Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921: The History of Black Wall Street, and its Destruction in America's Worst and Most Controversial Racial Riot

by World Changing History

On the morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob numbering in the thousands marched across the railroad tracks dividing black from white in Tulsa, Oklahoma They obliterated a black community then celebrated as one of America's most prosperous. 34 square blocks of Tulsa's Greenwood community, known then as the Black Wall Street of America, were reduced to smoldering rubble. 99 years later, the death toll of what is known as the Tulsa Race Riot is more difficult to pinpoint. Conservative estimates put the number of dead at about 100 (75% of the victims are believed to have been black), but the actual number of casualties could be triple that. In this book, you will discover. How racism and envy. Destroyed a prospering black community, and how it was covered up. Scroll up and Click Buy Now to Gain Instant access!

Genres: Nonfiction

66 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2020

Reviews

[Angela A. Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sad part of our history. I had never heard about this travesty before reading this book.

On the morning of June 1, 1921, a white mob numbering in the thousands marched across the railroad tracks dividing black from white in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and obliterated a black community then celebrated as one of America's most prosperous. 34 square blocks of Tulsa's Greenwood community, known then as the Black Wall Street of America, were reduced to smoldering rubble.

And now, 80 years later, the death toll of what is known as the Tulsa Race Riot is more difficult to pinpoint. Conservative estimates put the number of dead at about 100 (75% of the victims are believed to have been black), but the actual number of casualties could be triple that.
In this book, you will discover. How racism and envy. Destroyed a prospering black community, and how it was covered up.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A FINE OVERVIEW OF THE HORRIFIC DESTRUCTION OF ‘BLACK WALL STREET’

Author Niall wrote in the Introduction to this 2020 book, “The story of the Tulsa massacre tells how 35 square blocks of a city were demolished and then largely forgotten. It’s also a tale of social and economic tensions in a turbulent time, hatred, misunderstanding, and deafening silence left in the absence of justice. At one time… the Greenwood District seems to … [be] a prosperous black community, a shining example… In the gruesome events of that fateful Memorial Day weekend in 1921, this ... was cruelly taken away and turned into a tragedy… In this book, we will… discuss the details of the event itself but also what lead-up to it…” (Pg. 2)

In the first chapter, he states, “The fact that the Greenwood district was once called Black Wall Street is no coincidence… [It] was a bustling community consisting of black workers and company owners that it was famous for. These businesses helped create one of the most prosperous concentrations of African American activity in the United States in the early 20th century.” (Pg. 3)

He recounts, “Not only did segregation and oppression elsewhere in the United States force black people into Greenwood, but the Jim Crow laws in Oklahoma, in some ways stimulated Greenwood’s economic growth. For one, the loans … were something that blacks could almost never get in white-owned banks… Secondly, racial segregation meant that Greenwood’s business stayed within district, guaranteeing revenue to store owners and other small businesses.” (Pg. 7-8)

He notes, “Many of the white residents of Tulsa resented the opulent lifestyle of the African American communities of Greenwood; people they deemed inherently inferior and unworthy of such luxuries. This was particularly … the case among white residents who were poor, and they resented the fact that many blacks had large homes, fancy clothes, and great restaurants to eat in. They simply thought that African Americans did not deserve this opulent lifestyle.” (Pg. 10-11)

He records, “The incident(s) that led to the riot and massacre in Greenwood revolved around Sarah Page, a 17-year-old white girl who worked as an elevator operator… The second half of the story involved Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old African American shoe-shiner, who was accused of sexually assaulting Page and was subsequently arrested. Stories [involving] that day… are conflicting to this very day… In … versions … closest to the truth, he had accidentally stepped on her feet or tripped and feel on her, which explains why she screamed. In yet another version, the two teenagers were lovers and argued. We may never know the truth… Even the names of both protagonists in this story are not authentically verified… He was arrested early the next morning… A plausible conclusion to draw here is that, had the crime been serious or the allegations with any truth to them, the authorities would not have waited until the next day to make an arrest.” (Pg. 13-15)

