1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

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Tulsa and Oklahoma History

View our collection of newspapers, periodicals, maps, and other materials on the history of our area.

Though resources on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre can be found throughout the Tulsa City-County Library system, TCCL's African-American Resource Center (AARC) at Rudisill Regional Library, in particular, and the Research Center at Central Library house the greatest number of resources. This guide is intended to supplement the AARC Tulsa Race Massacre subject guide and to point to resources that may be found in the Research Center or are available from other reliable entities online. There may be some overlap between the two guides.

Content

1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Materials in the Research Center

City Directories and Maps

City Directories

Ancestry Library Edition
The 1909-1935 Tulsa City Directories are available in the Ancestry Library Edition database. If you don't have your own subscription to Ancestry.com, Ancestry Library Edition is accessible at any library location.

City Directory Digital Collection
The 1910, 1920, 1921, and 1922 Tulsa City Directories have been digitized and are accessible from outside of the library.

Maps

National Park Service: 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconnaissance Survey

Sanborn Maps For pre and post Tulsa Race Riot Sanborn maps, use the 1915 and the 1939 maps.

Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 National Register Nomination

Newspapers and Vertical File Content

Microfilm:

Tulsa World: 1906-present

Tulsa Tribune: 1904-1992

Print:

Bound photocopied Tulsa World articles from the first week of June, 1921 are available in the Research Center workroom.

Bound photocopied Tulsa Tribune articles from the first week of June, 1921 are available in he Research Center workroom.

Online:

Black Dispatch
The Black Dispatch, an Oklahoma City Newspaper that covered the Tulsa Race Riot, is available online from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Oklahoman Archives
The online archives date back to 1901.

Race Riot Vertical File
The Library's Race Riot vertical file content has been digitized. Content published before 1923 is freely accessible. Other content has been restricted to in-house use due to copyright concerns. From the link above, select advanced search, choose "the exact phrase" from the drop-down menu and use the phrase "race riot."

Tulsa Tribune
The June 1st, 1921 Tulsa Tribune state edition is available online.

Tulsa World
The Library of Congress has digitized pre-1923 newspapers, including the 1921 Tulsa World (titled Morning Tulsa Daily World in 1921).

Photographs and Film

Photographs

Library of Congress

Tulsa City-County Library: 1921 Tulsa Race Riot

University of Tulsa: Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

Film

The Solomon Sir Jones film collection is available online from Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The collection consists of 29 silent black and white films that document African-American communities in Oklahoma from 1924 to 1928.

Solomon Sir Jones was a Baptist minister, a businessman and an amateur filmmaker. Jones was born in Tennessee to former slaves and grew up in the South before moving to Oklahoma in 1889. Jones became an influential Baptist minister, building and pastoring fifteen churches. He was head of the Boyd Faction of Negro Baptists in America and was a successful businessman.

Jones filmed Oklahoma residents in their homes, in the businesses that they owned, and during their social, school, and church activities. The films document several Oklahoma communities, including Muskogee, Okmulgee, Tulsa, Wewoka, Bristow and Taft.

Tulsa footage can be found in at least five of the films (film two, film eighteen, film twenty, film twenty-seven, and film twenty-eight) and includes several shots of the Greenwood area.