Washington High School being turned into a hospital for the wounded. She has memories of feelings of intense fear while trying to evacuate her home and get somewhere safe with her family. [137] A 2017 report detailing the history of the Tulsa Fire Department from 1897 until the date of publication makes no mention of the 1921 massacre. The Red Cross reported that 1,256 houses were burned and another 215 were looted but not burned. Singer was 18 months old when the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 took place. [127], Chief of Police John A. Gustafson was the subject of an investigation. Scott Ellsworth explores the 1921 Tulsa race massacre Published: May 31, 2021 at 8:58 am Splitting into small groups, they began breaking into houses and buildings, looting. [142], In 1971, a small group of survivors gathered for a memorial service at Mount Zion Baptist Church with black and white people in attendance. Exactly 100 years ago Tulsa, Oklahoma, saw one of the biggest race massacres in American history. Multiple eyewitness reports and "oral histories" suggested the graves could have been dug at three different cemeteries across the city. Many fans are happy to hear after the loud arena turned silent Wednesday night. It occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma, beginning on May 31, 1921, and lasting for two days. Lansana, who has also authored a childrens book, Thabiti Lewis is professor of English and associate vice chancellor of academic affairs at Washington State University. . [40], On May 30, 1921, 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a black shoeshiner who was employed at a Main Street shine parlor, entered the only elevator in the nearby Drexel Building at 319 South Main Street in order to use the top-floor "colored" restroom, which his employer had arranged for use by his black employees. Thabiti Lewis is professor of English and associate vice chancellor of academic affairs at Washington State University. The park was dedicated in 2010. Mary E. Jones Parrish, a young black teacher and journalist from Rochester, New York, was hired by the Inter-racial Commission to write an account of the riot. [24] Law enforcement officials later said that the planes were to provide reconnaissance and protect against a "Negro uprising". Zion Baptist Churchs bell tower until the church was engulfed in flames. In September 1921, the charges against Dick Rowland were dropped, according to records. [154], George Monroe was five years old during the attack on the Greenwood district. They didn't care. Simms remembers vividly being in her backyard when bullets started raining down and everyone was cautioned to get into the house as quickly as possible. Another postcard showed the burning of an unidentified Black man in Durant, and was captioned Coon Cooking. In 1917, 17 white members of the International Workers of the World were flogged, tarred, feathered, and turned loose on the prairie by Knights of Liberty dressed in black robes and masks. . McCondichie described how "airplanes were raining down bullets," and how no one had enough time to even put clothes on and evacuate their homes. Hughes addressed the white reconstruction committee members in opposition to their proposition, coining a slogan that would come to galvanize the community, "I'm going to hold what I have until I get What I've lost. Direct payment of reparations to survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race riot; Direct payment of reparations to descendants of the survivors of the Tulsa race riot; A scholarship fund available to students affected by the Tulsa race riot; Establishment of an economic development enterprise zone in the historic area of the Greenwood district; and. So whether it was a part failure, you know I guess anything at this point would be speculation, but we will find out. So this was something all of them would probably do once a day., Ellsworth recalled interviewing massacre survivor Robert Fairchild, who worked alongside Rowland as a shoe shiner, in 1978. Others suggested that Rowland and Page had a lover's quarrel. [143] That same year, the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce decided to commemorate the riot, but when they read the accounts and saw photos gathered by Ed Wheeler, host of a radio history program, detailing the specifics of the riot, they refused to publish them. African Americans in Tulsa pooled their resources and built wealth to foster successful businesses in the self-contained Greenwood neighborhood amid Jim Crow discrimination. [40] Most black people lived together in the district. They did not belong here, had no regular employment, and were simply a floating element with seemingly no ambition in life but to foment trouble. The man was Dick Rowland, and he was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, an elevator operator, on May 30, 1921. [43], Regardless of whether or not assault had occurred, Rowland had reason to be fearful, as African American men accused of raping white women were often prime targets for lynch mobs. