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Riot And Remembrance: The Tulsa Race Massacre and Its Legacy – A Deeply Human Account of the 1921 Cover-Up and Survivors
With a new preface, a "profound, chilling, and heartbreaking, contribution to American history” that investigates the causes of the twentieth century's deadliest race riot and how its legacy has scarred and shaped a community ( Boston Globe ).
On May 30, 1921, a misunderstanding between a white elevator operator and a Black delivery boy escalated into the worse race riot in U.S. history. In this compelling and deeply human account, James Hirsch investigates how the Tulsa riot erupted, how it was covered up, and how the survivors and their descendants fought for belated justice.
“Superbly researched and engagingly written” ( Fort Worth Morning Star ), Riot and Remembrance powerfully chronicles one community’s effort to overcome a horrific legacy, revealing how the segregation of history and memory affects all Americans a hundred years later. “The best book yet on the Tulsa riots, and one that should be required reading.”— Seattle Times
On May 30, 1921, a misunderstanding between a white elevator operator and a Black delivery boy escalated into the worse race riot in U.S. history. In this compelling and deeply human account, James Hirsch investigates how the Tulsa riot erupted, how it was covered up, and how the survivors and their descendants fought for belated justice.
“Superbly researched and engagingly written” ( Fort Worth Morning Star ), Riot and Remembrance powerfully chronicles one community’s effort to overcome a horrific legacy, revealing how the segregation of history and memory affects all Americans a hundred years later. “The best book yet on the Tulsa riots, and one that should be required reading.”— Seattle Times
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2002
166 people are currently reading
819 people want to read
About the author
James S. Hirsch
18 books24 followersJames S. Hirsch is an American journalist and author who has written about sports, race, and American culture. He was a reporter for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and his first book was the best-selling Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter.
Hirsch has also written Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy, Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship That Saved Two POWs in Vietnam, and Cheating Destiny: Living with Diabetes. His biography of Willie Mays, released in February 2010, describes how the Negro leagues phenom became an instant sensation with the New York Giants in the 1950s, was the headliner in Major League Baseball's expansion to California, and played an important but underappreciated role in the civil rights movement.[1]
Hirsch, a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, lives in the Boston area.
Bibliography
Hirsch has also written Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy, Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship That Saved Two POWs in Vietnam, and Cheating Destiny: Living with Diabetes. His biography of Willie Mays, released in February 2010, describes how the Negro leagues phenom became an instant sensation with the New York Giants in the 1950s, was the headliner in Major League Baseball's expansion to California, and played an important but underappreciated role in the civil rights movement.[1]
Hirsch, a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, lives in the Boston area.
Bibliography
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June 19, 2020
This is the second book I have read on the subject, and I consider it a more thorough study on the subject, taking in both sides of this race war, that is, the black and the white side, especially those on the white side who denied it even happened. It also gives a history of the beginnings of the riot, months before it happened, and it then tells the stories of all who had been contacted that were alive during this time, as well as talking about the rebuilding (or not) of the black community, and the committee created to finally put the story to rest, even building a memorial in Tulsa. But I will now put the review up of the first book that I had read since it will all be the same from herein:
There are several books that have been written about this race riot. Two books came highly recommended to me by John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation in Tulsa. They are: “Death in a Promised Land” by Scott Ellsworth and John Hope Franklin and “Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District” by Hannibal B. Johnson.
Before I begin. My husband and were in Tulsa yesterday and drove through the Greenwood District since I had just finished this book. It was rather emotional for me after having just read the horrible stories of the deaths that had occurred in Greenwood.
After the riot most of the businesses had been burned to the ground, including over a thousand homes. The amount of black men, women, and children who had died is unknown due to poor record keeping after the riot, and actually, more often than not, no record keeping, for bodies were burned, dumped in mass graves, or left where they were, often burning in the houses that had been set on fire. One of the cemeteries only recorded 120 deaths. More like 300.
Living in the Rubble
The town was rebuilt after the riot, and it is said that it was even better than before. But after desegregation many blacks moved away from the district, taking their businesses with them. As time went on not much was left, and while the business district still remains, an overpass was built in the middle of the district and behind it a college. This was really disturbing to me to see, to realize that there had been a wonderful black community and culture there. And while this happened all over American after desegregation, I can’t but help believe that these people just wanted to leave and forget.
To begin the story: The black community of Tulsa had become affluent during the oil boom. It was a community of doctors, lawyers, teachers, merchants, etc. One thing that this proved was that the black people were not lazy and unable to learn. They were not a lot of other things that the white people had said about them in order to justify slavery and create more hatred.
Leading up to the riot was the fact that Tulsa had become a hot bed for crime among the white community, and so during this time a vigilante group had been formed in order to help stop the crime. About a month before the riot the vigilantes had hung a white man. And the blacks felt that if they would hang a white man, why not a black? But that shouldn’t have been anything new to the blacks in our country, as they had always been lynched. Still it was closer to home. To add to this fear, in the year 1919 over 24 black people had been lynched across the Southwest. Also, one of the newspapers, the Tulsa Tribune, had launched a vigorous campaign against crimes in the early months of that year, giving a lot of attention to the vigilante groups across the Sout
This book (report) had been written by various people who were on a committee that was organized in order to learn all that could be learned about the Tulsa race riot of 1921, a race riot that completely destroyed the black Greenwood District that was once called “Black Wall Street.” 35 square blocks. It is my own belief and that of others that I have talked with, that the white man didn't want to see the black man get ahead. They hated that they were so wealthy; they just hated. And the report’s conclusion was that this riot had been in the making for quite some time. They were just looking for a reason to begin it.
Due to all the inquiries that had received by people who wanted to know about the riot, the commission was founded. I thought that it was interesting that not many people in Oklahoma had even heard about this riot. It was hushed even in the black communities and was not taught in public schools. The committee that was organized recruited many volunteers to help gather information—written and oral.
It came to a climax mid-May, calling people to take action. Their headline the afternoon of the riot ran: “To Lynch Negro Tonight.” And then a newsboy was heard crying out, “A Negro assaults a white girl!!!”
How did this false story get published? On May 21st. a 19 year old black man by the name of Dick Rowland got into an elevator that was operated by a 17 year old white girl, and when he stepped off the elevator, he tripped and had more than likely grabbed her arm for support. She, in turn, screamed; he ran. A white man came to her rescue, saw that she was distraught and believed that she had been raped. Next, the Tulsa Tribune was running his story in the afternoon paper. Dick Rowland was caught at his home in Greenwood and arrested, a mob grew and cried out for his lynching. One thing led to another, and the race riot had begun. The white people had marched over to Greenwood and began to slaughter all that the blacks that they found. After 16 hours of rioting, it had ended, the woman did not press charges, but around 10,000 blacks were homeless and many were killed.
“One was that of a colored couple, saying their evening prayers before retiring in their little home on Greenwood Avenue. A mob broke into the house, shot both of the old people in the backs of their heads, blowing their brains out and splattering them all over the bed, pillaged the home, and then set fire to it.”
“a cry was heard from the women saying, ‘Look out for the aeropanes, they are shooting upon us.’”
“Numerous other eyewitnesses—both black and white—confirm the presence of an unknown number of airplanes flying over Greenwood…certain other assertions made over the years such as that the planes dropped streams of ‘liquid fire’ on top of African American homes.” Actually it was dynamite and nitroglycerin.
“white rioters went to the home of an old couple and the old man, 80 years old, was paralyzed and sat in a chair and they told him to march and he told them he was crippled, but he’d go if someone would take him, and they told his wife to go but she didn’t want to leave him, and he told her to go on anyway. As she left one of the damn dogs shot the old man and then they fired the house.”
“women dragging their children while running to safety, and the dirty white rascals firing at them as they ran.”
And today, right next to the Greenwood District, they have renamed a district, The Brady District, after Tate Brady, who was a member of the KKK who was up to his neck in the riot. This resulted in a protest, and the news told of the results:
“Tulsa City fathers tonight settled the simmering Brady Street controversy. You ready for this? I'm a bit surprised they could even keep straight faces when they brought this solution to a vote.