Of the riot itself, he reports, “As for casualties, it is estimated that between 300 and 3,000 African Americans died, were wounded, or went missing… Exact figures on the causalities are not known to this day due to the dover-up and collusion from authorities… the closest estimate about the number of deaths is between 30 and 300, the vast majority … being blacks with a few whites… Dick Rowland was eventually released. He left Tulsa the next morning, never to be heard of again. Charges against him were also dropped---reported after a written request from Sarah Page.” (Pg. 23)

He explains, “The collusion in the massacre involved insurance companies… It was referred to as the ‘Tulsa Race Riot’ for a long time, which was (according to the Tulsa Historical Society) intentional to scam the black community out of its insurance money since insurance would not cover the damages that happened during a riot. This meant that the African American residents of Greenwood did not get any compensation or benefits after the homes and businesses were destroyed… Worst of all, no white people were convicted of any crimes concerning the events of that horrible massacre. An all-white jury blamed the black members of Tulsa for the civil unrest.” (Pg. 24-25)

He reports, “The resilient African American community of Greenwood began rebuilding their community immediately after the carnage... This was facilitated by the NAACP, donations from black churches, communities townships in Oklahoma, and the desire of locals to see their community prosper once more. regrettably, not all business were able to get back on their feet…” (Pg. 29)

He points out, "It was not until 2001 when the report by the Tulsa Race Riot Commission was issues, that the massacre was formally, yet partially, recognized. People started talking about it again, and the events that happened reached the ears of many. Until that time, few references could be found to the massacre in history books or schools' curriculums, especially in Oklahoma.” (Pg. 34)

He summarizes, “The prime factors in the Tulsa carnage were anger and hatred, ones that unfortunately still fester in the country to this very day. The white mob was so intent on destroying Greenwood, they blocked firefighters from getting to the fire on several occasions, according to historians. Some firefighters even claim they were shot at fi they tried to approach a burning building. They received calls from the Fire Chief not to respond to any incoming alarms or calls for help in Greenwood due to the danger.” (Pg. 51)

He concludes, “At the end of the day, blacks and whites have no option but to co-exist. Unfortunately, not many are keen to learn about our past, but knowing our history can stop us from making the same mistakes as our forefathers. The United States cannot allow for another atrocity like the massacre of Tulsa to happen again, and while it might seem unlikely for something like this to occur in 2020 or 2021, the possibility is always there as long as the root of the problem has not been addressed. Hatred and anger still fester in society, and racism exists whether we like to admit it or not. To spare future generations the pains of racism and discrimination, we need to look into past crimes like the Tulsa the massacre and honor the memory of those who died.” (Pg. 53-54)

This book is a fine, brief summary of this little-known incident (though more information is now starting to come out about it), that will be of great interest to anyone studying the incident.

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a prime example of just idiotic it is for people to hate other people simply because they have a different skin color than the hater. Even though the book covers a terrible event in 1921 we can plainly see that in our present day very little has really changed.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, black people had made a section of the section one that they could be proud of. It had it's own stores and was very successful. The people living in that section could find just about anything they needed there and didn't have to try to go to stores owned by the whites in the rest of the city and been subjected to intense racism just for being in that area.

The end result of the riot is hard to put into numbers since there was a cover-up of much of what really happened. The number of people who died ranges from 40 to up to 300 or so with around 10,000 made homeless.

The book goes into the history of the racial hatred against the successful black people. It tells how that area, Greenfield, was set up and then goes into the 'trigger' event that led up to the race riots.

It also goes into various anti-black films of the time including The Birth of a Nation. The book also goes into how the entire massacre might have been planned beforehand, just waiting on some event that could be used as an excuse to start killing black people.

It also goes into the aftermath of the riots, how people now homeless had to survive in tents, the use of mass graves, the targeting of black doctors, the school curriculum over the years after totally ignoring what happened, how its history started to finally come out and pathetic attempts to make it look like politicians really cared about the victims of the violence.

This book tells it like it really was and should be used in high schools as supplementary reading material.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A part of history I didn't know. And so desperately sad.