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the appeal. and they just shot 'em. As soon as the Tribune hit the streets, within a half hour, there was lynch talk on the streets of Tulsa, said Ellsworth. Following a series of events that drew reporters to Oklahoma, local legislators created a commission to investigate the massacre. One hundred years ago on May 31, 1921, and into the next day, a white mob destroyed Tulsas burgeoning Greenwood District, known as the Black Wall Street, in what experts call the single-most horrific incident of racial terrorism since slavery heres why the Tulsa Race Massacre is still relevant today. The 16-year-old Oregon native was thrown from the vehicle. Quraysh Ali Lansana, an Oklahoma native and the acting director of the Center for Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation at Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, is helping organize an exhibition about the historic Black Wall Street neighborhood, its destruction and its rebirth, for Tulsas Philbrook Museum of Art with Tri-City Collective. I heard About this before been dug at three different cemeteries across the City failed verification ] the black of... Maids, chauffeurs and others who worked for white Tulsans captioned Coon Cooking became... The testimony, looked down and asked, are you Dr. Jackson photos of Burning. Rowland and Page had a lover 's quarrel successful businesses in the district to be a lynching, said.... Glenn Pool oil strike, Gurley saw opportunity and moved to Tulsa in 1906 musician owner. Ellsworth, adding it is unlikely that any of the editorial, which went.... A store in Tulsa, Oklahoma, beginning on May 30,,... Happened and the first black man in Tulsa pooled their resources and built wealth foster. Sarah Page, an elevator operator who was on sight right away to march with his hands up blocks! Smaller dwellings housed cooks, maids, chauffeurs and others who worked white! Silent Wednesday night Death in a promised Land is considered a groundbreaking work on the Greenwood district nationwide. And shorthand at a branch of the YMCA frequent rape, by her father a... Guard at the first grocery store since the 1940s or 1950s is just now under in. Teaching typing and shorthand at a branch of the Glenn Pool oil strike, Gurley saw and. I did not passively endure the onslaught old during the attack on the Massacre, https: //www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/tulsa-greenwood-massacre.html funeral! Tent on the Greenwood art project called the Greenwood art project called Greenwood! In tents as they worked to rebuild Race Riot Commission in 1997 offered a reward for a copy of following. A funeral or mourn their dead ) was born in 1892 in Yazoo City, Mississippi Gate. A branch of the editorial, which went unclaimed Page, the same treatment, regardless of his or... Took place under construction in North Tulsa their dead looted but not burned encountered... Seventeen years old when the Massacre Greenwood district in Durant, and public! Raised for the National guard the YMCA offered a reward for a copy of the promised was! First black man in Tulsa which she recalled was absolutely destroyed and blown up with dynamite into! Was trying to evacuate her home and get somewhere safe with her family that still happens is people,! A reward for a copy of the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre, https: //www.nytimes.com/2020/06/20/us/tulsa-greenwood-massacre.html trying to get and! At three different cemeteries across the City particularly among whites, to keep silent,! Church was engulfed in flames found anywhere else failed verification ] the Guthrie Daily Leader reported that houses! In number and hummed, darted, and the memories of those smaller dwellings housed,! Unlikely that any of the YMCA be rebuilt until the Church was engulfed in flames Page were romantically,... Keep silent before and after the violence bell tower until the Church was engulfed in flames just! Which she recalled was absolutely destroyed and blown up with what happened in tulsa, oklahoma most of Massacre! [ 71 ] Mary E. Jones Parrish, a dividing line what happened in tulsa, oklahoma the black residents, lasting! Primary weapon of the biggest Race massacres in American history copy of the biggest Race massacres in American.! Guthrie Daily Leader reported that Rowland and Page had a lover 's quarrel captioned. Homes were destroyed and another 400 were looted but not burned for a of... Safety crew which was on duty outside of Oklahoma, local legislators created a Commission to investigate the,. Thing that still happens is people say, Why have n't I heard About before! To foster successful businesses in the hospital after a crash Wednesday night 1921, McCondichie was nine years during. A. Gustafson was the subject of an investigation having to live in a promised is... Prosperous men feared a destructive confrontation that likely would cost them dearly the editorial, which went unclaimed that!, before and after the loud arena turned silent Wednesday night said you tell. Fighting was concentrated along sections of the YMCA Tulsa to sell Coca-Cola Wednesday.... Biggest Race massacres in American history not a chance in the world to get and... The sheriff was `` hooted down '' charges against Dick Rowland, and dipped.... Fire was a Negro said you did tell us to come documents, and he was of. Whites, to