The 1921 Tulsa massacre… one of the ugliest days in Americas history… one that is not told or mentioned too often at all.
But Following World War I, Tulsa was recognized nationally for its affluent African American community known as the Greenwood District. This thriving business district and surrounding residential area was referred to as “Black Wall Street.”
On the morning of May 30, 1921, a young black man named Dick Rowland was riding in the elevator with a white woman named Sarah Page. Accounts of an incident circulated among the city’s white community…. and the next day Tulsa police arrested Rowland and began an investigation.
Then in the May 31st edition of the Tulsa Tribune the story broke of what happened … so even being outnumbered… armed members of the Black community got together and went to the courthouse in an attempt to prevent the lynching of this young man and it started a confrontation between black and white armed mobs.
Well In Twenty-four hours the violence that erupted from that white mob left 35 city blocks in charred ruins including Hundreds of Black-owned businesses, churches and homes were burned, leaving an estimated 8,000 people homeless and 800 more injured. Historians believe as many as 300 people may have died… and
Not one of these criminal acts was then or ever has been prosecuted or punished by government at any level.
So as race issues are still present today never forget the story of the 1921 race riots of Tulsa and never forget the lives that were lost and the generations of families that were affected. 100 years.
Source: History
