The Nation Must Awake: My Witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

by Mary E. Jones Parrish, John Hope Franklin (Introduction), Scott Ellsworth (Introduction)

Mary Parrish was reading in her home when the Tulsa race massacre began on the evening of May 31, 1921. Parrish’s daughter, Florence Mary, called the young journalist and teacher to the window. “Mother,” she said, “I see men with guns.”

The two eventually fled into the night under a hail of bullets and unwittingly became eyewitnesses to one of the greatest race tragedies in American history.

Spurred by word that a young Black man was about to be lynched for stepping on a white woman’s foot, a three-day riot erupted that saw the death of hundreds of Black Oklahomans and the destruction of the Greenwood district, a prosperous, primarily Black area known nationally as Black Wall Street. The murdered were buried in mass graves, thousands were left homeless, and millions of dollars worth of Black-owned property was burned to the ground. The incident, which was hidden from history for decades, is now recognized as one of the worst episodes of racial violence in the United States.

The Nation Must Awake , published for a wide audience for the first time, is Parrish’s first-person account, along with the recollections of dozens of others, compiled immediately following the tragedy under the name Events of the Tulsa Race Disaster . With meticulous attention to detail that transports readers to those fateful days, Parrish documents the magnitude of the loss of human life and property at the hands of white vigilantes. The testimonies shine light on Black residents’ bravery and the horror of seeing their neighbors gunned down and their community lost to flames.

Parrish hoped that her book would “open the eyes of the thinking people to the impending danger of letting such conditions exist and in the ‘Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.’ ” Although the story is a hundred years old, elements of its racial injustices are still being replayed in the streets of America today. Includes an afterword by Anneliese M. Bruner, Parrish’s great-granddaughter, and an introduction by the late historian John Hope Franklin and Scott Ellsworth, author of The Ground An American City and Its Search for Justice .

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, African American, Memoir, Biography, Politics

152 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2021

Reviews

[Robin Hobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not review many non-fiction books. That doesn't mean I don't read them! Research is important to any sort of writer, be it a journalist or a historical romance writer or a fantasy novelist.

But this one I read to educate myself. How could something like this have happened, and I never heard of it until I was in my 60's?

I was born in 1952, and my parents brought me home to a house they rented in Berkeley, California. It was on Alston Way, near the railroad tracks, and it was not an upscale neighborhood. Before I was 5 years old, I witnessed bloody racial violence, white on black and black on white, just outside the fence of our front yard. In the morning before my dad went to work, he would put a fresh layer of paint on the top rail of our fence to discourage teenagers from congregating there and sitting on it. All through my life, there have been civil rights marches, riots, church burnings and assassinations. I should be shock proof.

But this collection of first person accounts of the events in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921 horrified me. I won't call it a riot. It was much closer to a pogrom. A riot does not include your neighbors flying over in small aircraft to fire bomb your neighborhood. It doesn't include a machine gun mounted on a hillside over your neighborhood.

As with most primary sources, the voices in these multiple tellings are diverse, but the experiences are very similar. They use the language and idiom of the time. The style may not be elegant, but it is so very authentic.

I recommend that you pair this book with the June 19, 2021 issue of Science News, for the article on the archaeological excavations that are seeking to uncover the mass graves of the fallen.

One aspect that truly touched me is that in many of the accounts, the speaker gives credit to individuals and organizations, both black and white, that stepped in to help survivors and victims. Many accounts strike a note of hope, and pride in the resilience of a battered and shattered community.

Tough reading but recommended.

[Daina (Dai2DaiReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a re-published version of Events of the Tulsa Disaster, a memoir by Mary E. Jones Parrish, a teacher and journalist who gave her first-person account and took down the accounts of others in June of 1921. The afterword of this book is by the author’s great-granddaughter, Anneliese M. Bruner.  

The Black community of 10,000 in Greenwood was affluent and thriving and was referred to as "Black Wall Street." Learning the intimate details of what happened between May 31-June 1, 1921 was devastating.  The violence started on May 31st due to incident in an elevator between a white girl and a black boy.  White residents wanted him lynched and black residents tried to stop that from happening. Prior to this, there was a lot of racial tension and animosity in Tulsa, to say the least.  

A literal whistle was blown on June 1st and a coordinated attack by a white mob began.  Those who tried to escape had bullets rain down on them.  Black residents were removed from their homes (some under the guise of “protection”) while their homes were looted and set on fire. The same thing happened to Black-owned businesses and everything was burned to the ground in less than 24 hours.

