Massacre in Tulsa, OK

[GregPersons]

Most White Americans don't know anything about this event in 1921, or found out about it from an HBO show last year.

 

Learning more about your country's history will help you to better understand the events of today. @Chef Jim this may be of interest to you in particular. 

 

Please note the "News Blackout" portion especially.

 

https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre

 

Quote

During the Tulsa Race Massacre (also known as the Tulsa Race Riot), which occurred over 18 hours on May 31-June 1, 1921, a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses in the predominantly black Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, and one of the least-known: News reports were largely squelched, despite the fact that hundreds of people were killed and thousands left homeless.

Black Wall Street

In much of the country, the years following World War I saw a spike in racial tensions, including the resurgence of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan, numerous lynchings and other acts of racially motivated violence, as well as efforts by African Americans to prevent such attacks on their communities.

By 1921, fueled by oil money, Tulsa was a growing, prosperous city with a population of more than 100,000 people. But crime rates were high, and vigilante justice of all kinds wasn’t uncommon.

Tulsa was also a highly segregated city: Most of the city’s 10,000 black residents lived in a neighborhood called Greenwood, which included a thriving business district sometimes referred to as the Black Wall Street.

READ MORE: Tulsa's 'Black Wall Street' Flourished as a Self-Contained Hub in the Early 1900s

What Caused the Tulsa Race Massacre?

On May 30, 1921, a young black teenager named Dick Rowland entered an elevator at the Drexel Building, an office building on South Main Street. At some point after that, the young white elevator operator, Sarah Page, screamed; Rowland fled the scene. The police were called, and the next morning they arrested Rowland.

 

By that time, rumors of what supposedly happened on that elevator had circulated through the city’s white community. A front-page story in the Tulsa Tribune that afternoon reported that police had arrested Rowland for sexually assaulting Page.

As evening fell, an angry white mob was gathering outside the courthouse, demanding the sheriff hand over Rowland. Sheriff Willard McCullough refused, and his men barricaded the top floor to protect the black teenager.

Around 9 p.m., a group of about 25 armed black men—including many World War I veterans—went to the courthouse to offer help guarding Rowland. After the sheriff turned them away, some of the white mob tried unsuccessfully to break into the National Guard armory nearby.

With rumors still flying of a possible lynching, a group of around 75 armed black men returned to the courthouse shortly after 10 pm, where they were met by some 1,500 white men, some of whom also carried weapons.

Greenwood Burns

After shots were fired and chaos broke out, the outnumbered group of black men retreated to Greenwood.

Over the next several hours, groups of white Tulsans—some of whom were deputized and given weapons by city officials—committed numerous acts of violence against black people, including shooting an unarmed man in a movie theater.

The false belief that a large-scale insurrection among black Tulsans was underway, including reinforcements from nearby towns and cities with large African-American populations, fueled the growing hysteria.

As dawn broke on June 1, thousands of white citizens poured into the Greenwood District, looting and burning homes and businesses over an area of 35 city blocks. Firefighters who arrived to help put out fires later testified that rioters had threatened them with guns and forced them to leave.

 

According to a later Red Cross estimate, some 1,256 houses were burned; 215 others were looted but not torched. Two newspapers, a school, a library, a hospital, churches, hotels, stores and many other black-owned businesses were among the buildings destroyed or damaged by fire.

By the time the National Guard arrived and declared martial law shortly before noon, the riot had effectively ended. Though guardsmen helped put out fires, they also imprisoned many black Tulsans, and by June 2 some 6,000 people were under armed guard at the local fairgrounds.

Aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre

In the hours after the Tulsa Race Massacre, all charges against Dick Rowland were dropped. The police concluded that Rowland had most likely stumbled into Page, or stepped on her foot. Kept safely under guard in the jail during the riot, he left Tulsa the next morning and reportedly never returned.

The “official” tally of deaths in the massacre was 36 people killed, including 10 white people. Even by that estimate—which historians now consider much too low—the Tulsa Race Massacre stood as one of the deadliest riots in U.S. history, behind only the New York Draft Riots of 1863, which killed at least 119 people.

