Black Wall Street Riot, Part 2

Part 2

Black Wall Street

On the 90th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riots

 

The young girl screamed. The frightened boy was seen running from the elevator by a group of whites, and by late afternoon the "Tulsa Tribune" reported that the girl had been raped, despite the girl’s denial of any wrongdoing. The boy was found and arrested anyway. A mob of reportedly 2000 white men gathered at the jail demanding his release. They wanted to lynch the prisoner.

In response, about 75 armed African Americans from the Greenwood District came to the jail to offer protection for the prisoner. Eventually, a fight broke out between the two groups, and the much larger mob decided to advance on the Greenwood District where they looted and then burned all the community's businesses, homes and churches.

It is reported that any black resisters were shot and thrown into the fires. The fighting got so bad as the hours wore on that the National Guard was called in. However, when they arrived, they assisted the white townsmen by arresting all black men, women and children, and herding them into detention centers at the baseball park and convention hall.

As many as 4,000 Blacks were held under armed guards in detention. By the time the fighting ended, more than 300 African-American men, women and children were killed; more than 600 Black-owned businesses were destroyed; and 10,000 people were left homeless.

Dr. Arthur C. Jackson, a nationally renowned surgeon called by the Mayo brothers (of Mayo Clinic fame) "the most able Negro surgeon in America" was shot and killed at the convention hall.

By the next day, the entire Greenwood District was reduced to ashes. Not one white townsman was ever arrested or accused of any wrongdoing. After the Tulsa riot, the white townsmen tried to buy out the Greenwood District and force Black people out of town.

However, the Greenwood owners refused to sell any of their land. Instead, they spent the entire winter in tents donated by the American Red Cross. Within a year, many of the buildings along the first block of Greenwood Avenue were rebuilt. Within ten years, the tough little community had built back most of its homes, and business and commerce had begun to pick up again.

In 1926, W. E. B. DuBois visited Tulsa and wrote: "Black Tulsa is a happy city. It has new clothes. It is young and gay and strong. Five little years ago, fire and blood and robbery leveled it to the ground. Scars are there, but the city is impudent and noisy. It believes in itself. Thank God for the grit of Black Tulsa."

Tomorrow, Tuesday, May 31, at 6:00 pm, join New York Black Librarians Caucus in the Dionne Mack-Harvin African American Heritage Center at Macon Library, 301 Lewis Avenue, to view a screening of "Before They Die," a documentary chronicling the Black Wall Street Massacre. A community reflection will begin at 7:30 pm.

Look this up and learn about the cover-up. This is what fear will do. This is the mob mentality at work. The girl said she was not raped but they didn't care. They had no regard for the lives of the African American men, women and children that were killed. So they decided to sweep it under the rug as if nothing happened (or that the Black people brought this upon themselves. Like blaming the victim for causing someone to rape her.) We must continue to EXPOSE THE MADNESS!!!