A couple of weeks ago I told you that Brady Street, home to the Brady Arts district (Tulsa's Bricktown), was named for one of Tulsa's founding fathers, Tate Brady, a man who also apparently had ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
Some demanded that the city change the name of the street. Tonight, they won. Brady Street will now be changed to... Brady Street.
I'm not making this up. Old name: Brady Street. New improved name: Brady Street.
Tulsa City fathers voted to change the name from Brady Street, to M. Brady Street, after famed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady.” ~~ August 15, 2013 by Kelly Ogle, News 9."
Racism was saved. Once again the city fathers could not do the right thing.
There are several books that have been written about this race riot. Two books came highly recommended to me by John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation in Tulsa. They are: “Death in a Promised Land” by Scott Ellsworth and John Hope Franklin and “Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District” by Hannibal B. Johnson.
Before I begin. My husband and were in Tulsa yesterday and drove through the Greenwood District since I had just finished this book. It was rather emotional for me after having just read the horrible stories of the deaths that had occurred in Greenwood.
After the riot most of the businesses had been burned to the ground, including over a thousand homes. The amount of black men, women, and children who had died is unknown due to poor record keeping after the riot, and actually, more often than not, no record keeping, for bodies were burned, dumped in mass graves, or left where they were, often burning in the houses that had been set on fire. One of the cemeteries only recorded 120 deaths. More like 300.
Living in the Rubble
The town was rebuilt after the riot, and it is said that it was even better than before. But after desegregation many blacks moved away from the district, taking their businesses with them. As time went on not much was left, and while the business district still remains, an overpass was built in the middle of the district and behind it a college. This was really disturbing to me to see, to realize that there had been a wonderful black community and culture there. And while this happened all over American after desegregation, I can’t but help believe that these people just wanted to leave and forget.
To begin the story: The black community of Tulsa had become affluent during the oil boom. It was a community of doctors, lawyers, teachers, merchants, etc. One thing that this proved was that the black people were not lazy and unable to learn. They were not a lot of other things that the white people had said about them in order to justify slavery and create more hatred.
Leading up to the riot was the fact that Tulsa had become a hot bed for crime among the white community, and so during this time a vigilante group had been formed in order to help stop the crime. About a month before the riot the vigilantes had hung a white man. And the blacks felt that if they would hang a white man, why not a black? But that shouldn’t have been anything new to the blacks in our country, as they had always been lynched. Still it was closer to home. To add to this fear, in the year 1919 over 24 black people had been lynched across the Southwest. Also, one of the newspapers, the Tulsa Tribune, had launched a vigorous campaign against crimes in the early months of that year, giving a lot of attention to the vigilante groups across the Sout
This book (report) had been written by various people who were on a committee that was organized in order to learn all that could be learned about the Tulsa race riot of 1921, a race riot that completely destroyed the black Greenwood District that was once called “Black Wall Street.” 35 square blocks. It is my own belief and that of others that I have talked with, that the white man didn't want to see the black man get ahead. They hated that they were so wealthy; they just hated. And the report’s conclusion was that this riot had been in the making for quite some time. They were just looking for a reason to begin it.
Due to all the inquiries that had received by people who wanted to know about the riot, the commission was founded. I thought that it was interesting that not many people in Oklahoma had even heard about this riot. It was hushed even in the black communities and was not taught in public schools. The committee that was organized recruited many volunteers to help gather information—written and oral.
It came to a climax mid-May, calling people to take action. Their headline the afternoon of the riot ran: “To Lynch Negro Tonight.” And then a newsboy was heard crying out, “A Negro assaults a white girl!!!”
How did this false story get published? On May 21st. a 19 year old black man by the name of Dick Rowland got into an elevator that was operated by a 17 year old white girl, and when he stepped off the elevator, he tripped and had more than likely grabbed her arm for support. She, in turn, screamed; he ran. A white man came to her rescue, saw that she was distraught and believed that she had been raped. Next, the Tulsa Tribune was running his story in the afternoon paper. Dick Rowland was caught at his home in Greenwood and arrested, a mob grew and cried out for his lynching. One thing led to another, and the race riot had begun. The white people had marched over to Greenwood and began to slaughter all that the blacks that they found. After 16 hours of rioting, it had ended, the woman did not press charges, but around 10,000 blacks were homeless and many were killed.
“One was that of a colored couple, saying their evening prayers before retiring in their little home on Greenwood Avenue. A mob broke into the house, shot both of the old people in the backs of their heads, blowing their brains out and splattering them all over the bed, pillaged the home, and then set fire to it.”
“a cry was heard from the women saying, ‘Look out for the aeropanes, they are shooting upon us.’”
“Numerous other eyewitnesses—both black and white—confirm the presence of an unknown number of airplanes flying over Greenwood…certain other assertions made over the years such as that the planes dropped streams of ‘liquid fire’ on top of African American homes.” Actually it was dynamite and nitroglycerin.
“white rioters went to the home of an old couple and the old man, 80 years old, was paralyzed and sat in a chair and they told him to march and he told them he was crippled, but he’d go if someone would take him, and they told his wife to go but she didn’t want to leave him, and he told her to go on anyway. As she left one of the damn dogs shot the old man and then they fired the house.”
“women dragging their children while running to safety, and the dirty white rascals firing at them as they ran.”
And today, right next to the Greenwood District, they have renamed a district, The Brady District, after Tate Brady, who was a member of the KKK who was up to his neck in the riot. This resulted in a protest, and the news told of the results:
“Tulsa City fathers tonight settled the simmering Brady Street controversy. You ready for this? I'm a bit surprised they could even keep straight faces when they brought this solution to a vote.
A couple of weeks ago I told you that Brady Street, home to the Brady Arts district (Tulsa's Bricktown), was named for one of Tulsa's founding fathers, Tate Brady, a man who also apparently had ties to the Ku Klux Klan.
Some demanded that the city change the name of the street. Tonight, they won. Brady Street will now be changed to... Brady Street.
I'm not making this up. Old name: Brady Street. New improved name: Brady Street.
Tulsa City fathers voted to change the name from Brady Street, to M. Brady Street, after famed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady.” ~~ August 15, 2013 by Kelly Ogle, News 9."
Racism was saved. Once again the city fathers could not do the right thing.
June 15, 2020
really, between a 4 and a 4.5, and a not-to-be-missed, in-depth and currently-relevant account of the events of the 1921 Tulsa riot.
I will come back shortly to my thoughts on this one, but for now I would recommend it to anyone. Not an easy subject to read about by any stretch, but read it anyway.
more soon as soon as life settles down here.
I will come back shortly to my thoughts on this one, but for now I would recommend it to anyone. Not an easy subject to read about by any stretch, but read it anyway.
more soon as soon as life settles down here.
July 23, 2020
I just found out about this riot this year. I can't believe I never heard of it before, and I wanted to learn more about it.
What comes to my mind is that this was an American pogrom against a black community. It's shocking that this happened, and every American should learn about it.
This is the only book I've read about the riot, so I don't know if this is the best one, but it's the one I chose. Every American should read about the riot. This book is honest in that it essentially admits that much of what happened is unclear. There are disagreements about why it started, with some people believing it was planned in advance by those who wanted to take black people's property, although it seems it was more spontaneous than that, based on a misunderstanding and a concern by black people that someone was going to be lynched. There's disagreement about whether aircraft were used to bomb the black area.
You won't get definitive answers to all your questions, but you should at least learn what the questions are and learn what there is to know about this horrible occurrence in our country.
What comes to my mind is that this was an American pogrom against a black community. It's shocking that this happened, and every American should learn about it.
This is the only book I've read about the riot, so I don't know if this is the best one, but it's the one I chose. Every American should read about the riot. This book is honest in that it essentially admits that much of what happened is unclear. There are disagreements about why it started, with some people believing it was planned in advance by those who wanted to take black people's property, although it seems it was more spontaneous than that, based on a misunderstanding and a concern by black people that someone was going to be lynched. There's disagreement about whether aircraft were used to bomb the black area.
