Learn about the racial wealth gap, era-by-era:
Summary - Wikipedia
The Tulsa race massacre (known alternatively as the Tulsa race riot, the Greenwood Massacre, the Black Wall Street Massacre, the Tulsa pogrom, or the Tulsa Massacre)[9][10][11][12][13][14] took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[1] It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history".[15] The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district—at that time the wealthiest black community in the United States, known as "Black Wall Street".[16]
More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals, and as many as 6,000 black residents were interned in large facilities, many of them for several days.[17][18] The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 36 dead.[19] A 2001 state commission examination of events was able to confirm 39 dead, 26 black and 13 white, based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates and other records.[1]:114 The commission gave several estimates ranging from 75 to 300 dead.[1]:13, 23[20]
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Brenda Alford, whose grandparents survived the massacre but lost their businesses, went most of her life not knowing what happened in Greenwood. Before the massacre, her grandparents owned a shoe shop, as well as a record store, dance pavilion and community skating rink, Alford tells Here & Now’s Robin Young.
“They lost everything,” she says. “My reality every day of my life is that if they had not survived that day, I wouldn't be talking to you right now.”
A Survivor's Granddaughter Reflects On Tulsa Race Massacre: 'It Was A Horrendous Situation'
Articles
US: Failed Justice 100 Years After Tulsa Race Massacre | Human Rights Watch
Tulsa race massacre at 100: an act of terrorism America tried to forget
Opinion | What the Tulsa Race Massacre Can Teach Us - The New York Times
Why Black wealth has stayed 'relatively flat' since Tulsa massacre
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and its enduring financial fallout
How America’s Vast Racial Wealth Gap Grew: By Plunder
Remembering ‘Red Summer,’ when white mobs massacred Blacks from Tulsa to D.C.
Tulsa's 'Black Wall Street' Flourished as a Self-Contained Hub in Early 1900s
Black Wall Street | Greenwood Cultural Center
What to Know About the Tulsa Greenwood Massacre
Tulsa searches for “Original 18” Black people killed during 1921 race massacre
The Tulsa Race Massacre Went Way Beyond “Black Wall Street”
Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Race Riot of 1921
Books
Holocaust in the Homeland: Black Wall Street's Last Days (Corinda Pitts Marsh)
Black Wall Street (Hannibal B. Johnson)
The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: (Madigan, Tim)
Race riot 1921: Events of the Tulsa disaster by Mary E. Jones Parrish
Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy by James S. Hirsch
The Great Oklahoma Swindle: Race, Religion, and Lies in America's Weirdest State by Russell Cobb
They Came Searching by Eddie Faye Gates
Tulsa, 1921: Reporting a Massacre by Randy Krehbiel
Podcasts
Podcast | Dreams of Black Wall Street
Reggie Turner "Before They Die!" The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
The Tulsa Race Massacre: 99 Years Later - Reggie Turner
Exploring Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre in a New Podcast
Stuff You Missed in History Class - The Tulsa Race Riot and Black Wall Street
Film/Video
The Tulsa Race Riots | Black History in Two Minutes
The Tulsa Race Massacre: 100 years Later #ReparationsNow
Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial
Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commemoration | NBC News
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission - REMEMBERING BLACK WALL STREET
Congress Hears From Survivors Of Tulsa Greenwood Race Massacre On Centennial Of Riot (long)
Watch Goin' Back To T-Town | American Experience |
How Tulsa's Greenwood massacre echoes today
Black Wall Street: The Hidden Economy
Tulsa Race Massacre, 100 years later: Why it happened and why it's still relevant today
Oldest survivor of Tulsa race massacre testifies before House committee: "I have lived through th…
Black Wall Street - Full Documentary
VERY RARE Footage of Black Wall Street, Before The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot
Black Wall Street~Footage Massacre,Tulsa OK 1921, Historical Black Towns BlackHistoryUniversity.com
Websites
Black Wall Street | Greenwood Cultural Center
1921 Tulsa Race Massacre - Tulsa Historical Society & Museum
Further Racial Violence and Massacres
Elaine Massacre of 1919 - Encyclopedia of Arkansas
The Elaine Massacre: A Teach-In with Dr. Jemar Tisby
‘We want our land back’: for descendants of the Elaine massacre, history is far from settled
On Sep 30, 1919: Hundreds of Black People Killed in Elaine, Arkansas, Massacre (eji.org)
Black Massacres in the U.S. – The Decolonial Atlas
Questions for Research and Reflection:
- Why have white people continually attacked successful Black towns and enclaves?
- How did white people benefit from the destruction of Black Wall Street?
- Were any of the victims of Black Wall Street compensated for their losses?
- Who perpetrated the violence during Black Wall Street?
- If your family had suffered a similar attack, how would that have affected their net worth? Would they have received compensation? From whom?
- What would happen if Black residents were to destroy an entire white community? Why?
"It was never the case that a white asset-based middle class simply emerged. Rather, it was government policy, and to some extent literal government giveaways, that provided whites the finance, education, land and infrastructure to accumulate and pass down wealth."