Tulsa race massacre

The 1921 Tulsa race massacre was one of the most serious instances of racial violence in US history. During the massacre, a mob of White people burned the Black middle-class neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and murdered many of its residents. As many as three hundred people, most of whom were Black, died during the massacre. The massacre in Tulsa was part of a rash of race riots started by White people who were angry that Black people were gaining wealth and prosperity after World War I (1914–18). The legacy of the race massacre lives on in Tulsa, and the massacre serves as a stark reminder of the racism that is endemic in the United States. Although instances such as this have been called “race riots,” many people disagree with the use of the term. Instead, many people believe the event should be a called a massacre because so many innocent people were murdered.

Background

The first enslaved Africans were brought to the United States by European colonists in 1619. From that time to the time of the Civil War (1861–65), most Black people in the United States were enslaved. By the 1800s, slavery was deeply tied to race, and the racism was as common in the North as it was in the South—even though slavery was more common in the South. After the Civil War, Black people living in the United States had some hope that they could enjoy the same rights and freedoms as White people, but that idea did not come to fruition. Instead, racist laws that limited Black Americans’ civil rights were passed in both the North and the South. By the early 1900s, some Black residents began to leave the South, looking for economic opportunity and less racist laws. Although cities in the North did not have as many overtly racist laws, most White citizens were still racist, and racist policies shaped Black Americans’ everyday lives. After World War I, the Ku Klux Klan became popular again, as White Americans became angry that Black men who served their country honorably wanted decent lives when they returned home. Some people were also angry that Black Americans were fighting for their own rights and would not accept a place as second-class citizens. To keep the social norms of discrimination and segregation, White people tried to portray Black people as inferior and criminals. By perpetuating this stereotype, they felt justified in further subjugating Black citizens. Riots erupted in numerous parts of the country after World War I because of hostility toward Black Americans.

Overview

The racial hostility that was present throughout much of the United States in the early 1900s was also common in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Greenwood section of Tulsa was a middle-class Black neighborhood in the city. This section was often called the “Black Wall Street” because it was one of the most prosperous Black neighborhoods in the country.

Often, White residents made up or exaggerated situations that happened between them and Black citizens to find a reason for violence. For that reason, it is difficult to know exactly what happened to precipitate the 1921 massacre, but on May 31, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune accused a Black teenager named Dick Rowland of attempting to attack a White teenager named Sarah Page. After the newspaper published a sensationalized and untrue account of the situation, a White mob gathered at the courthouse. The mob wanted to lynch Rowland, who had been arrested, without giving him his right to due process. At this time in American history, lynching was a popular form of terrorism that White people used to frighten and control Black people. Nevertheless, the police refused to hand over Rowland, and they barricaded the courthouse to prevent the White mob from coming inside to attack him. After altercations between White and Black people near the courthouse, a White mob followed Black residents back to Greenwood.

Once in Greenwood, the mob began murdering Black residents and burning down the neighborhood’s homes and businesses. Eye witnesses even said that explosives were dropped from planes flying over Greenwood. Firefighters later testified that White Tulsans threatened to shoot them if they put out the fires. People looted and stole from the Black residents of the city. The Tulsa police department also played a part in the massacre. The police department allowed White mobs to gather for hours before they attempted to break up the crowds. The police rounded up thousands of Black people and forced them into detention centers, but no White people were arrested. The police also deputized and gave weapons to White people, even those who were involved in the violence.

By June 1, officially thirty-six people, mostly Black, died in the violence. Historians believe the actual number of Black people murdered was most likely much higher, perhaps around three hundred. As many as ten thousand Black residents were homeless because of the massacre. The White mob burned down thirty-five city blocks in the neighborhood. Hospitals, churches, newspapers, stores, and other Black-owned properties had been destroyed. Many historians who have reviewed the Tulsa race massacre believe that the destruction of the event was not just a by-product of violence but was a purposeful part of the action. Since the event was labeled a “riot,” insurance companies would not pay out on the damage done to Black homes and businesses. When Black residents could not pay to rebuild, they were forced to sell their property. White buyers purchased the property cheaply. The Red Cross came in to help Black victims of the massacre, but little was done to serve restitution to the people who had lost all their property, including their homes and businesses.

The legacy of the Tulsa race massacre and anti-Black race riots of the early twentieth century live on today. The destruction of property and the killing of so many people devastated Tulsa’s Black community. Even though the White leaders of Tulsa promised to rebuild Greenwood, the city passed laws that prevented Black people from rebuilding.

After the massacre, very few people talked about what had happened. Directly after the events, White Tulsans even tried to cover up what happened. The Tulsa Tribune removed the story about Rowland that sparked the outrage from its bound volumes. Even the police department’s files about the massacre went missing.

Efforts to attempt to rectify such actions were made by 2010, when a park memorializing the event was dedicated in Tulsa. Named the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, after the son of one of those who had survived the massacre, the park features a tower illustrating Black Americans' struggles and bronze sculptures. While the history of this event had been taught in some schools in the state over the years, in 2020, it was announced that a curriculum framework on the subject had officially been developed and would be implemented at all levels of schools statewide.

By the time of the one hundredth anniversary of the massacre in 2021, efforts to raise awareness about the event had also included more accessible, comprehensive published literature covering its history as well as its racial context. Such works included those written by a range of authors, from historians to journalists, and for a wide spectrum of audiences, encompassing younger readers as well. While several were published in the preceding decades, an especially large number of varied titles on the subject came out in 2021 to specifically add to the commemoration of the anniversary. Among these books were Scott Ellsworth's Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 (1982), Tim Madigan's The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 (2001), Randy Krehbiel's Tulsa 1921: Reporting a Massacre (2019), Ellsworth's The Ground Breaking: The Tulsa Race Massacre and an American City's Search for Justice (2021), Mary E. Jones Parrish's The Nation Must Awake: My Witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 (2021), Brandy Colbert's young adult work Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (2021), and Carole Boston Weatherford's picture book Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre (2021). In addition to high-profile media coverage of the centennial itself through written reporting as well as dedicated television programs, recommendations for further learning, such as documentaries and online interactive features, were given. Meanwhile, some created fictionalized representations in novel and television formats; after the HBO series Watchmen's pilot episode featured a recreation of the massacre upon its airing in 2019, HBO's Lovecraft Country included a depiction in one of the episodes of its first season in 2020.

In 2023, a lower court judge in Oklahoma dismissed a lawsuit that had been filed in 2020 by three survivors of the massacre seeking concrete compensation for the lingering financial and racial damages it had caused, particularly to the community of Greenwood. Just weeks later, however, it was announced that the state's Supreme Court had decided that it would hear the filers' appeal of that ruling. After one of the plaintiffs died in late 2023, the state's Supreme Court also dismissed the lawsuit in 2024, arguing that the public nuisance law did not account for the cited complaints and that any justice should be sought through policy instead.

Bibliography

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