102 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, here's where efforts to reconcile and revitalize stand

Camille Fine, USA TODAY

Wed, May 31, 2023 at 8:05 AM UTC

4 min read

More than 100 years after what some consider one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the country's history, Tulsa is making progress towards the revitalization of “Black Wall Street” and reckoning with the destruction of one of the most thriving communities in its heyday.

In the aftermath of 2020 protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the 100-year centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 2021, heightened awareness led to more coverage on a foundational moment in U.S history that many knew little about.

In an effort to revitalize a once-thriving business district known as Black Wall Street, which was decimated in the massacre, the city of Tulsa has implemented a master plan that “ensures the social and economic benefits of redevelopment are experienced by Black Tulsans, by descendants of the Race Massacre, and by future generations and their heirs.”

Smoke rises north of Greenwood Avenue from Hartford Avenue, in Tulsa, Okla. on June 1, 1921.

Read about the history of Tulsa, the massacre and Black Wall Street.

When was the 1921 race massacre? What events led up to it?

In the early 1900s, the 40 blocks to the north of downtown Tulsa boasted 10,000 residents, hundreds of businesses, medical facilities an airport and more. On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob descended on Greenwood — the Black section of Tulsa — burning, looting and destroying more than 1,000 homes.

The true death toll of the massacre may never be known, with the search for unmarked graves continuing more than a century later, but most historians who have studied the event estimate the death toll to be between 75 and 300 people.

Black residents walk with arms raised, surrounded by armed white men during the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921.

Todd Pendleton of The Oklahoman, part of USA TODAY Network, illustrated the the Tulsa Race Massacre as part of the site's coverage 100 years after the event.

From The Oklahoman ‘Dodging bullets’ and coming home to ‘nothing left’: An illustrated history of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

By 1921, an affluent class of African American entrepreneurs was growing in Greenwood. Many white citizens were beginning to resent their success

According to a 2005 report by the National Parks Service, on May 30, 1921, a black teenager named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a white female, Sarah Page, in the elevator of the Drexel Building.

Fearing accusations, Rowland fled to his home in Greenwood. He was arrested later that afternoon and taken to jail, but was never charged with a crime, and His alleged accuser was never heard from again.

An article published in the Tulsa Tribune on the afternoon of May 31, included racially charged language that also implied Assault. There were also rumors about an editorial that suggested Rowland should be lynched.

Just before sunset, a group of white men gathered outside the courthouse where the teen was being held. They demanded Rowland be released to them, only to be turned away.

At 9 P.M. a group of 25 armed Black men, many who were WWI veterans, left Greenwood and traveled to the courthouse. They offered assistance to authorities to thwart the lynching of Rowland.

By 9:30 p.m., numbers of white men and Black men began to grow outside the courthouse. As tensions escalated, fighting began. Heavily outnumbered, the Black defenders retreated to the railyard and eventually Greenwood.

After numerous skirmishes, the fighting stopped. At 5 a.m., a siren reportedly began to sound. Immediately a machine gun started to fire from Standpipe Hill in Greenwood.

Simultaneously large numbers or white citizens began an assault on Greenwood. Many of the men deputized to stop the resistance, were involved in the fighting just hours before.

A group of white men called the “Home Guard” began breaking into African American homes and businesses. Looting and violence erupted.

George Monroe, was five-years old at the time of the massacre and remembers the attacks on Greenwood.

House by house, block by block, fire was set to Greenwood. Several survivors recall machine guns and attack by airplanes, shooting and dropping incendiary devices.

Eldoris McCondichie remembers fleeing the area and seeking shelter in a chicken coop.

Black residents and homeowners continued to fight back. Resisters or anyone discovered with a firearm was shot. Occupants were forced out to be marched to holding areas.

The attack on Black Wall Street and the Greenwood neighborhood left nine thousand people homeless. In the end, All that was left were the outlines of once prosperous businesses, and the charred foundations where homes once stood.

White people had looted the structures and stolen everything from cars to clothes. News reports shortly after the massacre, put the damage totals at two and a half million dollars. After the riots, the American Red Cross provided tents for residents to live in, but residents, Businesses and churches did not receive any other assistance after the massacre. Many left Tulsa and never returned.

When did Black Americans begin to settle in Tulsa?

When was Black Wall Street created?

According to the Tulsa Preservation Commission, former slaves who gained tribal membership through marriage, and slaves owned by tribal members, first arrived during the removal of the Five Tribes in the 1830s from traditional Native American homelands in the Southeast. Then, the oil boom of the early 20th century boosted migration.

By 1908, the commercial area known as Greenwood was established.

Was Black Wall Street rebuilt?

Is there an effort to revitalize the historic district?

The Greenwood community began rebuilding just days after the destruction.

Almost a decade later, the district had more businesses than prior to the massacre — still, the area saw a decline in the mid-century caused by predatory lending, public disinvestment, urban renewal programs, and the redistribution of spending and wealth.

In the 1960s and 1970s, all but a block of the area was destroyed for construction of highways.

Some of the buildings still standing along Greenwood Avenue, looking north from Archer Avenue, are shown in this 1938 photo. The area historically referred to as Black Wall Street was rebuilt in the five years following the 1921 massacre.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church in the Greenwood district of Tulsa after it was set afire by a white mob in 1921.

As of 2021, only nine buildings rebuilt in the four years immediately after the massacre remained in Greenwood, according to the Oklahoman.

In 2018, Tulsa Development Authority regained control over a portion of the land.
In 2020, the Historic Greenwood Chamber of Commerce announced that they would raise $10 million to restore Black Wall Street.
With a master plan approved by City Council in 2022, officials are now working to create a governance model for the redevelopment of 56 acres of land in the Kirkpatrick Heights and Greenwood areas to address disinvestment.

Tulsa begins community talks for possible action beyond massacre apology

City councilors started a series of conversations with stakeholders looking to inform about possible action beyond the council's formal apology in 2021 for its role in the massacre, Public Radio Tulsa reported. Attendees heard about inequities in areas such as transportation and possible reparations packages for Black Tulsans, according to the outlet.

Land transfer to new History Center

The Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center — an 11,000 square foot immersive exhibition space born out of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission Center — announced on May 8 that it now owns the land it occupies. The land donation from The Hille Foundation to the center “represents one nail removed from the coffin of hopes and dreams Black people still hold onto today,” said Margo Taylor, a senior docent at Greenwood Rising.

“This land transfer is truly significant almost 102 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre,” Taylor said. “Hopefully, this may signal the start of a ‘New Mecca’ of freedom and restitution.”

Investigators make progress identifying victims of the massacre

In April, a forensic anthropologist said they are getting closer to identifying victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre after city officials gathered DNA from people who believe they may be a relative or descendant of a massacre victim and others with a historical connection to Tulsa. Of the 22 remains that had DNA extraction, investigators have tracked the surnames associated with six people ? four male and two female, according to the City of Tulsa.

With the collected DNA, investigators tracked 19 surnames associated with at least seven states: North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Alabama. The six bodies could were not confirmed as massacre victims, but officials believe their discovery could inform where to search the cemetery to recover more victims.