In 1921 Tulsa, OK was a highly segregated city. Most of the city’s 10,000 Black residents lived in a neighborhood called Greenwood, which included a thriving business district sometimes referred to as the Black Wall Street. On May 31, 1921 a white mob attacked the residents, homes and businesses of Greenwood in what is known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. This event remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, and one of the least known.
Here are 3 more things to know about 05.31.1921.
1) The Tulsa Race Massacre, which lasted for 18 hours over 2 days, destroyed more than 35 city blocks of one of the most affluent African-American communities in the country at that time. In 1921 the Greenwood section of Tulsa, OK, nicknamed Black Wall Street, had more than 11,000 residents and hundreds of prosperous, black-owned and operated businesses that saw the dollar circulate 36-100 times before leaving the community.
2) Details of the inciting incident vary, but most agree that Sarah Page, a white elevator operator, accused Dick Rowland, a black shoe shiner, of sexual assault when he tripped while walking onto an elevator and grabbed her arm to catch his balance. The Tulsa Tribune ran a headline that read "Nab Negro for attacking white girl in elevator" however, it was later removed from the archives. All charges against Rowland were dropped the day after the massacre ended.
3) About 300 people were killed and 1,256 homes were burned homes leaving more than 8,000 homeless after the massacre ended. Neither survivors nor their families received the reparations suggested by the Tulsa Race Riot Commission in 2001.
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References:
- https://www.tulsahistory.org/exhibit/1921-tulsa-race-massacre/
- https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre
- https://officialblackwallstreet.com/black-wall-street-story/
- https://daily.jstor.org/the-devastation-of-black-wall-street/
- http://theoklahomaeagle.net/2018/07/05/why-the-1921black-wall-street-massacre-was-about-wealth-what-happened-between-1900-and-1920/
- https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/lost-video-of-tulsas-greenwood-district-featured-in-new-historical-tv-series/article_3369a95d-d506-526e-a0b3-b1ae2f26802b.html