Tulsa Race Riot Devastates African-American Community
The 1921 Tulsa race riot that began on this day was the worst incident of mob racial violence of the decade of the 1920s.
The riot was a massive assault on the Tulsa African-American community by a mob of whites. The African-American hospital in Tulsa was destroyed, the wealthy African-American community was burned down, and 10,000 African-Americans were left homeless. Official records indicated that 39 people were killed, but informal estimates put the figure at 300 or more.
The pattern of violence in the Tulsa riot was similar to those of the 1900 to 1919 period, with mobs of whites attacking the African American community. The 1919 Chicago race riot was probably the worst riot of that type. The riots of the 1960s and afterwards, by contrast, involved property destruction and looting by African-Americans within their own community.
The riot originated from an alleged rape of a white woman by an African-American on May 30th, but the facts of the incident remain in dispute. The ensuing conflict involved shootings at each other by groups of whites and African-Americans, but there is no question that the destructive arson was committed by whites. The conflict was finally ended by the arrival of the Oklahoma National Guard on June 1st.
In 1996, the Oklahoma State Legislature established the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, which investigated the incident and delivered its report in 2001. That year, the legislature also passed the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconciliation Act, which provided over 300 college scholarships for African-American students, a public memorial for those killed in the riot, and a promise of economic development for the African-American residential area that was destroyed in the riot. The memorial was dedicated in 2010.
In 2021, the state of Oklahoma will mark the 100th anniversary of the riot, with events organized by the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission.Check out its plans here.
Read the Tulsa Race Riot Commission report: Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 (February 28, 2001), Read the report here.
Visit John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park: http://www.jhfcenter.org/reconciliation-park/
Read about the riot: Tim Madigan, The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 (2001)
Watch a documentary on the Tulsa race riot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYPVZw1S2Zs
Read more: James S. Hirsch, Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and its Legacy (2002)
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here