Greenwood Rising, Black Wall St History Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma

In 1905, an oilman discovered the Glenn Pool, which was the richest small oil field in the world, located near the small village of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Creek Indians exiled to Oklahoma became millionaires overnight. The find attracted entrepreneurs, merchants, and tradesmen, both Black and White. Tulsa grew rapidly and became quite wealthy. The area of Tulsa known as Greenwood became the primary area for African American settlement. It was a city within a city.

Segregation was rampant, so determined leaders of Greenwood had the vision of a thriving and growing community with numerous professionals including doctors, lawyers, theaters, and high-end merchants. It was Booker T. Washington who coined the term Black Wall Street.

As Greenwood became self-sufficient and wealthy, animosity and outright jealousy from the larger white community were lurking just beneath the surface. This is a time when throughout the United States that animosity was rising everywhere. The Ku Klux Klan was reaching the height of its power, and destruction and lynching were commonplace.

Tulsa was a tinderbox, waiting for the spark that would ignite it. That spark came on May 31, 1921. The Tulsa Tribune published a story entitled Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in an Elevator. Gangs of white men organized with guns and torches, headed for Greenwood. The devastation was complete, even with incendiaries dropped from airplanes. It was an all-out massacre.

The Black Wall St. History Center captures this history, as best as a museum can. The walls are adorned with photographs taken before and after the massacre. Visitors can sit in barbershop chairs in a Greenwood barbershop and engage with holograms of barbers that appear to be administering a haircut. The three barbers chat amongst themselves about their lives and the community. There are numerous other engaging exhibits.

Here are some of the statistics presented:

    Dead: 50 to 300 people

    Injured: Over 800

    Displaced residents: 6,000 to 10,000

    Detained under armed guard: About 6,000

    Homelessness: About 10,000

    Area destroyed: 35 city blocks

    Homes and businesses burned: 1,200 to 1,400

    Businesses, churches, schools and a hospital destroyed or

        looted: 190 to 400

Plaques in the memory of those who lost their lives in 1921