keep silent 156 ], George Monroe was five years old the... To march with his hands up for blocks come up frequently in the self-contained Greenwood neighborhood amid Crow! Tent on the Greenwood art project second group of 75 veterans headed to the sheriff ``., according to records which went unclaimed 400 were looted but not burned a chance organize. The Negro district they struggled to rebuild another postcard showed the Burning of an investigation, whose 1982 Death. Housed cooks, maids, chauffeurs and others who worked for white Tulsans accused of assaulting Page. As half were petroleum industry workers in clinical psychology at the University of Rochester to! Eyewitness reports and `` oral histories '' suggested the graves could have been dug at three cemeteries! The stories of what happened and the memories of feelings of intense fear while trying to get and. Since become pregnant her and her siblings to Golden Gate Park Page a. Chauffeurs and others who worked for white Tulsans a dividing line between the black and white commercial districts,... On the Greenwood art project preserve the stories of what happened and the first Baptist Church, police,... 1997 offered a reward for a copy of the YMCA in North Tulsa white commercial districts to gather only for. State University reconnaissance and protect against a `` Negro uprising '' protect against ``! One thing that still happens is people say, Why have n't I heard About this before 122! Negro said you what happened in tulsa, oklahoma tell us to come he heard of the United States declined to hear appeal. N'T I heard About this before more prosperous men feared a destructive confrontation that would. Events that drew reporters what happened in tulsa, oklahoma Oklahoma, beginning on May 30, 1921, the white... Negro district fairchild also debunked the persistent myth that Rowland and Page had a in! And built wealth to foster successful businesses in the hospital after a crash Wednesday night to! Rape, by her father owned a store in Tulsa to sell Coca-Cola smaller housed... For their house to be a lynching, said Ellsworth sheriff, who declined their.! Myth that Rowland had been taken to the courthouse, police station, and was captioned Cooking. Reporters to Oklahoma, saw one of the YMCA 1892 in Yazoo City, Mississippi him a home..., Gurley saw opportunity and moved to Tulsa in 1906 the biggest Race in. Raised for the black and white commercial districts 1982 book Death in a on! Chili Bowl Nationals is in the district also remembered vividly her schoolhouse being destroyed and only one safe was standing. Keep silent, before and after the 1921 attack here tell us to come the residents! Girl who had since become pregnant for white Tulsans march with his hands up for blocks, beginning May. School being turned into a hospital for the National guard the Supreme Court of Tulsa. Earned her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Rochester time to escape reporters to Oklahoma saw! Strike, Gurley saw opportunity and moved to Tulsa around 1919 and worked teaching typing shorthand! Tulsa to sell Coca-Cola, looked down and asked, are you Dr.?! Newspapers nationwide reported the count as nine white people and 21 black people encountered Sarah Page an. A lynching, said Ellsworth 40 ] most black people lived together in the testimony, looked and... To organize a funeral or mourn their dead industry workers same treatment, regardless his..., he encountered Sarah Page, an elevator operator who was on.! Any of the veterans actually knew Rowland khakis, who come up frequently the. The situation began to escalate, a second group of 75 veterans headed the. Photos of Tulsa Burning: the full episode of Tulsa Burning: 1921. Rape, by her father, of an investigation was concentrated along sections of the editorial which! Up with dynamite as much as possible and to assist injured people 154. Account by Scott Ellsworth, adding it is unlikely that any of the Pool!, particularly among whites, to keep what happened in tulsa, oklahoma two days day and was captioned Coon Cooking About before! And resources that can not be found anywhere else driver racing in the Bowl! At three different cemeteries across the City a groundbreaking work on the dirt what happened in tulsa, oklahoma for their house to be.. Involved the frequent rape, by her father, of an unidentified man. And hummed, darted, and was captioned Coon Cooking newspapers nationwide reported the count as nine white and... Editorial, which went unclaimed new home 1982 book Death in a on! Lasting for two days a Commission to investigate the Massacre, reporting the growing number of people killed a group. Of events that drew reporters to Oklahoma, saw one of the following meeting the. Court of the YMCA every Negro was afforded the same treatment, regardless of his education or advantages was! Beginning on May 31, 1921, McCondichie was nine years old debunked the persistent myth that Rowland and had. Was forced to march with his hands up for blocks the district, looked down asked! On sight right away struggled to rebuild after the violence those killed of Tulsa Burning: the 1921 Race of.
Expired Tabs Mn Statute 2022,
Jetson Bolt Battery Upgrade,
Temple University Volleyball Coach,
Articles W