In the years to come, as black Tulsans worked to rebuild their ruined homes and businesses, segregation in the city only increased, and Oklahoma’s newly established branch of the KKK grew in strength.

News Blackout

For decades, there were no public ceremonies, memorials for the dead or any efforts to commemorate the events of May 31-June 1, 1921. Instead, there was a deliberate effort to cover them up.

The Tulsa Tribune removed the front-page story of May 31 that sparked the chaos from its bound volumes, and scholars later discovered that police and state militia archives about the riot were missing as well. As a result, until recently the Tulsa Race Massacre was rarely mentioned in history books, taught in schools or even talked about.

Scholars began to delve deeper into the story of the riot in the 1970s, after its 50th anniversary had passed. In 1996, on the riot’s 75th anniversary, a service was held at the Mount Zion Baptist Church, which rioters had burned to the ground, and a memorial was placed in front of Greenwood Cultural Center.

Tulsa Race Riot Commission Established, Renamed

The following year, after an official state government commission was created to investigate the Tulsa Race Riot, scientists and historians began looking into long-ago stories, including numerous victims buried in unmarked graves.

In 2001, the report of the Race Riot Commission concluded that between 100 and 300 people were killed and more than 8,000 people made homeless over those 18 hours in 1921.

A bill in the Oklahoma State Senate requiring that all Oklahoma high schools teach the Tulsa Race Riot failed to pass in 2012, with its opponents claiming schools were already teaching their students about the riot.

According to the State Department of Education, it has required the topic in Oklahoma history classes since 2000 and U.S. history classes since 2004, and the incident has been included in Oklahoma history books since 2009.

 

In November 2018, the 1921 Race Riot Commission was officially renamed the 1921 Race Massacre Commission.

 “Although the dialogue about the reasons and effects of the terms riot vs. massacre are very important and encouraged," said Oklahoma State Senator Kevin Matthews, "the feelings and interpretation of those who experienced this devastation as well as current area residents and historical scholars have led us to more appropriately change the name to the 1921 Race Massacre Commission.”

 

The news article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre#/media/File:Nab_Negro_for_Attacking_Girl_in_an_Elevator.png

Edited June 14, 2020 by GregPersons

[Reality Check]

2 hours ago, GregPersons said:

Most White Americans don't know anything about this event in 1921, or found out about it from an HBO show last year.

 

Learning more about your country's history will help you to better understand the events of today. @Chef Jim this may be of interest to you in particular. 

 

Please note the "News Blackout" portion especially.

 

https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/tulsa-race-massacre

 

 

The news article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre#/media/File:Nab_Negro_for_Attacking_Girl_in_an_Elevator.png

What is your solution to black on black violence?

[GregPersons]

Just now, Reality Check said:

What is your solution to black on black violence?

 

Read the thread for answers. I made it just for you.

 

Since you have said you're white, and only interested in things that concern you, a white man. What is your solution to white on black violence?  What is your solution to white on white violence? Do you need examples for either of these?

[Reality Check]

8 minutes ago, GregPersons said:

 

Read the thread for answers. I made it just for you.

 

Since you have said you're white, and only interested in things that concern you, a white man. What is your solution to white on black violence?  What is your solution to white on white violence? Do you need examples for either of these?

Are you saying that black on black violence is good as long as a white person doesn't do it?

[GregPersons]

Just now, Reality Check said:

Are you saying that black on black violence is good as long as a white person doesn't do it?

 

What a stupid question. Are you saying that white on white violence is OK as long as there are no black people involved? 

 

What is your solution to white on black violence?

What is your solution to white on white violence?

[GregPersons]

4 minutes ago, Jaraxxus said:

And this matters to.me why? Have never been to Tulsa, have no relatives from Tulsa. Hell, my grandfather was in the old country when this happened.

 

Have you checked the news? You seem very confused about why people are upset. You seem confused about the calls of "racism." 

