Cinders in the Sky

The Legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre

Timeline of Events

Greenwood was founded in 1906 in Indian territory after former slaves of Indian tribes were given land under the Dawes act. By 1919, Greenwood was full of thriving businesses and an invested community.

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In Tulsa, like much of the United States, racial tensions run high. Jim Crow laws and Intimidation tactics are used by white lawmakers and the public to discriminate against the black community.

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Greenwood was the most successful black community in the United States. Pictured is William's Dreamland Theater, 127 N. Greenwood. This was a center for life and a symbol of affluence in pre-massacre Greenwood. The theater was one of many recognizable landmarks, including Mount Zion Baptist Church, and many others.

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The Tulsa Tribune prints an article describing an alleged assault by Dick Rowland, a shoeshine whos stumble out of an elevator was reported as assault on the elevator attendant. The Tribune article encouraged action to be taken against him. Another article was printed in the same paper about a potential lynching of Rowland, but that article was destroyed and there are no known surviving copies.

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A mob of armed white men arrive at the courthouse and demand Dick Rowland be given to them.

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After the scene turns violent at the courthouse, the white mob of approximately 1,500 white men storm through Greenwood. The mob tears through the district, looting, burning, and murdering.

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By the end of June first, the white mob had burned over 1200 buildings had looted hundreds more.

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Residents that were detained were taken to the convention hall and later moved to McNulty Park. Residents were released anywhere from hours to weeks later as officials tried to sort out who was involved.

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The Mount Zion Baptist Church, finished just two months earlier, was set aflame after an intense firefight. Although the church was valiantly defended, the defenders could not compete with the manpower and military resources of the white mob.

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The massacre was designated as a "riot" by officials. As such, most insurance companies would not fulfill the related damage claims. Residents of Greenwood were left to rebuild on their own and many lived in shanty houses or tents for the next year.

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Profile of a Race Riot, by Ed Wheeler, is published in Impact magazine. This is the first piece about the Tulsa Race Massacre that acknowledges white culpability and describes the media blackout that followed as a "cover up."

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The first book length historical account, Death in a Promised Land, is written by Scott Ellsworth.

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The Tulsa Race Riot Commission is formed to investigate and report on the events of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

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In 2001, The Tulsa Race Riot Commission released its findings in a comprehensive report. It found that the between 100 and 300 people were killed and over 8,000 people made homeless during the massacre. It also recommended substantial restitution be made to the community of Greenwood and its residents.

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In 2003, a federal lawsuit was filed against the state of Oklahoma, city of Tulsa and the Tulsa Police Department on behalf of about 200 survivors and descendants of those victims. The court ruled that the statute of limitations had run out and the case was dismissed.

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In 2007, the Tulsa district attorney formally exonerated all participants that were originally indicted.

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City of Tulsa begins search for mass graves from the Tulsa Race Massacre. Although the official death toll from the massacre is thirty-seven, many estimates place the actual number at one hundred or higher. Conflicting reports of misidentified deaths, injuries, and bodies that were removed during the chaos create the need for further investigation.

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Tulsa Race Riot Commission changes it name to Tulsa Race Massacre Commission.

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From humble beginnings to a thriving community

Racism runs rampant

Black wall Street

Tulsa Tribune article incites violence

The white mob gathers

The White mob storms Greenwood

Greenwood Torched by the white mob

Greenwood residents are detained at the convention hall.

Mount Zion Baptist Church burning

Insurance claims go unpaid

Profile of a Race Riot

Death in a Promised Land

Tulsa Race Riot Commission is formed.

Tulsa Race Riot Commission releases report

Federal Lawsuit

Participants finally are fully exonerated

The search for unmarked mass graves begins

Tulsa Race Riot Commission changes its name

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MarkerMarker
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Leaflet © OpenStreetMap contributors

It was supposed to be a regular Wednesday morning: the sun would rise, the men would go to work, and the children to school. It was the first day of June and the Oklahoma summer heat was preparing to settle in, the cool breeze of spring banished to the past. With it being the middle of the work week, many families were already asleep, peacefully resting for another day of walking across the Frisco tracks to go work on the white side of Tulsa.  It would have been a normal Wednesday in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, too, if not for the angry white mob that descended upon the affluent Black neighborhood, otherwise known as Black Wall Street.

On May 31, Dick Rowland, a Black shoe shiner, was arrested and detained on the top floor of the Tulsa County Court House for allegedly assaulting a woman, Sarah Page, on an elevator the day before. Because of the Tulsa Tribune’s sensationalist headlines, which exaggerated the circumstances of the event, white Tulsans congregated outside the building and pressured the sheriff to turn Rowland over to them—once the fabricated rumors had circulated around town, the white mob was eager to mete out their own version of justice: lynching. In Greenwood, when the Black community learned about what was happening outside the courthouse, some of the men marched over the railroad tracks with guns and ammunition to protect Rowland from the enraged horde desperate to find him. Soon enough, a standoff occurred in Tulsa between the Black community and the white community. But when an unclaimed shot rang out on the square, the anxious silence was shattered.

Throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning, skirmishes between armed Black and white men took place on the borders of Greenwood before the white mob surged into the district and wreaked havoc on one of the only wealthy Black neighborhoods that ever existed in the United States. Fearful of a ‘Negro uprising’, an idea rooted in white supremacist ideology, the mob was soon aided by law enforcement officials and began setting Greenwood on fire. Planes circled over buildings and dropped burning turpentine balls on them. When the residents of Greenwood tried to flee their homes, some were shot down by gunfire from white men on board those planes. It was complete and total demolition: great plumes of black smoke choked the skies, parlors and restaurants were razed to the ground, Black citizens were captured and carted off to detention centers. The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 is categorized as one of the worst race massacres the country has ever seen, but has been majorly and purposely erased from the racial history of the United States. With the official death toll undetermined and the two hundred million dollars in economic damages still not repaired, the Greenwood District of Tulsa has never recovered from this attack.

As we come upon the hundredth anniversary of this event, this exhibit is designed with an aim to explore and ruminate on the legacy of Greenwood before and after this crisis. What follows is an examination of what the district looked like before it was destroyed with reflections from those who lived through the massacre. We've also included a discussion on the language of how to frame this event, and resources for you to follow to help Greenwood. As you delve into this collection, we ask you to consider the history of Tulsa that is still being devastated by a government’s inadequacy to acknowledge their role in this massacre, and the racial trauma still apparent in the city today.