Black Wall Street: Remembering the Tulsa Race Massacre and the Importance of Juneteenth
Black Wall Street in Tulsa’s Greenwood district in the early 1920s. Source: Bloomberg Philanthropies
In the early 1920s, the African American community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, arose as a distinguished entrepreneurial center. The area located around Tulsa’s Greenwood district became known as “Black Wall Street.” With segregation ironically benefitting the Black communities’ success, as African Americans were not permitted to shop at white-owned stores, the economic prosperity of Black Wall Street’s Black-owned and supported business boom paralleled that of the California Gold Rush.
However, on May 21, 1921, in reaction to the Tulsa Tribune’s expose outing the alleged sexual assault of a white woman, Sarah Page, by a Black man, Dick Rowland, the local white contingency physically deputized themselves, inflaming what became the Tulsa Race Massacre and the total incineration of Black Wall Street. A sudden outbreak of racial violence ignited the Greenwood district, giving rise to the looting and scorching of prosperous Black residences and business establishments as well as reports of kerosene bombs being dropped from airplanes. Once the ceasefire was called, 35 city blocks were annihilated, 300 people were dead, and more than 800 were injured. The survivors of the riot were rounded up by the National Guard and placed in internment centers for months following the assault. Once a beacon of wealth and advancement, the physical infrastructure of Black Wall Street suffered a total property loss nearing about $50 million.
While the Greenwood district was rebuilt during the 1940s, the community was never able to regain its former prestige. However, John W. Rogers Jr., a Princeton University graduate (1980) and great-grandson of J.B. Stradford, who was a founding father of Black Wall Street, acknowledges to Forbes the collectivity of the Black community in that “Greenwood shows that when we are left to our own devices and don’t have a knee to our neck, we can achieve extraordinary things,” further recognizing that “Tulsa proves that African Americans can build great businesses and be extraordinarily successful.”
On June 19, more recognizably “Juneteenth,” we commemorate African American freedom. Kevin Matthews, a democratic state senator representing Tulsa, believes that the indoctrination of racial reconciliation by the Black community of Tulsa could set an example for the rest of the country. “If we can [rebuild] in this city,” he says, “the same one that never acknowledged the hundreds of lives lost and hasn’t found all these graves… If we can be a beacon of reconciliation — anybody can.”
Source: Matt Bernard, Tulsa World
The attendees of the Juneteenth celebration in Tulsa surrounded the Black Lives Matter mural painted in yellow lettering on the asphalt of the historic Greenwood Ave, which was torched to ground during the 1921 Race Riots. Together, they commemorated and reflected in the persistence of Black Americans today. In light of the unjust murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the continued prejudice and oppression of so many other Black Americans, Juneteenth serves as a reminder of the unfulfilled promises of progress and equality, as well as a marker of the pace at which change and forward action can manifest.
Despite the city’s devastating and regressive history of racial oppression, the unification of the Black community in Tulsa on this day of celebration represents a commitment to the revival of the quintessential nature of Black Wall Street. Moving forward, we continue to stand in solidarity and amplify the voices of the Black community, even long after the streets have emptied of protesters, rallying cries have become echoes, and Black Wall Street becomes a bustling financial hub once again.
Thumbnail Image Source: Ian Maule from Tulsa World newspaper