Why the Tulsa Massacre Still Matters

Over three hundred African-Americans were murdered by a white mob one hundred years ago during Memorial Day weekend. Between May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob burned the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Greenwood community to the ground. The event would be covered up and forgotten until recent years.

While the state of Oklahoma began an investigation into the incident in 1996 (they completed the study in 2001) and concluded that the city of Tulsa had conspired with the mob and worked to cover up the incident, a park was dedicated to the victims in 2010.

While more significant knowledge of the Tulsa Race Massacre was not widespread, more people became aware of this event in recent years. Many people first heard of the incident after a significant plot point in the 2019 HBO miniseries, Watchmen. The History Channel premiered the documentary Tulsa Burning: the 1921 Race Massacre on the 100th anniversary of the event.

Once labeled as a race riot, the incident is now seen for what it truly was — one of the worst racially motivated domestic terrorism cases in history.

Greenwood was also known as Black Wall Street and was one of the wealthiest black communities in the country. Following the end of the Civil War, many freed slaves left the South to places like Oklahoma to start a new life. While many African-American communities were thriving in the state, racial tensions followed them from the South.

The cause of the Tulsa Massacre began with an incident between a Black shoeshiner, 19-year old Dick Rowland, and 17-year old elevator operator Sarah Page. While Rowland was riding the elevator to go to a restroom, the elevator car jolted, and Rowland accidentally bumped into Page. A startled Page screamed, and a desk clerk interpreted the event as an attempted assault or rape. Rowland was arrested for the incident. (Page would later write a letter to the court, declining to prosecute Rowland and clearing him of the charges).

This would have been the end of the situation if not for the local newspaper. The paper created a false narrative of what had happened and insinuated that Rowland had raped Page.

A lynch mob of white citizens crowded around the jailhouse that Rowland was being held. To protect Rowland, several black citizens, including World War I Veterans, arrived. Shots were fired between the two groups, which led to the death of ten whites and two blacks.

Many hoped that would be the end of the conflict. However, it was only the beginning. A mob of armed white citizens, many of them deputized by the local authorities, descended on Greenwood.

Over the next 16 hours, the mob started fires in the community. Reports also stated that planes dropped firebombs on local businesses. Businessowners were driven from their places of businesses, and residents were driven from their homes. The national guard was eventually mobilized to end the unrest, and many black citizens were arrested.

When it was all said and done, 35 blocks of Greenwood were destroyed. Dozens of businesses were burnt to the ground, and 10,000 residents were left homeless. Estimates vary on the death toll. Original reports said only 36 people died (26 black and 10 white), while more current estimates say the dead may be closer to 300.

While many of the survivors fled Tulsa, others still stayed in the city. The remaining community, both black and white, kept silent about the incident for decades. The incident was omitted from local history and was a forgotten event.

In the 1970s, with desegregation efforts in Oklahoma, members of the Oklahoma Historical Society began to discuss and research the incident. In 1996 Oklahoma authorized a commission to investigate the event. In 2001 the commission made recommendations for reparations for survivors and their families and established a scholarship for students affected by the event. In 2020 the Tulsa Race Massacre became part of the curriculum in Oklahoma schools.

The Greenwood district took over a decade to rebuild. The memory of the event is prominent in the community, with many memorials to the event and the victims. While it is not near its former glory, it is a thriving community. Today, there are investigations of possible mass graves that could confirm the high death estimates.

A century later, the scars of the Tulsa Massacre can still be felt in the community of Tulsa. While efforts have been made to heal the wounds, including the state governor recognizing the local government’s complacency in the destruction of Greenwood, we can see echoes of Tulsa even today.

It is no secret that race is still an issue in the United States. We need to only look at some of our cities' events over the summer of 2020 and people’s reactions on social media to see that this unease can sometimes become violent.

Events such as the Tusla Massacre were once hidden, and we tried to forget about them. There are those with the mindset that if we forget about the events and just move on, we can move on.

This can be a dangerous sentiment. We need to learn from our history and understand what caused those events to happen.

It is those uncomfortable events in our history that will help to move us forward. We need to have those uncomfortable discussions with each other.

While we should not dwell on our past and look to the future, we must not forget about our past events.