You won't get definitive answers to all your questions, but you should at least learn what the questions are and learn what there is to know about this horrible occurrence in our country.
March 15, 2015
Coming immediately on the heels of reading Tim Madigan's excellent "The Burning," I wasn't sure I would learn a great deal more about the events of May 31 and June 1, 1921 when an entire section of Tulsa, Oklahoma was burned to the ground in what some call a race riot and others (including Hirsch in this book) a "race war." I was wrong, as a full 40% of this text dwells on the "remembrance" part, vividly and powerfully grappling with issues related to reparations and remembrance in modern-day Oklahoma and, indeed, America. Highly-recommended reading, even if more than a bit disturbing - as it should be - given our current and necessary engagement on issues of race, power, and police (and political) culpability.
September 14, 2019
Of the 5 books on the Tulsa Race Riots I've read, this is possibly the most balanced account... rare for a book on this topic. Hirsch's rendering is chock-full of facts and stories from both sides of the fence. Though there are areas where he tries to play up to the African American community, he still does so far less than authors Tim Madigan and Alfred Brophy. He also cares enough to describe predecessor Scott Ellsworth's 2-year struggle on researching this horrific, tragic event. In short, he's respectful to the event, its participants, his audience, and Ellsworth... the man who refused to let this story be forgotten.
June 19, 2020
Like many Americans my emotions are running high on many levels. I’m so tired of a minority of white Americans belittling the “Black Lives Movement” overtly or subtly by repeating with righteous indignation “All Lives Matter”. Some claim institutional racism does not exist and that we should all just pull ourselves up from our bootstraps. It is in that vein I provide the following book review of the Greenwood, OK race riot of June 1921. I’m pretty certain that most white Americans may not even know about Greenwood. But I can guarantee you that nearly all African Americans know!
Riot and Remembrance, by James S. Hirsch, is a profoundly troubling story. For decades the Tulsa Race Riot was largely relegated to the memories of African Americans and justified by a false narrative by the white residents of Tulsa. Many native Tulsans knew nothing of the Riot until the last 20 years or so when historians and others began to decree the atrocity. The Riot was not addressed in local civic discourse, and was barely mentioned in state-mandated textbooks.
An alleged "assault" involving two teenagers, a 17 year-old white female elevator operator and a 19 year-old shoeshine boy, triggered violence and mayhem. The supposed "assault" (code word for rape in the overtly racist culture that defined this period) catalyzed rumors of a planned lynching. Sensational reporting by the Tulsa Tribune, lax law enforcement, and a racially hostile climate in general, fomented mob rule. All hell broke loose. White vigilantes invaded Greenwood, the prominent African American community referred to by some as “Black Wall Street”. They looted, burned, and shot with abandon. Fire bombs were dropped from airplanes. People and property vanished. Property damage ran into the millions. 1,256 homes, churches, stores, schools, hospitals and a library—was looted and burned to the ground, 300 people were killed, 800 were hospitalized and 6000 black residents were finally forced at gunpoint into detention centers. Even more shocking is that the event has been virtually wiped from history. No one was prosecuted even though nearly 100 individuals were indicted.
The Tulsa Race Riot Commission convened in 1997 charged by the Oklahoma Legislature with finding facts, locating survivors, and offering recommendations, including whether reparations for the Riot should be made. Hirsch focuses on the de facto apartheid that brought about the riot and its legacy. Tulsa's establishment and many victims tried to forget the events of 1921 even destroying records and refusing to discuss or acknowledge it as a riot. White Tulsa thrived before and after the riot becoming a stronghold of Klan activity. Greenwood struggled. As the decades passed, the economic and social divides between white and black worlds deepened.
Some may shake their head in disgust and disbelief and view Greenwood as an anomaly of US History. But it is not! Two years later the Rosewood massacre occurred in Florida with a death toll of 150 and the town burned to the ground. Same basic story and result. And the story was repeated over and over. And that doesn’t even touch on the 4400 African Americans that were lynched after the civil war well into the 20th century.
To those of you decrying the removal of Civil War memorials with the refrain of “we cannot erase history”, do you know our history? Where is the the history of those thousands that have been lost? Could you stop for a moment and attempt to look at history through the eyes of Black America? Was there ever justice for them? How about Emmett Till? Did their lives matter?
Riot and Remembrance, by James S. Hirsch, is a profoundly troubling story. For decades the Tulsa Race Riot was largely relegated to the memories of African Americans and justified by a false narrative by the white residents of Tulsa. Many native Tulsans knew nothing of the Riot until the last 20 years or so when historians and others began to decree the atrocity. The Riot was not addressed in local civic discourse, and was barely mentioned in state-mandated textbooks.
An alleged "assault" involving two teenagers, a 17 year-old white female elevator operator and a 19 year-old shoeshine boy, triggered violence and mayhem. The supposed "assault" (code word for rape in the overtly racist culture that defined this period) catalyzed rumors of a planned lynching. Sensational reporting by the Tulsa Tribune, lax law enforcement, and a racially hostile climate in general, fomented mob rule. All hell broke loose. White vigilantes invaded Greenwood, the prominent African American community referred to by some as “Black Wall Street”. They looted, burned, and shot with abandon. Fire bombs were dropped from airplanes. People and property vanished. Property damage ran into the millions. 1,256 homes, churches, stores, schools, hospitals and a library—was looted and burned to the ground, 300 people were killed, 800 were hospitalized and 6000 black residents were finally forced at gunpoint into detention centers. Even more shocking is that the event has been virtually wiped from history. No one was prosecuted even though nearly 100 individuals were indicted.
The Tulsa Race Riot Commission convened in 1997 charged by the Oklahoma Legislature with finding facts, locating survivors, and offering recommendations, including whether reparations for the Riot should be made. Hirsch focuses on the de facto apartheid that brought about the riot and its legacy. Tulsa's establishment and many victims tried to forget the events of 1921 even destroying records and refusing to discuss or acknowledge it as a riot. White Tulsa thrived before and after the riot becoming a stronghold of Klan activity. Greenwood struggled. As the decades passed, the economic and social divides between white and black worlds deepened.
Some may shake their head in disgust and disbelief and view Greenwood as an anomaly of US History. But it is not! Two years later the Rosewood massacre occurred in Florida with a death toll of 150 and the town burned to the ground. Same basic story and result. And the story was repeated over and over. And that doesn’t even touch on the 4400 African Americans that were lynched after the civil war well into the 20th century.
To those of you decrying the removal of Civil War memorials with the refrain of “we cannot erase history”, do you know our history? Where is the the history of those thousands that have been lost? Could you stop for a moment and attempt to look at history through the eyes of Black America? Was there ever justice for them? How about Emmett Till? Did their lives matter?
December 20, 2018
There are not that many books on the Tulsa Riot of 1921. This one is very thorough. It presents the birth and early growth of Tulsa as well as the growth of Greenwood and the African American population in Tulsa. It then goes into as much detail as possible of the riot itself. The author used as many sources as they could locate and it is quite thorough. Then the aftermath is discussed. This includes the mandatory internment of the African American population at the fairground facilities as well as the white population's attempts to prevent the rebuilding of Greenwood. The author then goes into the decades of active suppression of information and discussion about the riot from both races and why. Finally, the discussion of reparations and the creation of a memorial in the 1990s are addressed. Very informative and well done.
July 11, 2011
James Hirsch has written perhaps the definitive study of the 1921 race war in Tulsa, the racial and economic context of the conflict, its long-term consequences, and the empty victory that was the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconciliation Act. His work has dramatically altered my own views of the event. Like most Oklahomans (I grew up in northern Okmulgee County, only 22 miles from Greenwood), I knew nothing about these events until the state established the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. My own family members, who may very well have been present in Tulsa during the conflagration, were participants in the white “conspiracy of silence.” That silence, along with the destruction of public records concerning the events of 31 May through 2 June, 1921, makes it unlikely that the “truth” will ever be established, certainly not in the sense of producing a legal cause of action.