Unfortunately, the happenings in Tulsa in 1921 and what led up to it closely parallel things that are going on right now and highlight continued racial injustices.

Thank you to Trinity University Press for sending me a copy of this book!

The beautiful cover art is by Ajamu Kojo. It's part of his series of reimagined portraits displayed last year at Jenkins Johnson Gallery in Brooklyn titled "Black Wall Street: A Case for Reparations."  I love that the woman on the cover looks like she has something to say!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A primary source collection of eye witness accounts taken within weeks of the race riot and invasion of Tulsa’s Greenwood district that started May 31, 1921. It’s amazing that this volume has survived 98 years, having been passed down to the author’s great granddaughter, who wrote the after-piece in 2020. Every account of the trauma and horror of those 2 nights and their aftermath reveals some new details about the the burning of Greenwood. I didn’t realize that white unemployment in Tulsa that summer was higher than for blacks, who lived in an economic bubble, which no doubt fed the jealousy of the mob. I’ve wondered where the land went after the fire; one account explains a lot of the lots had mortgages on them. Regardless, the Tulsa city council forbade the rebuilding on the burned out lots for 4 years while the action was challenged up to the US Supreme Court, where Tulsa lost; by then, many had moved on and suffered the loss without remuneration. In the partial list of community losses and their value at the time, not one insurance business is listed. The speed at which the well organized mob attacked, looted, burned, and bombed Greenwood belies planning. The care the looters took to separate the men from the women and children, and loot the houses before burning them; the indignity of seeing one’s clothing or household items on some strange white woman leaps from these accounts. Should be required reading.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a collection of essays with sad and appalling first hand accounts of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre; cataloguing and preserving this piece of American history, and racism, of which we will never know or understand the amount of loss: financially, materially, or most importantly that of human lives. This event that we’re not taught much about, if anything at all, still affects us today. It was a short, but important read.

[Jai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few things come to mind after I finished this book. I was excited to read eye witness accounts of Tulsa because I'd only heard bits and pieces from one of the lone survivors a few years ago. But reading it from several different people and the perspectives of what truly happened make me angrier and angrier. Reading this made me think constantly, "They better be happy that we want equality, and not revenge. I'm pretty sure everyone that took part in Tulsa is dead but that doesn't change the fact that what the white people did really affected thousands of black people's lives-possibly for generations.

There was a tremendous loss of wealth and property from the black citizens, and WHY? Mostly because of jealousy, a lie and pure hatred!! The lie that started it all was that a black young man assaulted a young white woman in an elevator when in fact he tripped and touched her arm. How they got assaulted is beyond me but that actually landed him in jail. And while in jail an angry mob of 100 white men decided to lynch him, but Black men from Tulsa decided to protect him and that's when everything started.

I'm angry today because I could feel how living back then would make me feel helpless. A white person could just lie and it would get me killed.

The majority of the eye witness testimonies explained how cruel these people were and how they rounded all the men up , were shooting at women and children with machine guns etc. All of this just makes me sad and angry to be honest. Just knowing that we are still being treated badly doesn't make me feel any better.

[Joy Matteson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crucial reading for anyone who didn't grow up reading about the Tulsa Race Massacre, so my guess is that probably includes you, if you're reading this and are over the age of 21. Hope every library and school library in the nation stocks this.

[Tracy Foedisch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe this book is a must read for all people. First hand account/experiences of people who lived through the Tulsa race riots of 1921 help us to learn and grow and be more aware of our world.
A very difficult read.

[jamie]

i'm not giving this book a star rating because i don't think it's appropriate to declare a firsthand account of a massacre to be "good" or "bad." that said, i highly recommend this book.

[Ashleigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dozens of firsthand eyewitness accounts of the massacre. Chock full of primary sources who somehow had the wherewithal to document the brutality mere hours after it happened. Truly horrifying, but I’m so thankful this documentation exists.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember sitting in an Urban American History course years ago, taught by an out-of-towner associate professor who point blank asked a room full of Oklahomans how many of us had been taught about the Tulsa Race Massacre. Out of over twenty of us, only two raised our hands. Even then, in 2014, it was called a "riot", though we now know differently. I have family who has lived in the area for decades, and while I had never been taught formally about the events in Tulsa in 1921 during my years of public education, I sought out my own research in order to have a better understanding of our state's history.

