Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District
5/5
()
About this ebook
In the early 1900s, an indomitable entrepreneurial spirit brought national renown to Tulsa's historic African American community, the Greenwood District.
This "Negro Wall Street" bustled with commercial activity. In 1921, jealously, land lust, and racism swelled in sectors of white Tulsa, and white rioters seized upon what some derogated as "Little Africa," leaving death and destruction in their wake. In an astounding resurrection, the community rose from the ashes of what was dubbed the Tulsa Race Riot with renewed vitality and splendor, peaking in the 1940s. In the succeeding decades, changed social and economic conditions sparked a prodigious downward spiral. Today's Greenwood District bears little resemblance to the black business mecca of yore. Instead, it has become part of something larger: an anchor to a rejuvenated arts, entertainment, educational, and cultural hub abutting downtown Tulsa.
The Tulsa experience is, in many ways, emblematic of others throughout the country. Through context-setting text and scores of captioned photographs, Images of America: Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District provides a basic foundation for those interested in the history of Tulsa, its African American community, and race relations in the modern era. Particularly for students, the book can be an entry point into what is a fascinating piece of American history and a gateway to discoveries about race, interpersonal relations, and shared humanity.
Hannibal B. Johnson
Hannibal B. Johnson, a Harvard Law School graduate, is an author, attorney, consultant, and college professor. He teaches at Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma and has taught at the University of Tulsa College of Law. He has written several books on African American history. His play Big Mama Speaks: A Tulsa Race Riot Survivor's Story was selected for the 2011 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He has received numerous honors and awards for his work and community service.
Related to Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District
Related ebooks
From Burning to Blueprint: Rebuilding Black Wall Street After a Century of Silence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden History of Tulsa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTulsa:: Where the Streets Were Paved With Gold Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Chicago Race Riots: July, 1919 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Wall Street: The Wealthy African American Community of the Early 20th Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfrican Americans in Pittsburgh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Douglas/Grand Boulevard: A Chicago Neighborhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFreedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nation Must Awake: My Witness to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mary McLeod Bethune in Florida: Bringing Social Justice to the Sunshine State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hidden History of Old Atlanta Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coatesville and the Lynching of Zachariah Walker: Death in a Pennsylvania Steel Town Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLynched: The Victims of Southern Mob Violence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slave Labor in the Capital: Building Washington's Iconic Federal Landmarks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFugitivism: Escaping Slavery in the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1820-1860 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That's the Way It Was: Stories of Struggle, Survival and Self-Respect in Twentieth-Century Black St. Louis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEbony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Negro Education in Alabama: A Study in Cotton and Steel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Victory of Greenwood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Growing Up in Slavery: Stories of Young Slaves as Told By Themselves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Photography For You
Extreme Art Nudes: Artistic Erotic Photo Essays Far Outside of the Boudoir Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Collins Complete Photography Course Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Photographer's Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Book Of Legs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Betty Page Confidential: Featuring Never-Before Seen Photographs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ballet for Everybody: The Basics of Ballet for Beginners of all Ages Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The iPhone Photography Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Command to Look: A Master Photographers Method for Controlling the Human Gaze Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Photography Exercise Book: Training Your Eye to Shoot Like a Pro (250+ color photographs make it come to life) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhotography for Beginners: The Ultimate Photography Guide for Mastering DSLR Photography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edward's Menagerie: Dogs: 50 canine crochet patterns Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Digital Photography For Dummies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Declutter Your Photo Life: Curating, Preserving, Organizing, and Sharing Your Photos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAstrophotography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cinematography: Third Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rocks and Minerals of The World: Geology for Kids - Minerology and Sedimentology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sunken Plantations: The Santee-Cooper Project Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patterns in Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Photography Bible: A Complete Guide for the 21st Century Photographer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conscious Creativity: Look, Connect, Create Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fifty Places to Hike Before You Die: Outdoor Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wisconsin Death Trip Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Workin' It!: RuPaul's Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Six Flags Over Georgia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Tree a Day: 365 of the World’s Most Majestic Trees Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJonesboro and Arkansas's Historic Northeast Corner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Oral History of Tahlequah and The Cherokee Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Photography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Towns of North Georgia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District - Hannibal B. Johnson
World.
INTRODUCTION
Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Oil Capital of the World,
shone brightly at the dawn of the 20th century. Black gold oozed from Indian Territory soil, land once set aside for Native American resettlement. J. Paul Getty, Thomas Gilcrease, and Waite Phillips were among the men extracting fabulous fortunes from Oklahoma crude and living on Tulsa time.