Like many supporters of civil rights and equal opportunity, I had always assumed that white vigilantes took advantage of a volatile situation to terrorize innocent victims in Greenwood. The story presented by Hirsch, however, is much more nuanced than that. Irrespective of who “started the riot,” armed African Americans gave the whites and National Guard as good as they got in return. There are many documented instances of Greenwood citizens defending their community with careful, methodical, and lethal force. Hirsch makes clear that the Greenwood calamite was not a “race riot,” it was a “race war.” Therein lays the rub.
The Greenwood community was prosperous and mostly separated from white Tulsa by the city railroad. People took pride in their community and their civic accomplishments. They were not about to sit back meekly and allow whites to lynch another black man (Dick Rowland) and they certainly would not capitulate to an armed, invading, white mob, probably acting with the assistance of the Oklahoma National Guard. Many armed men sniped at the white invaders, who returned fire with Browning automatic rifles and, perhaps, incendiary bombs dropped from National Guard aircraft (this has never been proved). In the end, Greenwood’s defenders were simply overwhelmed by better armed, superior numbers. After the National Guard cleared Greenwood of snipers, the white mob proceeded to burn the community to the ground, destroying its hospital, middle school, hotels, restaurants, theaters, and private homes, creating somewhere between 7,000 and 9,000 refugees.
Ironically, perhaps, the same brave and heroic Greenwood defenders, a key part of the community’s collective memory and an important source of its pride, undermine the rationale for reparations. Maybe Greenwood men started the “riot” (or “war”) by shooting first, as white Tulsans have long contended and used as a reason to deny reparations. That, however, raises another problem for whites, namely, that their reaction was disproportionate as a lawful attempt to restore order and protect lives and property. Once armed resistance ended, the torching and pillaging began. The white mob and National Guard victimized innocent women and children, not simply “combatants.” There were no similar attacks on white property and businesses by blacks; whites could destroy Greenwood with impunity and without fear of retaliation.
From my perspective, the Greenwood race war reflected and foreshadowed the totality of modern warfare in the 20th century. Like Sherman in Atlanta, the Germans in Louvain, Warsaw, and Rotterdam, the Japanese in Shanghai, the British in Hamburg and Dresden, and the Americans in Tokyo, white Tulsans inflicted injuries on the guilty and innocent alike with the unspoken goal of destroying a community, a culture, and possibly preventing its resurrection forever. Like the annihilators above, white Tulsans blamed the destruction on the victims themselves, created moral and legal rationales for their actions, and denied responsibility for repairing the damage done. And like the annihilators above, or at least the victorious ones, white Tulsans have created a collective memory that defends and rationalizes the great harm done.
Like many supporters of civil rights and equal opportunity, I had always assumed that white vigilantes took advantage of a volatile situation to terrorize innocent victims in Greenwood. The story presented by Hirsch, however, is much more nuanced than that. Irrespective of who “started the riot,” armed African Americans gave the whites and National Guard as good as they got in return. There are many documented instances of Greenwood citizens defending their community with careful, methodical, and lethal force. Hirsch makes clear that the Greenwood calamite was not a “race riot,” it was a “race war.” Therein lays the rub.
The Greenwood community was prosperous and mostly separated from white Tulsa by the city railroad. People took pride in their community and their civic accomplishments. They were not about to sit back meekly and allow whites to lynch another black man (Dick Rowland) and they certainly would not capitulate to an armed, invading, white mob, probably acting with the assistance of the Oklahoma National Guard. Many armed men sniped at the white invaders, who returned fire with Browning automatic rifles and, perhaps, incendiary bombs dropped from National Guard aircraft (this has never been proved). In the end, Greenwood’s defenders were simply overwhelmed by better armed, superior numbers. After the National Guard cleared Greenwood of snipers, the white mob proceeded to burn the community to the ground, destroying its hospital, middle school, hotels, restaurants, theaters, and private homes, creating somewhere between 7,000 and 9,000 refugees.
Ironically, perhaps, the same brave and heroic Greenwood defenders, a key part of the community’s collective memory and an important source of its pride, undermine the rationale for reparations. Maybe Greenwood men started the “riot” (or “war”) by shooting first, as white Tulsans have long contended and used as a reason to deny reparations. That, however, raises another problem for whites, namely, that their reaction was disproportionate as a lawful attempt to restore order and protect lives and property. Once armed resistance ended, the torching and pillaging began. The white mob and National Guard victimized innocent women and children, not simply “combatants.” There were no similar attacks on white property and businesses by blacks; whites could destroy Greenwood with impunity and without fear of retaliation.
From my perspective, the Greenwood race war reflected and foreshadowed the totality of modern warfare in the 20th century. Like Sherman in Atlanta, the Germans in Louvain, Warsaw, and Rotterdam, the Japanese in Shanghai, the British in Hamburg and Dresden, and the Americans in Tokyo, white Tulsans inflicted injuries on the guilty and innocent alike with the unspoken goal of destroying a community, a culture, and possibly preventing its resurrection forever. Like the annihilators above, white Tulsans blamed the destruction on the victims themselves, created moral and legal rationales for their actions, and denied responsibility for repairing the damage done. And like the annihilators above, or at least the victorious ones, white Tulsans have created a collective memory that defends and rationalizes the great harm done.
August 24, 2021
Riot And Remembrance: The Tulsa Race Massacre and Its Legacy by James S. Hirsch.
‘Black success was an intolerable affront to the social order of white supremacy, so taking their possessions not only stripped blacks of their material status but also tipped the social scales back to their proper alignment. This reassertion of authority, expressed through ransacked homes, was a cause for celebration.’ -page 105.
‘She (Veneice Sims) thought the whole premise of reparations was wrong: money could never restore her losses, so she did not want some token payment to flatter the vanity of whites who would believe that justice had been done.’ -page 292
“…black Tulsans had every reason to believe that Dick Rowland’s safety was at risk; that the civil authorities deputized white men whose illegal actions added to the violence; and that the restoration of Greenwood after its systematic destruction was left principally to the victims.” -page 318.
‘Tulsa itself remained racially divided, with black neighborhoods extending several miles north of the old Greenwood district. But the racial boundaries that had been inviolable thirty-five years earlier had eroded.’ -page 321.
“None of us are guilty for the sins of our fathers, but we are responsible for how we react to the evils that were done,” he said. -page 327.
From a creek town to The Oil Capital of The World, Tulsa became the promised land not only for the industrial workers but also for the black communities. Centered in Greenwood, it was the most prominent African-American business district in the United States back in 1921. There were law firms, hotel, movie theatre, grocery stores, shoeshine parlors, churches, hospital, and schools.
At 31 May 1921, a black man was jailed for allegedly assaulting a white woman in a downtown elevator. A front-page article in Tulsa Tribune, an afternoon newspaper, set off rumor about a possible lynching. A group of armed black men marched to the courthouse to prevent it but they were all met by mob of whites. As can be expected, the situation worsened. A shot was fired and all hell’s break loose. The day after (June 1), the white mob attacked Greenwood. They looted on every building and house and torched them, some of the blacks even witnessed airplanes dropped bombs on top of them. The attacks destroyed more than 35 blocks of the wealthy Greenwood Districts and more than 10,000 black citizens left homeless and penniless.
The Tulsa citizens fell into what called ‘the culture of silence.’ Everything about the riot never been talked about since, like it’s never happened, at least between the whites. While stories told from mouth to mouth for generations in black communities, it was only 75 years later that the race riot was finally acknowledged and commemorated. The state legislature finally formed a commission to study the race riot and the final report, published in 2001, states that the city had conspired with the mob of white citizens against Black citizens; it recommended a program of reparations to survivors and their descendants.
A heartbreaking story about racial divide led to a horrifying destruction, James S. Hirsch wrote about Tulsa Race Riot with a complete and amazing details. His interviews with the direct witnesses and their descendants added a bonus point, it made the incident even more touching and personal.