The firsthand accounts of the days leading into and then night of most of the destruction and deaths is harrowing, and it forces us to confront and awful and uncomfortable truth: our past is littered with tragedy and bloodshed, and Oklahoma statehood is built on the backs of those who have been oppressed. This book is a primary source for those memories and voices, ones that had been buried for far too long.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected to finish this smallish volume within a day or two of receiving it but 14-days later I had to force myself to finish. This is so horrifying it's really tough to read more than a few pages at a time. It's terrifying and infuriating and tremendously sad. But I am so grateful to Parrish and Bruner for sharing it with us now because it is a priceless source of history and the voices of those who refused to give up or give in.

I can't hope to review this as well as reviewers before me have (and won't try) but I will say that this should absolutely be on every high school and college reading list.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow - what an amazing document, and how lucky we are that Ms. Parrish's great-granddaughter has been able to share it with us. The first-hand stories of what happened are so important.

[Maribeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been fascinated by all the news about the Tulsa Race Massacre, particularly as it has been essentially erased from our American history for the last 100 years. This book, although a bit antiquated in its language, is a historical gem, featuring in-person interviews and statements, pieces of journalism of the day, and even ledgers of property losses. All of this comes together to give a horrifying description of how we treat each other, and how we hide our sins away. The epilogue by Ms. Parrish's great granddaughter is particularly poignant.

[Elizabeth Seals · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, America! Thou Land of the Free and Home of the Brave! The country that gave its choicest blood and bravest hearts to make the world safe for democracy! How long will you let mob violence reign supreme? Is democracy a mockery?

All I have to say is make sure you read this. Educate yourself about the Tulsa Race Massacre. Read about history. Learn it and memorize it.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compilation of the accounts of eyewitnesses and victims to the tragic events and aftermath of the riots and actions of a white mob that destroyed a thriving African-American community in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 1st 1921, and caused the deaths of numerous people that should be required reading for anyone seeking to comprehend the fraught history of racial relations in the United States, and the ongoing reckoning in the 21st century.

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important historical record containing the testimony of the people who lived through the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The attempt of black Tulsans to prevent the unlawful lynching of a black man who had stepped on a white woman's foot resulted in violence. White Tulsans entered the black section of Tulsa and systematically looted and burned this section of the city to the ground. People were murdered and massive loss of property was sustained. Black Tulsans had managed to build a thriving commercial district and community, only to see it destroyed by mob violence. Parrish gives her account of the events, as well as records the stories of other citizens. There is an afterword by Anneliese Bruner, a descendant of Mary E Jones Parrish, with commentary on how the events of the past relate to contemporary politics. Bruner draws a connection between the racist mob violence of 1921 and the events of the January 6 Capitol Riot, both examples of white oppression. I recommend this book.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible documentation of first-hand accounts.

Quotes:

“Of course it was not the best of the white race that created the hellish situation in Tulsa. But none the less, the best of the white race is responsible. The leadership of a community is responsible for the deeds of the community.”

"The elements that contributed to the disaster—the view of Black equality as anathema to the natural social order, official complicity in mob violence, and weaponization of legislation in service to monied interests—still animate the American landscape we inhabit today."

"The freedom that is promised to all Americans is conditional for Black Americans, driven by arbitrary measures of whether they are intelligent enough, industrious enough, humble enough, nonthreatening enough, innocent enough, patriotic enough, and so on."

"The hardship that generations of his family carried from the trauma of being hated by their own government and fellow citizens remains a burden."

"So when the Capitol insurrection unfolded, I recognized what I was seeing. It was the culmination of four years of an administration that had terrified me from its inception for its promise of cruelty. But the worst part was the sense of normalcy that was being thrust on us by leaders who deliberately and determinedly refused to acknowledge the danger of the worst public health crisis in generations and who downplayed the justness of community outrage and protests in the face of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a uniformed police officer. Instead, these two defining circumstances of 2020 were weaponized in furtherance of a regressive, racist agenda, in the face of which the public was bombarded with messaging that ran counter to objective reality and moral norms. The U.S. president downplayed the lethality of a pandemic, the likes of which had not affected humanity since 1918, when he knew of the widespread disease and death that would result. While the country was reeling from COVID-19, mass public protests in reaction to Floyd’s murder were mischaracterized as evidence that the Black Lives Matter movement was a violent antigovernment movement committed to anarchy."

"In the current era of historic firsts by African Americans, we must recall that the firsts are not overdue because Black people weren’t ready—it is the country that wasn’t ready."

[Todd Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an extremely dark and disturbing book to read, I’m writing this as someone who reads horror books and watched horror movies regularly. The callous disregard for human life and targeted destruction of a community is not present on such a large scale in any horror book.