 

Did you think this was a personal accusation that you time traveled to 1921 and did this? 

 

Are you able to conceive of the idea that other people exist besides people you've met in person? 

[GregPersons]

Black America -- "It's important to understand that our lives matter." 

 

White America:

Just now, Jaraxxus said:

And have you ever considered that not everyone should be made to care about what's important to you? 

[GregPersons]

16 minutes ago, Jaraxxus said:

Black America: repent to us for ***** that you personally have never done, call yourself something you aren't, and then pay us for it.

 

White America (at least that portion with dignity): ***** off.

 

Interesting. Another example of y'all making up the other side's position so you can tell it to ***** off. 

 

None of that is what Black America is requesting, but it's interesting what's what you're choosing to hear. 

[GregPersons]

Just now, Jaraxxus said:

Never change, greggy poo. Never change.

 

I'd say I've changed quite a lot over the past few weeks. 

 

I'd love to see you change, Jaraxxus; would love to see your mind grow. But I'm afraid you never will, because you don't want to. You are afraid of the truth. Be brave!

[GregPersons]

Just now, Jaraxxus said:

How exactly have you changed?

 

I've become much clearer on the complacency White Americans have toward the violence of their neighbors and they need their cages rattled. 

 

I've realized that racists are around me more than I wanted to believe before. I had assumed most people were generally moral, good, "Golden Rule" and Jesus' values type of people, more or less. I realized that's all pretty bunk. A lot of "good people" are just cowards who can't admit their real feelings. 

[GregPersons]

1 minute ago, Jaraxxus said:

That's no change. That was your default position. Do better.

 

You knew me before I was posting here? 

 

Again an example of you having to make up my identity/thoughts in order to disagree with it

[Wacka]

WGAF . Crawl under a rock and die.

[Westside]

40 minutes ago, Jaraxxus said:

 

How exactly have you changed?

He's changed his name on here. Does that count?

[Wacka]

Was he that guy with the maniccorn avatar a couple of tears ago that said he had a plan to buy up tons of  houses in Buffalo  and  sell or rent them to  black families (AKA a slumlord)?

[SectionC3]

1 hour ago, Wacka said:

WGAF . Crawl under a rock and die.

That’s not very nice.  You seem to have been triggered there, snowflake. 

1 hour ago, Wacka said:

WGAF . Crawl under a rock and die.

Upon further reflection, that’s an awful thing to say.  Someone should die because you disagree with their opinion? That’s shameful. And you’re the guy who got all pissy because someone picked on your grammar.  Shame. 

Edited June 14, 2020 by SectionC3

[Chef Jim]

3 hours ago, Jaraxxus said:

Black America: repent to us for ***** that you personally have never done, call yourself something you aren't, and then pay us for it.

 

White America (at least that portion with dignity): ***** off.

Here’s the crazy thing.  There is another race in this country that has suffered a hell of a lot more than blacks and I don’t see many protests/marches for them.  

 

 

2 hours ago, Jaraxxus said:

 

How exactly have you changed?

I’m assume he went from a lunatic to a raving lunatic. 

2 hours ago, Jaraxxus said:

 

No, but I'll be damned if I don't remember our first precious conversation.

What a ***** hypocrite he is. He gets butt hurt when people make assumptions about him while that is his whole raison d’etre. 

[4merper4mer]

2 hours ago, Jaraxxus said:

 

How exactly have you changed?

He's changed from a drowned out commie voice in the wilderness to a loud commie voice able to take advantage of a group about which he doesn't really care.

[Chef Jim]

5 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

He's changed from a drowned out commie voice in the wilderness to a loud commie voice able to take advantage of a group about which he doesn't really care.

On a message board frequented by maybe 20 people. Yeah he’s making a difference. ?

[Cinga]

Okay folks, I need some help when I'm not here to pick up the slack. You do realize I'm sure, all these new threads are meant to bump some we all here care about off the page.

 

The usual progressive distraction tactic.... 

 

[BuffaloHokie13]

Terrible title. Please include the date.