This book exposes the dark side of the history of Tulsa, a small town that shines with prosperity amidst poverty in the state of Oklahoma. ‘While the riot was triggered by a racially charged news article, it was fueled by two headstrong forces: whites reasserting their supremacy in the South through the Jim Crow laws and disenfranchisement, and blacks demanding political equality and economic opportunity.’ -page 6. ‘Black success was an intolerable affront to the social order of white supremacy, so taking their possessions not only stripped blacks of their material status but also tipped the social scales back to their proper alignment.’ – page 105. In short, the attacks and destructions of Greenwood were not a matter of the alleged assault of a black man to a white woman anymore but instead to stripped the Black community, not only of their wealth and prosperity, but also of their dignity and pride. Some of the victims and descendants even refused the reparations, because ‘the thought of the whole premise of reparations was wrong: money could never restore her losses, so she did not want some token payment to flatter the vanity of whites who would believe that justice had been done.’ -page 292, words of Veniece Sims, 17 years old at the time of the riot.
‘Tulsa itself remained racially divided, with black neighborhoods extending several miles north of the old Greenwood district. But the racial boundaries that had been inviolable thirty-five years earlier had eroded.’ -page 321. Now, a commemoration held annually, a cultural center was built, and a monument was erected. the residents of the Greenwood district try to keep the memory of the Tulsa Race Massacre prominent within the community. “None of us are guilty for the sins of our fathers, but we are responsible for how we react to the evils that were done.” - page 327.
‘Black success was an intolerable affront to the social order of white supremacy, so taking their possessions not only stripped blacks of their material status but also tipped the social scales back to their proper alignment. This reassertion of authority, expressed through ransacked homes, was a cause for celebration.’ -page 105.
‘She (Veneice Sims) thought the whole premise of reparations was wrong: money could never restore her losses, so she did not want some token payment to flatter the vanity of whites who would believe that justice had been done.’ -page 292
“…black Tulsans had every reason to believe that Dick Rowland’s safety was at risk; that the civil authorities deputized white men whose illegal actions added to the violence; and that the restoration of Greenwood after its systematic destruction was left principally to the victims.” -page 318.
‘Tulsa itself remained racially divided, with black neighborhoods extending several miles north of the old Greenwood district. But the racial boundaries that had been inviolable thirty-five years earlier had eroded.’ -page 321.
“None of us are guilty for the sins of our fathers, but we are responsible for how we react to the evils that were done,” he said. -page 327.
From a creek town to The Oil Capital of The World, Tulsa became the promised land not only for the industrial workers but also for the black communities. Centered in Greenwood, it was the most prominent African-American business district in the United States back in 1921. There were law firms, hotel, movie theatre, grocery stores, shoeshine parlors, churches, hospital, and schools.
At 31 May 1921, a black man was jailed for allegedly assaulting a white woman in a downtown elevator. A front-page article in Tulsa Tribune, an afternoon newspaper, set off rumor about a possible lynching. A group of armed black men marched to the courthouse to prevent it but they were all met by mob of whites. As can be expected, the situation worsened. A shot was fired and all hell’s break loose. The day after (June 1), the white mob attacked Greenwood. They looted on every building and house and torched them, some of the blacks even witnessed airplanes dropped bombs on top of them. The attacks destroyed more than 35 blocks of the wealthy Greenwood Districts and more than 10,000 black citizens left homeless and penniless.
The Tulsa citizens fell into what called ‘the culture of silence.’ Everything about the riot never been talked about since, like it’s never happened, at least between the whites. While stories told from mouth to mouth for generations in black communities, it was only 75 years later that the race riot was finally acknowledged and commemorated. The state legislature finally formed a commission to study the race riot and the final report, published in 2001, states that the city had conspired with the mob of white citizens against Black citizens; it recommended a program of reparations to survivors and their descendants.
A heartbreaking story about racial divide led to a horrifying destruction, James S. Hirsch wrote about Tulsa Race Riot with a complete and amazing details. His interviews with the direct witnesses and their descendants added a bonus point, it made the incident even more touching and personal.
This book exposes the dark side of the history of Tulsa, a small town that shines with prosperity amidst poverty in the state of Oklahoma. ‘While the riot was triggered by a racially charged news article, it was fueled by two headstrong forces: whites reasserting their supremacy in the South through the Jim Crow laws and disenfranchisement, and blacks demanding political equality and economic opportunity.’ -page 6. ‘Black success was an intolerable affront to the social order of white supremacy, so taking their possessions not only stripped blacks of their material status but also tipped the social scales back to their proper alignment.’ – page 105. In short, the attacks and destructions of Greenwood were not a matter of the alleged assault of a black man to a white woman anymore but instead to stripped the Black community, not only of their wealth and prosperity, but also of their dignity and pride. Some of the victims and descendants even refused the reparations, because ‘the thought of the whole premise of reparations was wrong: money could never restore her losses, so she did not want some token payment to flatter the vanity of whites who would believe that justice had been done.’ -page 292, words of Veniece Sims, 17 years old at the time of the riot.
‘Tulsa itself remained racially divided, with black neighborhoods extending several miles north of the old Greenwood district. But the racial boundaries that had been inviolable thirty-five years earlier had eroded.’ -page 321. Now, a commemoration held annually, a cultural center was built, and a monument was erected. the residents of the Greenwood district try to keep the memory of the Tulsa Race Massacre prominent within the community. “None of us are guilty for the sins of our fathers, but we are responsible for how we react to the evils that were done.” - page 327.
November 30, 2017
Didn't really read the whole thing haha
Read what I needed for my last paper of the semester
Read what I needed for my last paper of the semester
March 8, 2026
I think the first time I heard about the Tulsa riot/massacre was a news story that was about the effort to find mass graves. If I recall, the people doing the searching didn't find what they were looking for, but it did make an impression on me.
This book was first published in 2002; the edition I read had a preface in 2021, written for the 100th anniversary of the event, when the massacre was very much on people's minds after the summer of 2020. Hirsch begins the new preface by noting "Anytime you write a book about a historical event, the question inevitably arises: What relevance does that event have today? No one is asking that anymore about the Tulsa race massacre of 1921" (p. 6).
This is an excellent book. Hirsch goes through the history of Tulsa, describing how the city developed and the attitudes of the residents and how those led to the events of May 31-June 1, 1921 ("Even in its early boom years, the city's lawlessness was virtually impossible to stop" [p. 33]); I was surprised to learn how new a city Tulsa is and how ingrained racism was in Oklahoma and Tulsa itself ("The ascendancy of the Democratic Party at statehood . . . meant the denial of civil liberties to blacks, but Oklahoma was determined to out-Jim Crow the other southern states" [p. 44]). Hirsch goes into racial violence and lynching and the tropes that white people believed about Black people being happy during slavery and how that affected race relations in the 1920s:
Hirsch describes the precipitating events and what happened in Tulsa during the massacre, but it took up less of the book than I expected. It's still hard to read. Part of the issue goes hand-in-hand with the second part of the book title: "remembrance." Because in the years after the massacre, a lot of the primary documents disappear. There's debate about whether a newspaper published an editorial "To Lynch a Negro Tonight"; the editorial page and front-page story about the inciting incident were both cut from the newspaper's bound volumes. Even the official documentation has disappeared. So mostly what we're left with is what participants and victims told their descendants.
Hirsch details what happened after the massacre, what happened to the residents of Greenwood (which was awful and incredibly degrading, which shouldn't have surprised me but still did) in the immediate aftermath and as time went on. He talks about the town rebuilding and what happened to various people involved, and then how it was remembered--or denied.
Essentially, white people believed that Black people invaded their side of town and they had to defend themselves. Black people believed that a Black teenager was going to be lynched for assaulting a white woman--a white woman who pretty quickly denied that she was assaulted and said she wouldn't pretty charges--and so they went to where he was being held to prevent that from happening. In the time to come, both groups came to believe certain things, whether or not those were factual.