“Corrupt politics is directly responsible for race riots. Let us face that fact and not lose ourselves in secondary considerations. Race riots are not problems of race; they are problems of government. There will be no race riots where politics has not corrupted government.” - Sounds like a reasonable explanation for the riot that occurred on 01/06/2021 but this is a quote from “The Chicago Tribune” from 1921 included in this book from the unedited original text.

What fueled the systematic eviction, looting and burning of the Black Wall Street neighborhood of Tulsa, a legacy of racism combined with a charged headline about a purported assault of a white elevator operator by a young black man. The young man was later found to be innocent as he only accidentally stepped on her foot. In response the white community responded en mass for another lynching. The black community responded to prevent this action but was outnumbered and a truce was in the works when stray shot(s) took the situation to the next level. Of course chasing the blacks away wasn’t enough and many in the white community proceeded to destroy a vibrant part of Tulsa over the next 24 hours and politically over the coming months tried myriad ways to prevent rebuilding on a scale to what was destroyed. The knowledge of such a terrible event in history was largely swept under the rug even though such institutions as the Red Cross, NAACP, and Urban League worked to support community members and the rebirth of this section of Tulsa. As we have recently passed the 100th anniversary of this massacre the story has been given much deserved attention but unfortunately it will probably still be largely unknown in the near future, especially in the landscape of today where historical amnesia is common as people move from one outrage to another. This book should be required reading for all high school students.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book.

While I received this as an exam copy at the American Library Association conference last June, I brought it back for consideration for our Common Read. It made the finalist list (we’re still in the voting process).

This is a short primary-source work on the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s African American community which was so vividly created in the opening of HBO’s The Watchmen. The reality was worse than what was depicted on screen. This book is a series of statements gathered by an African American female journalist who lived in Tulsa at the time. The varying attitudes of those interviewed, the statements by the various people involved, and the reflection on the massacre a year after it happened are both wonderful and devastating.

While there are moments that need a little bit of context, e.g. Home Guard, overall, this work makes abundantly clear everything that was lost as a result of the massacre. I cannot say enough how important a work this is. While the Trinity U P (TX), has identified this as regional history, I think it really is national in scope. Again, I cannot encourage folks to read this enough.

[Mariah Oleszkowicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well you certainly get a picture of how it went to hell from all the first hand accounts. The straight-up theft from people's homes was astonishing...as was the courage of the people who went house to house taking back their things! The commentary from 100 years ago about why it happened could, in many places, be written now.
" A potent cause is the recent wave of unemployment which has hit white workers much harder than colored workers for the simple reasons that the negroes work for lower wages and are there for the last to be discharged. This has caused a great deal of resentment among the white workers who accuse the negroes of taking away their jobs..... Corrupt politics is directly responsible for race riots. Let us face that fact and not lose ourselves in secondary considerations. Race riots are not problems of race; they are problems of government. There will be no race riots where politics has not corrupted government." P95

The firebombing of houses from airplanes surprised me the most. That means someone has to get turpentine bombs to throw, get to the airport, and then fly over the town. Just wow.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the center of The Nation Must Awake is Mary E. Jones Parrish's 1923 text, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, an important collection of first-hand accounts of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. Parrish also included historical and biographical sketches of organizations and individuals who lived in Tulsa's thriving Black community, known nationally as Black Wall Street. With a foreword and introduction by John Hope Franklin and Scott Ellsworth, and an afterword by Parrish's descendent Anneliese M. Bruner, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in this long-suppressed piece of U.S. history.

The first-hand accounts of the disaster, including those of Franklin and Parrish, were the most powerful parts of this book. Parrish collected the accounts of many Black residents in the days after the massacre, and their varying viewpoints and experiences provide a chilling picture of the violence and destruction white Tulsans wreaked against their Black neighbors. The historical and biographical sketches inform readers of life in the Greenwood district (where most Black residents lived) before and after the massacre, demonstrating how much the community lost and how quickly they were able to rebuild despite the efforts of white city leaders.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this a bonus star because this is a primary source for an event that was collectively "forgotten" by many Tulsans over the century since its occurrence. As far as readability, this isn't always the most engaging. The first half or so is excellent. You can easily tell who is speaking and what their experience was. Towards the middle and through the second half that changes and it becomes less clear who is speaking and what is the purpose of the information (not all of it is day-of the massacre). I skipped around a bit once that started happening because it was harder to keep focused. I highly recommend the first half though to get an idea of what this horrible event was like for those who were there, from their voices at the time.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary E. Jones Parrish was a journalist, and a teacher of typing and shorthand in Tulsa, OK when the white people went crazy there and burned down the Black part of town, killing an unknown number of people. The white people said that a Black boy stepped on a white girl’s foot, who was an elevator attendant, but she said that was nothing, but an accident immediately. (Of course, she was not heard.) The white mob wanted to kill someone, they went with anyone and everyone they could. This includes first person narratives of people’s experiences and a list of every Black homeowner and businessman and what the homes and businesses were worth. Arr from Bookshop 6.11.21 Given to me public library.

