As the Tulsa Massacre marks its 100th anniversary in the year 2021, it becomes important to learn more specifically about the worst racial violence in the history of America.Several documentary projects, including Black Wall Street by Dream Hampton and another by Salima Koroma, were also mentioned at the time, with plans to be released on the 100th anniversary of the event. In September 2020, a 105-year-old survivor of the massacre sued the city, demanding reparations for losses to the city’s Black-owned businesses.The Tulsa Reparations Coalition was founded on April 7, 2001, by the Center for Racial Justice, Inc., to seek compensation for the damages incurred by Tulsa’s Black community (the affluent African American communities), as recommended by the Oklahoma Commission. Mayor Kathy Taylor of Tulsa conducted a ‘festival of conscience’ during which she apologized to survivors and presented medals to those who were found. Many children believed in superiorly educated black children in American history, but some people also criticized them.Read on to know more about the sufferings of the black citizens and black business owners during the massacre. Afterward, also check Juneteenth facts and Toyotomi Hideyoshi facts.Black Wall Street: HistoryBlack Wall Street was the old name for the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where African Americans established a self-sufficient and thriving business center in the early 20th century.Following the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865, the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery, and the emergence of Jim Crow, African-Americans were granted citizenship and given land plots to start their new lives as free men and women.When there was the discovery of oil in the Indian territory, Tulsa witnessed a considerable economic boom in the 1900s. Several large investors decided to invest in the oil sector, allowing the black and indigenous landowners to generate significant wealth in the prospering Indian territory. This also led to steady growth in the population leading to an increase in all-black settlements in the region.Consequently, Greenwood became one of the wealthiest black communities in the country as a primarily black neighborhood. This economic success story was also aided by the hard work of the black people and the Jim Crow segregation, which enabled the black people to reinvest in their own community, allowing for a greater distribution of wealth. Some of the notable facilities made available in the region included hospitals, schools, cab services, luxury shops, pool halls, commercial offices, hotels, movie theaters, and much more.Among the enterprises were a grocery store and a barbershop. Doctors and realtors both began their own businesses. In the neighborhood, there was also a newspaper and schools. At the time of the Tulsa racial massacre in 1921, Black Wall Street was prospering. The Tulsa Race Massacre, which began on May 31, 1921, and continued till June 1, 1921, cost African Americans a lot of money. A lot of people’s houses and businesses were damaged.After Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old Black shoe shiner, was held responsible for attacking Sarah Page, a white elevator operator, and 17-year-old, the Tulsa race massacre erupted during Memorial Day weekend in the Greenwood chamber, according to African American History. He was apprehended and put into custody. There were rumors that several white men had gathered near the jail and were planning to attack Rowland. A gathering of 70+ black men arrived at the jail to protect Rowland, and some of them were also armed.The sheriff convinced the party to leave the jail, who assured them that the matter was under control. Following Rowland’s arrest, rumors that he would be lynched spread across the community, which had just witnessed the lynching of a white man called Roy Belton the year before. Jones partnered with a white woman named Ruth Sigler Avery, who was also working to promote reports of the violence while researching and discussing the history of the incident. However, the two ladies faced pressure to remain silent, notably from whites, because of the white supremacy in the white neighborhoods due to racial oppression.Many white Tulsans were envious of black people’s growing economic clout. With a considerable population of wealthy African Americans, Tulsa’s historic Greenwood district served as a focal point for their hatred. Some of the economically struggling white residents believed that African-Americans should have a lower social standing. Greenwood, an affluent district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, full of wealthy black residents, was invaded and burned down by a white mob.The resentment growing inside the white residents reached a boiling point in May 1921. Around May 30, 1921, Dick Rowland, who belonged to the black community and was a 19-year-old shoe shiner, wanted to go to the only washroom available to black people in the region in the Drextel Building. Rowland is alleged to have stumbled and fallen over the young white girl who was working as the elevator operator. Her name was Sarah Page, a Caucasian kid around 18 years old.Due to this sudden happening, the young girl shouted, due to which Rowland got scared and ran away to Greenwood. One of the witnesses called the cops believing that a black man had assaulted a white girl. On the next day, Police managed to