Hirsch spends a lot of the book going into the remembrance of the event, how people try to deny it, how it was discussed or not, how it was researched, how the threat of another one loomed over the residents of Tulsa, both Black and white, how it was commemorated. A commission was assembled in the 1990s to study it and make recommendations, including about reparations. He gets into what actually happened as well as he can.
I appreciated how even-handed he was. The horrors of the destruction of Greenwood aren't denied; he delves a lot into issues like whether the area was firebombed and whether there were mass graves of victims. (Having read this, I feel like planes definitely flew over the area but didn't bomb it; there were definitely more victims that the official tally, but I'm unsure about the mass graves.) He tells the stories of victims with respect and my heart absolutely broke for them, but he doesn't accept everything they say at face value. He does tell their story, sharing things, for example, like the idea that the massacre was planned by white city officials; my impression is more that these people took advantage of what was going on to destroy Greenwood, but they didn't plan it. Circumstances were definitely in their favor. He follows Don Ross, a Black journalist-turned-politician (who fought to get the Confederate flag off the capitol grounds) throughout the remembrance section. Ross is a fascinating figure and this from him really struck me:
I feel like I learned a lot from this book, and as a history major, the discussion of how events are remembered, officially and unofficially, fascinated me. But ultimately, the book just broke my heart over and over again.
Recommend.
This book was first published in 2002; the edition I read had a preface in 2021, written for the 100th anniversary of the event, when the massacre was very much on people's minds after the summer of 2020. Hirsch begins the new preface by noting "Anytime you write a book about a historical event, the question inevitably arises: What relevance does that event have today? No one is asking that anymore about the Tulsa race massacre of 1921" (p. 6).
This is an excellent book. Hirsch goes through the history of Tulsa, describing how the city developed and the attitudes of the residents and how those led to the events of May 31-June 1, 1921 ("Even in its early boom years, the city's lawlessness was virtually impossible to stop" [p. 33]); I was surprised to learn how new a city Tulsa is and how ingrained racism was in Oklahoma and Tulsa itself ("The ascendancy of the Democratic Party at statehood . . . meant the denial of civil liberties to blacks, but Oklahoma was determined to out-Jim Crow the other southern states" [p. 44]). Hirsch goes into racial violence and lynching and the tropes that white people believed about Black people being happy during slavery and how that affected race relations in the 1920s:
The "new Negro" was the malevolent counterpart of the "old Negro," or "Sambo," whom whites invented during slavery and later romanticized in merchandise as a simple, carefree "darky" who lived in an antebellum racial utopia. The "new Negro," according to this view, lacked the civilizing restraints of slavery and was therefore regressing to a state of barbarism. Physical force was the only way to restrain him. (p. 62)
Hirsch describes the precipitating events and what happened in Tulsa during the massacre, but it took up less of the book than I expected. It's still hard to read. Part of the issue goes hand-in-hand with the second part of the book title: "remembrance." Because in the years after the massacre, a lot of the primary documents disappear. There's debate about whether a newspaper published an editorial "To Lynch a Negro Tonight"; the editorial page and front-page story about the inciting incident were both cut from the newspaper's bound volumes. Even the official documentation has disappeared. So mostly what we're left with is what participants and victims told their descendants.
Hirsch details what happened after the massacre, what happened to the residents of Greenwood (which was awful and incredibly degrading, which shouldn't have surprised me but still did) in the immediate aftermath and as time went on. He talks about the town rebuilding and what happened to various people involved, and then how it was remembered--or denied.
Essentially, white people believed that Black people invaded their side of town and they had to defend themselves. Black people believed that a Black teenager was going to be lynched for assaulting a white woman--a white woman who pretty quickly denied that she was assaulted and said she wouldn't pretty charges--and so they went to where he was being held to prevent that from happening. In the time to come, both groups came to believe certain things, whether or not those were factual.
Hirsch spends a lot of the book going into the remembrance of the event, how people try to deny it, how it was discussed or not, how it was researched, how the threat of another one loomed over the residents of Tulsa, both Black and white, how it was commemorated. A commission was assembled in the 1990s to study it and make recommendations, including about reparations. He gets into what actually happened as well as he can.
I appreciated how even-handed he was. The horrors of the destruction of Greenwood aren't denied; he delves a lot into issues like whether the area was firebombed and whether there were mass graves of victims. (Having read this, I feel like planes definitely flew over the area but didn't bomb it; there were definitely more victims that the official tally, but I'm unsure about the mass graves.) He tells the stories of victims with respect and my heart absolutely broke for them, but he doesn't accept everything they say at face value. He does tell their story, sharing things, for example, like the idea that the massacre was planned by white city officials; my impression is more that these people took advantage of what was going on to destroy Greenwood, but they didn't plan it. Circumstances were definitely in their favor. He follows Don Ross, a Black journalist-turned-politician (who fought to get the Confederate flag off the capitol grounds) throughout the remembrance section. Ross is a fascinating figure and this from him really struck me:
When a white interviewer suggested that race relations had improved since the 1950s, [Ross] leaned forward and glared. "How in the hell can you tell me that?" he demanded. "You know, you talk about privilege and entitlement. The biggest entitlement white folks have is the entitlement of being white. Break that for me . . . I mean, it don't make sense to me, the white folks' attitude, that somehow I ought to be appreciative that you don't hate me as much. That's the progress. Once you would physically kill me, and I have evidence of that, and now you just choke me to death economically and politically and socially, and you want me to say that's progress from dying! 'Because you sonofabitch you, we coulda killed your black ass,' that's what you're telling me. But now we let you live, and I'm proud of that progress. White folks let me live. Until I get the same entitlement irrespective of skin color, fuck you . . . But I love you. (p. 228)
I feel like I learned a lot from this book, and as a history major, the discussion of how events are remembered, officially and unofficially, fascinated me. But ultimately, the book just broke my heart over and over again.
Recommend.
Read
April 13, 2025Book Review: Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy by James S. Hirsch
James S. Hirsch’s Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy is a poignant and meticulously researched account of one of the most devastating events in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. This book not only chronicles the tragic events of that fateful week but also delves into the enduring legacy of racial violence and the struggles for justice in Tulsa and beyond.
An In-Depth Historical Account
Hirsch provides readers with a detailed narrative that captures the context leading up to the riot, the events of the massacre itself, and the aftermath that followed. He skillfully synthesizes historical documents, eyewitness accounts, and scholarly research to paint a vivid picture of the vibrant Black community of Greenwood, known as “Black Wall Street,” before its destruction. The book captures the economic prosperity and cultural richness of the area, making the tragedy of its loss all the more poignant.
Emotional Impact and Personal Stories
What sets this book apart is Hirsch’s focus on personal narratives. He humanizes the statistics, introducing readers to the lives of individuals impacted by the violence. Through these stories, readers gain a deeper understanding of the emotional and psychological scars left on survivors and their descendants. Hirsch’s empathetic portrayal of these experiences serves as a powerful reminder of the human cost of racial hatred.
Exploring the Legacy
Riot and Remembrance does not merely recount historical events; it also examines the long-term implications of the massacre and its legacy in American society. Hirsch discusses the persistent patterns of racism, the struggles for reparations, and the ongoing fight for civil rights. He highlights how the massacre has been largely forgotten or ignored in mainstream narratives of American history, calling for a more honest reconciliation with this dark chapter.
Critical Reflection on Race Relations
Hirsch’s exploration of the Tulsa Race Massacre is particularly timely, given the ongoing discussions surrounding race relations in the United States. The book serves as a crucial reminder of the destructive power of racism and the importance of acknowledging and confronting historical injustices. It challenges readers to reflect on the current state of race relations and the necessity of working toward healing and understanding.
Conclusion: A Must-Read for Understanding History and Its Impact
Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy is an essential read for anyone interested in American history, racial justice, and the complexities of societal healing. James S. Hirsch has crafted a compelling narrative that combines rigorous research with human stories, making the historical context accessible and relatable. This book not only honors the memory of those who suffered in the Tulsa Race Massacre but also encourages readers to engage with the ongoing legacy of racial violence in America. Highly recommended for both scholars and general readers alike, it is a significant contribution to the discourse on race and justice in the United States.