[Rita]

Daina says: "This book is a re-published version of Events of the Tulsa Disaster, a memoir by Mary E. Jones Parrish, a teacher and journalist who gave her first-person account and took down the accounts of others in June of 1921. The afterword of this book is by the author’s great-granddaughter, Anneliese M. Bruner."

Long New Yorker article tells about Parrish and her book:
"The thirty-one-year-old was an eyewitness to the Tulsa Race Massacre, which left as many as three hundred people dead and more than a thousand homes destroyed. Though Parrish had previously found success in Tulsa as an educator and entrepreneur, the massacre compelled her to become a journalist and author, writing down her own experiences and collecting the accounts of many others. ***Her book “Events of the Tulsa Disaster,” published in 1923***, was the first and most visceral long-form account of how Greenwood residents experienced the massacre."

New Yorker:
"The Women Who Preserved the Story of the Tulsa Race Massacre"
Two pioneering Black writers have not received the recognition they deserve for chronicling one of the country’s gravest crimes.
By Victor Luckerson

May 28, 2021

[Athena Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just recently (2022) even heard of this terrible atrocity in Tulsa in 1921 -- I'm sad that it was never covered in any history class I took through high school. Racial disparity always seems to come to the surface in one way or another--that is the sad part due to humanity being human. We all need to strive for EQUALITY -- not giving "extra" leeway to one ethnicity or the other, but truly NOT seeing the color of a person's skin. We all need to strive to see the person and character of each individual -- look for similarities and when there are dis-similarities (as in environment/culture) examining these differences to see how to be better understanding.

[Jessica Contreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s such a heavy read - the amount of information and historical facts in this compilation is immense. I had to stop multiple times and reread the page just to make sure that I had read it correctly. It’s sad and infuriating. These are first accounts of people who lived in Greenwood before the riot and survived the massacre. They described their lives, their community, and how everything changed overnight. The afterword by Mary E. Jones Parrish’s great-granddaughter, Anneliese M. Bruner, is even sadder and more infuriating as she describes and provides examples on how the system has not changed at all for Black people. .

[Keren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Jones Parrish's documentation of first person stories and news reporting after the massacre of black people and destruction of homes and business representing black progress in Tulsa almost disappeared from memory. In 2020, when her 30- year-old great granddaughter discovered the book she compiled, her voice once again revealed still relevant race issues that continue to impact society and government more than 100 years later. The first person accounts are harrowing and graphic and real, and they reveal a side of America that really has never been "great" and prove that we have a long way to go in combating race hate and reactionary mobs. Read it slowly, one account at a time because there's a lot to digest.

[Noreen Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely important book that should be required in schools across the nation. The spread of biased and often fictional narratives needs to be countered by the abundance of primary accounts recorded here. The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 documents one of many blatant examples of White racism, lawlessness, and use of extreme violence against non-white communities in the United States.

My hope is that the factual basis of this book will lead to efforts to gather similar data related to other areas that have effectively been erased from our nations history in support of wealthy dominant white individuals and institutions.

[Loren Cahill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aight so bet. Imagine your rich bougie Black auntie experiences racial terror for the first time and gets suddenly woke. Parrish was super wealthy visiting her family in Oklahoma but so rattled to find herself in the midst of a massacre. This jarring lived experience implored her to document this event. She not only wrote down her own experience and started interviewing ppl to record their stories so that no one forgot what happened to Black ppl in Tulsa. She included records and pictures of the destruction as well. I’ve been kinda obsessed with Tulsa since Lovecraft and this book really helped me to write an article. It’s incredibly sad but an important document of history from Black survivors of this massacre.

[Charles McGonigal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The contemporary accounts of the Tulsa Race Massacre (even if they include some historical posturing, especially as the accounts are from greater times after the Massacre) are important to add context to the surface understanding most people have of the event. Especially as its usually called a riot - they set up machine gun nests and fired guns and firebombs from planes in a coordinated attack several hours after the initial altercation. Can you imagine what would be done to George Floyd protesters who did that?

Not sure I've read a book that more people need to read than this one.