As Tulsa’s wealth and stature grew, so, too, did its political, economic, and, in particular, race-based tensions. The formative years of this segregated city coincided with a period of marked violence against African Americans. In 1919 alone, more than two dozen race riots erupted in towns and cities throughout the country. That same year, vigilantes lynched at least 83 African Americans.
The Greenwood District in Tulsa blossomed even amidst this blacklash.
African Americans engaged one another in commerce, creating a nationally renowned hotbed of black business and entrepreneurial activity known as Negro Wall Street.
Greenwood Avenue, just north of the Frisco Railroad tracks, became the hub of Tulsa’s original African American community. Eclectic and electric, this artery drew favorable comparisons to legendary thoroughfares such as Beale Street in Memphis and State Street in Chicago.
This parallel black city existed just beyond downtown, separated physically from white Tulsa by the Frisco tracks and psychologically by layers of social stratification. In it, African American businesspersons and professionals mingled with day laborers, musicians, and maids. African American educators molded young minds. African American clergy nurtured spirits and soothed souls.
The success of the Greenwood District ran counter to the prevailing notion in that era of black inferiority. Fear and jealousy swelled over time. The economic prowess of Tulsa’s African American citizens, including home, business, and land ownership, caused increasing tension. Black World War I veterans, having tasted true freedom on foreign soil, came back to America with heightened expectations. Valor and sacrifice in battle had earned them the basic respect and human dignity so long denied at home—or so they thought. But America had not yet changed. Oklahoma had not changed. Tulsa had not changed.
A seemingly random encounter between two teenagers lit the fuse that set the Greenwood District alight. The alleged assault on a 17-year-old white girl, Sarah Page, by a 19-year-old black boy, Dick Rowland, in the elevator of a downtown building triggered unprecedented civil unrest. Deep social fissures, however, lay at the roots of the riot, which included white angst over African American prosperity, land lust, and a racially hostile climate in general.
A local newspaper stoked the embers of Tulsa’s emerging firestorm. The Tulsa Tribune framed the elevator incident in black and white: Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in an Elevator.
Authorities arrested Rowland. A white mob vowed to lynch him.
A small group of African American men marched to the courthouse to protect Rowland. Upon their arrival, law enforcement authorities implored them to retreat, assuring them of the teen’s safety. They left, but the lynch talk persisted. Jarred by these persistent threats and increasingly concerned for Rowland’s safety, more African American men assembled. Several dozen strong, these men, some bearing arms, trekked to the courthouse. There, they met and verbally engaged with the throngs of white men already massed. Two men struggled over a gun. The gun discharged. Chaos erupted.
Soon, thousands of weapon-wielding white men invaded the Greenwood District, seizing upon the Negro quarter
with seismic fury. Some law enforcement officers stood idly by while others placed themselves squarely along the racial fault lines, even deputizing the white hoodlums who would set ablaze the area derogated as Little Africa.
As flames raged and smoke billowed, roving gangs prevented firefighters from taking action.
In a 16-hour span, people, property, hopes, and dreams vanished. The Greenwood District lay in utter ruin. The State of Oklahoma declared martial law in Tulsa. The Oklahoma National Guard eventually restored order.
Authorities herded African American men into internment camps around the city, ostensibly for their own protection. Camp staff released detainees only upon presentation of green cards countersigned by white guarantors.
Property damage ran into the millions. Casualties numbered in the hundreds. Some African Americans fled Tulsa, never to return. Local courts failed to convict even a single white person of a crime associated with the riot. Prosecutors charged dozens of African American men with inciting it.
Even as the fires still smoldered, Greenwood District pioneers pledged to rebuild their community from the ashes. Official Tulsa leadership touted cooperation and collaboration, but hindered post-riot reconstruction. The Tulsa City Commission blamed African American citizens for their own plight. City officials turned away outside donations earmarked for the rebuilding. Attorney Buck Colbert Franklin rebuffed Tulsa’s attempt to enact a more stringent fire code that would have made post-riot rebuilding cost-prohibitive for many.
In the midst of the devastation, white allies surfaced. First Presbyterian Church and Holy Family Cathedral helped shelter and feed fleeing victims of the racial violence. The American Red Cross, heralded as Angels of Mercy,
offered medical care, food, shelter, and clothing, and even established tent cities for the hordes left homeless by the riot.
African Americans shouldered their share of the load, too. Spears, Franklin & Chappelle