Nearly 100 Years Later, Tulsa Race Massacre to Be Observed

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  • For more information on the 2021 Tulsa Race Massacre project, visit www.tulsa2021.org
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TULSA - On a rainy Memorial Day in 1921, a black teen named Dick Rowland entered the Drexel Building’s elevator where he encountered Ms. Sarah Page.

For reasons still unknown, Page, a white 17-year-old elevator operator cried out. Her cries were heard by a sales-clerk in the floor below which prompted Rowland’s arrest for an alleged assault. That evening, Rowland was held in a jail cell atop the courthouse, as both blacks and whites congregated outside after hearing rumors of a lynching uttered throughout the community.

Later, two men wrestled over a gun at the courthouse and shots were fired. Through the night and into the next day, rioting, looting and arson ensued in Greenwood, destroying a large majority of the black community. Conflicting sources estimate between 37 and 300 were killed, hundreds perhaps thousands more were injured. The Red Cross states that more than 1,200 homes were destroyed, another 215 were looted. Property damages tallied in the millions.

In its heyday, Greenwood Avenue was compared to Memphis’ Beale Street and Chicago’s State Street, says Hannibal B. Johnson, 2021 Tulsa Race Massacre Education Committee Chair. Almost a century later, the Greenwood community has not fully recovered from the events that took place that night. To honor the victims and educate citizens about the events that virtually destroyed what was once known as the nation’s Black Wall Street, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Commission was established in 2016. Projected to open by the 100th anniversary of the massacre, an 11,800 square-foot interactive exhibit center will showcase the community’s history, resilience and resurgence.

For more information on the 2021 Tulsa Race Massacre project, visit www.tulsa2021.org.