arrest Rowland.The Ku Klux Klan had been gaining ground in urban renewal areas across the country since 1915. On August 12, 1921, it made its first significant appearance in Oklahoma. According to one estimate, 3,200 of Tulsa’s 72,000 citizens were Klan members by the end of 1921. Lynchings were widespread in Oklahoma in the early 20th century due to a continual struggle to impose and preserve white supremacy. By 1921, at least 31 persons had been lynched in the newly constituted state; the majority were men and boys; 26 were black men, most of whom were former slaves, which even included native Americans.However, tensions were heightened when the local newspaper, Tulsa Tribune, printed an article over the incident with a misleading and provocative title. Additionally, the local daily published an editorial that incited the white mob to gather near the court and started asking the sheriff to hand over the perpetrator to them.At the courthouse, armed black veterans and leaders from the local community promised to ensure the safety of Rowland from the incited mob. But the crowd became enraged by their appearance and rebuffed their presence. The mob fired gunshots, and the result was chaos. Both white and black males died and what ensued was absolute mayhem along Greenwood Avenue and other regions of the black-dominated neighborhood.In the wake of the horrific destruction, the locals gathered together to reconstruct the region after the massacre. It took almost a decade for the African Americans to restore the area after the Tulsa Race Massacre.Black Wall Street: Other NameTulsa Race Riot: Other names for the incident have been used in the past, such as Tulsa Race Riot. The name has been criticized for implying that the violence was equal on both sides. To criticize the name of a race riot, it was said that whites were killed and injured by whites who were protecting white property from the brutality of a white mob.Greenwood Riot: To refer to the worst racial violence which took place in Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, US.Black Wall Street Massacre: Tulsa was noted nationally after World War One for its affluent African American enclave, the Greenwood District. ‘Black Wall Street’ was the title name given to this booming business sector and its neighboring residential area.Black Wall Street: LocationTulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood, is a historic freedom colony. It was dubbed ‘America’s Black Wall Street’ because it was one of the most notable concentrations of African-American enterprises in the United States during the early 20th century.In the Tulsa racial massacre of 1921, white residents assaulted the area and set it on fire. The Crosstown Expressway on the north, Elgin Avenue on the west, Greenwood Avenue on the east, and the Frisco rail on the south encompass the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma State University, Tulsa campus presently occupies land that was once Greenwood and was previously occupied by the Expressway.The Greenwood District, a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, became known as the Negro Wall Street of America, later named Black Wall Street.Tulsa began to develop around the turn of the 20th century, thanks to a massive oil boom in the state. In 1906, O.W. Gurley, a wealthy African-American landowner, went to Tulsa and purchased 16.18 ha (40 acres) of land that he only sold to Black residents.One of the most famous selections of pictures during and after the massacre was donated by the families of Anita Williams Christopher, and David Owen Williams.Black Wall Street: Target And Weapons UsedThe most common weapon used in the massacre was guns. At the courtroom where Dick Rowland was brought for hearing, a white man attempted to disarm one of the African American males as they were asked to leave, and the man fought back.The weapon was discharged during the scuffle. Both sides engaged in a firefight, hurling gunshots at each other. As armed whites attacked them, the African American men engaged in a violent retreat to Greenwood.Those who did not have any weapons broke into neighborhood pawn shops, hardware stores, and sporting goods stores; they took firearms and stole guns. The original target of the mob was the armed gang, but it later shifted to any African American individual that came within their sight. The indiscriminate killing started. Battles occurred as both sides approached Greenwood, notably around the Frisco railroad tracks. Whites drove into the area and killed individuals from their cars in other parts of Greenwood. Several whites in Greenwood started setting fire to property. The fire crew could not extinguish the fires because white rioters prevented them from doing so.But even today, the massacre remains a dark truth of racial violence in the history of America, and Greenwood in Tulsa became a witness to one of the worst racial violence the world has ever seen.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created many interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Black Wall Street Facts: All About Tulsa Race Massacre Revealed, then why not take a look at Are Sponges Animals? Unpacking These Peculiar Specimens, or Are Sponges Animals? Unpacking These Peculiar Specimens.
As the Tulsa Massacre marks its 100th anniversary in the year 2021, it becomes important to learn more specifically about the worst racial violence in the history of America.
