100 YEARS LATER
Remembering the Tulsa Race Massacre
TAMECCA AND HER SON KEITH STAND IN FRONT OF A BLACK WALL STREET MURAL IN TULSA.
W here do you think the first bombs fell on American soil? Right here in Tulsa, Okla. My hometown. I was shocked when I found out what happened on Black Wall Street in the Greenwood District. As the 100th anniversary of the event approaches this year, it’s imperative that students and adults understand this history to acknowledge the pain and heartache and to ensure this never happens again.
What happened Sadly, these bombs were fueled by racism, segregation and mistrust. Over the course of 16 hours from May 31 to June 1, 1921, the city’s vibrant Black business district full of theaters, shops and churches was razed to the ground. So, how did it start? A simple mishap between a Black boy and a white girl in an elevator escalated. The violence that erupted afterward destroyed more than 600 businesses and left 9,000 homeless and more than 300 dead. Some accounts report thousands of Black people lost their lives. This stain on American history has been excluded from history books for decades. This explains why many Americans who have lived in Tulsa most of their lives, like me, have only recently learned about this devastation. Nearly 100 years later, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister recently declared the state will move forward with embedding the catastrophe of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre into the Oklahoma school curriculum.
BY DR. TAMECCA ROGERS . PHOTOS PROVIDED AND BY DENICE TOOMBS .
KEITH READS A PLAQUE AT JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN RECONCILIATION PARK DETAILING MEMORIES OF AN EARLY GREENWOOD RESIDENT.
40 METROFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM / JAN-FEB 2021
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