James S. Hirsch’s Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy is a poignant and meticulously researched account of one of the most devastating events in American history: the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. This book not only chronicles the tragic events of that fateful week but also delves into the enduring legacy of racial violence and the struggles for justice in Tulsa and beyond.
An In-Depth Historical Account
Hirsch provides readers with a detailed narrative that captures the context leading up to the riot, the events of the massacre itself, and the aftermath that followed. He skillfully synthesizes historical documents, eyewitness accounts, and scholarly research to paint a vivid picture of the vibrant Black community of Greenwood, known as “Black Wall Street,” before its destruction. The book captures the economic prosperity and cultural richness of the area, making the tragedy of its loss all the more poignant.
Emotional Impact and Personal Stories
What sets this book apart is Hirsch’s focus on personal narratives. He humanizes the statistics, introducing readers to the lives of individuals impacted by the violence. Through these stories, readers gain a deeper understanding of the emotional and psychological scars left on survivors and their descendants. Hirsch’s empathetic portrayal of these experiences serves as a powerful reminder of the human cost of racial hatred.
Exploring the Legacy
Riot and Remembrance does not merely recount historical events; it also examines the long-term implications of the massacre and its legacy in American society. Hirsch discusses the persistent patterns of racism, the struggles for reparations, and the ongoing fight for civil rights. He highlights how the massacre has been largely forgotten or ignored in mainstream narratives of American history, calling for a more honest reconciliation with this dark chapter.
Critical Reflection on Race Relations
Hirsch’s exploration of the Tulsa Race Massacre is particularly timely, given the ongoing discussions surrounding race relations in the United States. The book serves as a crucial reminder of the destructive power of racism and the importance of acknowledging and confronting historical injustices. It challenges readers to reflect on the current state of race relations and the necessity of working toward healing and understanding.
Conclusion: A Must-Read for Understanding History and Its Impact
Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy is an essential read for anyone interested in American history, racial justice, and the complexities of societal healing. James S. Hirsch has crafted a compelling narrative that combines rigorous research with human stories, making the historical context accessible and relatable. This book not only honors the memory of those who suffered in the Tulsa Race Massacre but also encourages readers to engage with the ongoing legacy of racial violence in America. Highly recommended for both scholars and general readers alike, it is a significant contribution to the discourse on race and justice in the United States.
May 25, 2021
This is a book I've saved back to read until now...just as we approach the 100th anniversary of the events in Tulsa.
I knew the broad outlines of the events and their aftermath, but I learned a lot more about the deliberate silence surrounding it...and the debate surrounding the issue of how to commemorate or educate others about what happened nearly years ago.
I knew about Tulsa, and its significance after seeing a large painting depicting the aftermath with a brief artist's summary after seeing the artist's display at a major art festival in (of all places) western Michigan!
I wondered why we never heard about it...even as Tim was earning a Master's degree in history with a minor in African-American history.
We were not able to find much online about it, although I discovered a work of historical fiction written by someone in a writer's group I belonged to.
Several years later, I started hearing about "Tulsa" as a presidential candidate announced their intention to stage the opening rally of their 2020 campaign...something that made no immediate sense to me (as a graduate in Political Science and as a long-time political activist) in terms of the politics of the contest and states that seemed more important in terms of votes. In Oklahoma? Really?...the only thing I knew about Tulsa was that there was a major race "riot" years ago...and a major portion of the town's area was destroyed by fire.
This book was written nearly 20 years ago...so it would be nice to learn if their is any newer books or work to update the research done by Hirsch's book.
Watched some video coverage of the new center in Tulsa as it opened this past year...and will try to watch some of the shows I've seen to be running in conjunction with the 100th anniversary.
Quite surprised to find how little ANYONE seems to know about this sorry story...
I knew the broad outlines of the events and their aftermath, but I learned a lot more about the deliberate silence surrounding it...and the debate surrounding the issue of how to commemorate or educate others about what happened nearly years ago.
I knew about Tulsa, and its significance after seeing a large painting depicting the aftermath with a brief artist's summary after seeing the artist's display at a major art festival in (of all places) western Michigan!
I wondered why we never heard about it...even as Tim was earning a Master's degree in history with a minor in African-American history.
We were not able to find much online about it, although I discovered a work of historical fiction written by someone in a writer's group I belonged to.
Several years later, I started hearing about "Tulsa" as a presidential candidate announced their intention to stage the opening rally of their 2020 campaign...something that made no immediate sense to me (as a graduate in Political Science and as a long-time political activist) in terms of the politics of the contest and states that seemed more important in terms of votes. In Oklahoma? Really?...the only thing I knew about Tulsa was that there was a major race "riot" years ago...and a major portion of the town's area was destroyed by fire.
This book was written nearly 20 years ago...so it would be nice to learn if their is any newer books or work to update the research done by Hirsch's book.
Watched some video coverage of the new center in Tulsa as it opened this past year...and will try to watch some of the shows I've seen to be running in conjunction with the 100th anniversary.
Quite surprised to find how little ANYONE seems to know about this sorry story...
December 29, 2020
An excellent history work I’d recommend to just about any American. I’d seen Watchmen and heard about the Tulsa Race Riots/Massacre and Black Wall Street, but reading the real history added a lot; there are some historical events where reading a wikipedia summary will give you a decent understanding, but not this one.
You’d expect a book on the riots to be primarily about the massacre itself, but where the book excels is in examining the layers of intentional forgetting that happened after the massacre (which I expected, given the title), as well as the unusual conditions that preceded the riot (which I didn’t expect or know about). Oklahoma as a promised land for both white settlers and freedpeople (OK wasn’t part of the Confederacy), Tulsa as the Magic City of oil boom fame, massive segregation as well as promise for new settlers both black and white…Hirsch sets the stage well as a story that, while absolutely representative of the Jim Crow era, also was created by unusual Tulsa-specific factors.
In book club conversations afterward I heard people using terms to describe the massacre like “crazy,” “unbelievable,” or “what a shitshow!”, often accompanied by pivots to use the same words to describe aspect of the Trump administration or white nationalist politics today. I think this fully misses the point — this book works toward establishing events like the Tulsa Massacre as not particularly unbelievable! The later chapters make a strong case that the liberal impulse to categorize violent racial conflict as “unbelievable” or “wow, crazy” contributes to the intentional amnesia about the riots afterward. The later chapters do great work chronicling the bipartisan forgetting and then gradual recovery of the massacre by committed historians.
You’d expect a book on the riots to be primarily about the massacre itself, but where the book excels is in examining the layers of intentional forgetting that happened after the massacre (which I expected, given the title), as well as the unusual conditions that preceded the riot (which I didn’t expect or know about). Oklahoma as a promised land for both white settlers and freedpeople (OK wasn’t part of the Confederacy), Tulsa as the Magic City of oil boom fame, massive segregation as well as promise for new settlers both black and white…Hirsch sets the stage well as a story that, while absolutely representative of the Jim Crow era, also was created by unusual Tulsa-specific factors.
In book club conversations afterward I heard people using terms to describe the massacre like “crazy,” “unbelievable,” or “what a shitshow!”, often accompanied by pivots to use the same words to describe aspect of the Trump administration or white nationalist politics today. I think this fully misses the point — this book works toward establishing events like the Tulsa Massacre as not particularly unbelievable! The later chapters make a strong case that the liberal impulse to categorize violent racial conflict as “unbelievable” or “wow, crazy” contributes to the intentional amnesia about the riots afterward. The later chapters do great work chronicling the bipartisan forgetting and then gradual recovery of the massacre by committed historians.
August 17, 2020
Riot and Remembrance is a thoroughly researched and comprehensively documented account of the 1921 "race riot" / massacre in Tulsa, Oklahama, by all accounts the most deadly and destructive attack by one racial group (white Tulsans) on another (black Tulsans) in U.S. history.
