Section 2: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Image from the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.

In 1921, one of the nation’s worst race massacres destroyed the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of Black Tulsans. The tragic events took countless homes and businesses and led to the destruction of one of the largest, most affluent and prosperous Black communities in America.

“Truth. The truth. Our truth. When we seek it, claim it, and recount it, we are far less likely, in this the realm of our racial history, to repeat it.”1 
- Hannibal B. Johnson

“During the immediate postwar years, Tulsa—a city with a noteworthy reputation for lawlessness, lynching, and racial violence—became a tinderbox as a result of postwar social and economic dislocation. Rising racial tensions, fueled by white newspaper sensationalism and threats of an attempted lynching, resulted in an explosion of devastating violence that left some 35-40 square blocks of Greenwood’s residential area in smoking ruins, and nearly 9,000 African Americans homeless. Virtually every structure in the Greenwood commercial district was destroyed, and property damage was estimated at nearly $1.5 million. Although the exact number of riot-related casualties is difficult to determine, records indicate that more than 700 persons were injured and estimates of deaths ranged between 36 and 300.”2


1. Johnson, H. B. (2020). Black Wall Street 100: An American City Grapples With Its Historical Racial Trauma (Illustrated ed.). Pages 1, 5. Eakin Press. 
2. United States, Department of the Interior, National Parks Service. 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconnaissance Survey. Pages 1-2. Government Printing Office, 2005. 

Content

 

Additional Content Available Online Only

The following content is additional information that, due to space, is not included in the exhibit ongoing at Rudisill Regional Library.