- The document describes the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, where a white mob attacked the prosperous black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma and destroyed over 35 blocks of homes and businesses. - Over 10,000 black residents were left homeless and an untold number were killed, though some estimates put the death toll as high as 300. Planes were even used to drop incendiary bombs on the Greenwood district. - The massacre was sparked by accusations that a young black man assaulted a white woman in an elevator, though he was never convicted. It revealed the deep racial tensions and inequality that still existed after the abolition of slavery.

2. Grandma told me about “The Night Tulsa Died”. She started by saying that most black people in the United States originally came from Africa.

3. o African people, including children were kidnapped from their homes.

4. Whole families were forced onto big ships as slaves

5. . And brought to the USA

6. . “ It’s a wonderful thing for a man to be able to say that he saved his own fathers life. Your grandfather was such a man.” cf

7. September 22 1862, declared freedom of all African Americans from slavery. But in 1921 racial hatred and separation still existed and African Americans were not treated equally. .

8. . In those days everything was either black or white.

9. x This sinister chapter in American History has not been spoken of, in 90 years. 1921 - 2011

10. “ Black Wall Street” 37 block, black community The Greenwood District Tulsa, Oklahoma USA 1921

11. “ Black Wall Street” A boomtown flush with oil money.

12. A prosperous community that had professional men and women of color, and well educated children.

13. Hooker dry goods Blacks owned every business in their community, that the white community had.

14. x Tulsa had two movie theatres, a bank, a hospital, an ambulance service, and a funeral home. Tailor shops, Barbers, and dry goods stores. More than 600 businesses and professional offices.

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16. A pool hall

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18. z. x

19. Tulsa had Dunbar elementary and secondary schools. Two Newspapers; the Tulsa Star and Oklahoma Sun. Restaurants, cleaners, and more than 30 grocery stores. But racial segregation was pervasive.

20. . The wild west was globally conscious. Solders were back from WWI.

21. . .

22. A dollar passed from one community member to another 47 times before it left the Greenwood District, “The Black Wall Street”, so coined by Booker T. Washington.

23. . On the morning of May 31 1921, a shoeshine boy named, Dick Rowland, who was permitted to use the washroom on the third floor of the Drexel Bank Building, entered the elevator.

24. Roland accidently tripped on the uneven elevator threshold and fell into Sara Page, a white girl, elevator operator. Caught off guard, and stunned, she cried out. The onlookers called the Tulsa police, and Roland was arrested, and accused of an alleged rape attempt .

25. o

26. The Klu Klux Klansmen wanted a lynching, without a hearing. So they marched to the court house.

27. 25 leaders of the black community, armed themselves and went to the court house with the intention of protecting the young shoe shine boy from the white lynch mob that was growing. But were turned away by the sheriff. .

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29. . .

30. And shocking exhibitionism.

31. .

32. but also…

33. Happy Audiences. Photography & Journalism was often an integral part of the proceedings. Whites would send postcards to friends.’

34. The black community did not want to see another lynching for white entertainment.

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36. . .

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38. . . A white man confronted and tried to disarm a black solider. “What do you think your going to do with that gun, boy?” “Protect my self if necessary!” He said. “Like Hell you will Nigger!” Shots were fired. The first , second and third victims lay dead.

39. . .r negro was slain.

40. . .

41. Hoods

42. children

43. Telephone and telegraph lines were cut and the railroad was blocked. no communication to the outside world was possible.

44. “ I couldn’t believe that ‘my country tis of the’ was shooting at me.” Dr. Olivia Hooker

45. .

46. . White Tulsans' with bags over their heads, went into black homes and killed whole families.

47. . Each home was systematically looted torched

48. All black men and boys were forced from their homes with hands raised.

49. . taken to the convention center or the fair grounds on the other side of the tracks.

50. 6 planes were loaded with incendiary devices and dropped on the 37 square blocks of the Greenwood District, “SETTING THE NIGHT ON FIRE” One of the planes was owned by The Oklahoma Police Department.

51. z a

52. Marshall Law was enacted The National Guard was called. They brought… machine guns.

53. A night when some say 3,000 Americans were massacred, by other Americans. Some children, were literally ‘scared to death.’ A night when some say 3,000 Black Americans were massacred, by White Americans

54. fear Black children were seeing the massacre from a different perspective.

55. z everything was burned to the ground

56. 10,000 black Americans were left homeless . There were untold numbers of dead, wounded, and missing.

57. And after it was all over, black men were forced to clean up the ashes.

58. A tent city was set up on the fair grounds. A thousand lived in that condition for more than a year

59. Nothing would ever be the same.

60. “ I’m 107 , but I remember 90 years ago, I remember that night. The Arkansas River was clogged with bodies, a large pit was dug in the cemetery, and a hay bailer was used to tie the bodies together. One man heard the sheriff say “go out there and shoot you a ‘nigger’, and the law will be on your side” and that’s just what they did.” Otis Clark

61. What happened to the shoeshine boy? He was never charged – and let go.

62. Your Grandfather saved his own fathers life, by using the law. J.B. was accused of starting the riot, and your Grandfather was able to stop his extradition which would mean death. In 1997 J.B. was posthumously exonerated from any wrong doing.

63. There was no Justice for black people During this lawless time. 10,000. Were left homeless, and all of their Real property was stolen and burned. . john hope Franklyn

64. . The legal dream team was formed in 2005.

65. . The Tulsa Commission

66. x “ You can’t fix what you don’t know” (baldwin) Now that we know what happened in Tulsa, we must “right the wrong.” This is a stain on U S history. We need to acknowledge our history to begin to heal. We now know what happened. Now we can make this right. It is no longer hidden from history. It’s 2011. It’s been 90 years. Reparations for the survivors and their decedents.