There's no question that the white community was to blame for the destruction wrought on a 35 square block section of black Tulsa, but despite his exhaustive research, author James Hirsch is unable to definitively determine how and why the the riot / massacre started, in large part because the segregation of the communities created entirely contradictory written and oral histories of the event. The intentional hiding of some of the true history by white community leaders was also a major contributing factor to obscuring the truth, as was surely intended.
It can be frustrating to invest in a book like this yet still be unable to know the whole "truth," but Hirsch keeps the narrative interesting and makes it contemporary -- as of 2002, when it was written -- by interviewing the few remaining survivors of the events of 1921, and extensively covering efforts of that time to memorialize the riot / massacre. The current events pale in significance to those of decades before, but in this book you can see how our past informs our present ... and how, tragically, we so often repeat our our past(s) because we too often fail to learn our history. Books like this are an antidote to ignorance, so I recommend it despite its frustrations.
There's no question that the white community was to blame for the destruction wrought on a 35 square block section of black Tulsa, but despite his exhaustive research, author James Hirsch is unable to definitively determine how and why the the riot / massacre started, in large part because the segregation of the communities created entirely contradictory written and oral histories of the event. The intentional hiding of some of the true history by white community leaders was also a major contributing factor to obscuring the truth, as was surely intended.
It can be frustrating to invest in a book like this yet still be unable to know the whole "truth," but Hirsch keeps the narrative interesting and makes it contemporary -- as of 2002, when it was written -- by interviewing the few remaining survivors of the events of 1921, and extensively covering efforts of that time to memorialize the riot / massacre. The current events pale in significance to those of decades before, but in this book you can see how our past informs our present ... and how, tragically, we so often repeat our our past(s) because we too often fail to learn our history. Books like this are an antidote to ignorance, so I recommend it despite its frustrations.
March 27, 2018
I was very late getting a book this year specific to Black History Month. At the last half of February, I grabbed this gem of little known history. Sadly, it didn't surprise me what lay within the pages. Racism galore, jealousy over black people rising up just decades after slavery (and in the midst of Jim Crow), a lovely black neighborhood in the city of Tulsa, OK, providing for its own in a land that cared not for them. Then, the typical: a black male supposedly manhandles a white woman. Black men with guns go to the police to make sure the arrested male won't get dragged out by a mob and lynched (this brought about by a mob having done so, to a white man, in Tulsa the year before). Instead, cries of 'insurrection' by whites set off a riot, a shootout, and mass arson.
What follows is blame (guess who got it?), coverup (decades long), shame, guilt, and twisted stories. This is the sordid end of America's DNA we should be more aware of, where white hatred blows up, destroys, and then quickly forgets, and expects POC to do the same. It also reaffirms that people of color having guns for self defense is NOT viewed the same as whites doing the same, not then, nor now.
What follows is blame (guess who got it?), coverup (decades long), shame, guilt, and twisted stories. This is the sordid end of America's DNA we should be more aware of, where white hatred blows up, destroys, and then quickly forgets, and expects POC to do the same. It also reaffirms that people of color having guns for self defense is NOT viewed the same as whites doing the same, not then, nor now.
December 30, 2020
The professor in charge of this year's college book club choices picked this book about the Tulsa Massacre rather than any other one because the theme of the year is on the aftermath of disasters. This book consists of three sections, one giving the background of the massacre, a second elaborating on the events of the massacre itself, and the third, by far the longest, on the effects of the massacre on Tulsa and how its memory was suppressed, preserved, recovered, commemorated, and debated. I ended up reading the first section and some of the second fairly slowly and then rushing through the rest, which is probably a distorted view of the book, since so much of it focuses on the aftermath. It was certainly educational; of course, stories of real people's pain and suffering always have their emotional effect on me, as well. I remain less engaged with long-form nonfiction than I am with fiction.
May 6, 2020
Eye opening history
This painful part of history no matter how much they tried to hide and bury it had to be uncovered and brought to the light. Every atrocity that has been committed in this country, Blacks have always been on the receiving side of these injustices. This atrocity was so devastating that the oppressors didn’t even want to take credit for their actions but rather have this episode erased from history. Hopefully, this example will show people how hate can lead to despicable acts of evil against other human beings.
There are always two sides to a story and this books tries to cover both sides. If you are not familiar with what happened in Tulsa in 1921 then this book will give you a much needed history lesson.
This painful part of history no matter how much they tried to hide and bury it had to be uncovered and brought to the light. Every atrocity that has been committed in this country, Blacks have always been on the receiving side of these injustices. This atrocity was so devastating that the oppressors didn’t even want to take credit for their actions but rather have this episode erased from history. Hopefully, this example will show people how hate can lead to despicable acts of evil against other human beings.
There are always two sides to a story and this books tries to cover both sides. If you are not familiar with what happened in Tulsa in 1921 then this book will give you a much needed history lesson.
June 22, 2020
This is a disturbing read. My understanding from reading this account is that there was no "balance” between white and black actions in Tulsa in 1921. The facts are that there were murders of the black residents of Greenwood and physical destruction of Greenwood’s black businesses and housing. An overwhelming response by white military and white community destroyed the entire black community because a group of black residents were angry over the possibility of a lynching. There was subsequently a cover up by the white community of the 1921 atrocity.
Tulsa‘s atrocity was part of a long list of atrocities by whites to blacks in America. Today in 2020 a noose was put in a black Nascar driver’s garage.
Tulsa‘s atrocity was part of a long list of atrocities by whites to blacks in America. Today in 2020 a noose was put in a black Nascar driver’s garage.
May 30, 2019
This is the first and only book I've read about the Tulsa race riot. Hirsch presents such a complete backstory and moves through the riots events in such a compelling manner that it brought the events to life. I particularly appreciated his look at how Tulsans and Oklahomans reacted then and now the the events of the riot. Being a native Oklahoman, and approaching the 100th anniversary of the riot in just a couple years, I will be particularly keen to observe attitudes towards the anniversary in today's climate.
December 19, 2020
This is among the more nuanced works about the event: for instance, it describes the misunderstandings between Blacks and Whites that trigged the massacre, the disagreements about strategy that hampered cooperation between the younger, less-wealthy blacks and older, more established ones, and the missing documentation that makes a thorough description impossible.
Read
March 11, 2021Put your other book down and read this one. I'm saddened that I didn't learn this history earlier, but I can see why this attack on a black community didn't get much press and didn't make it into history books. We are ashamed of how awfully we treat black people in this country. We need to step up and take responsibility.
Want to read
November 2, 2021From Follett: Chronicles the events surrounding the Tulsa race war of 1921 in which thousands of whites, many deputized by the local police, swarmed through the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, killing hundreds of African-Americas, and ultimately destroying the neighborhood, and explores the impact the events have had on American society.
July 6, 2024
This books was so excellently written. It brings the truth in a way that makes in impossible to put it down. I am not normally a fan of historical reading, but I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about not just the riots in Tulsa, but about how the racial culture in Oklahoma in general came to be!
September 28, 2019
This is a painful historical piece.. From the powder keg that was Tulsa at the time, to the incredibly important response by the Red Cross, to the legal ramifications and recovery efforts. 300 American citizens dead in a race riot you've probably never heard of..
June 17, 2023
Really good historical information
This book is a great rendition of historical tragedy in American history that needed to be told. I recommend this book to anyone who loves American history and civil rights and justice.
This book is a great rendition of historical tragedy in American history that needed to be told. I recommend this book to anyone who loves American history and civil rights and justice.
May 27, 2019
This was a tough one to read but the story is finally being told and this is a book worth reading.
November 22, 2019
The Tulsa race massacre, a ‘dirty little secret’ (per Crosby Stills & Nash song) that was buried for more than 7 decades, is brilliantly depicted. A must read!
January 9, 2023
Well written & informative, presenting the history of the Tulsa race riot and the community's struggle since. Highly recommend!
November 20, 2024
Great Research.
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