The Tulsa Race Massacre was one of the worst racial riots in the history of the United States. In 1921, Greenwood was the wealthiest African-American owned district in Tulsa. African-Americans settled in Greenwood to start a new life for themselves and future generations. Racism was a concern but African-Americans felt safe in the community of Greenwood. Racism infiltrated Tulsa, the “Ku Klux Klan” assembled and rallied against the people, and it unfortunately stoked the fires of the Tulsa Race Massacre in the summer of 1921.

In 1905, a strip of land was sold to a group of African Americans in the northeast section of Tulsa; this new property was known to some as “Black Tulsa”. Within several years, African American owned businesses established along Greenwood Avenue. It did not take long for “Black Tulsa” to become one of the wealthiest African-American owned cities in the United States. Greenwood’s neighborhoods had nice and sturdy homes, often owned by business owners. Greenwood also had several churches, hotels, places of entertainment, and a school for children. As black Tulsans were “welcomed” in Greenwood, they were “not welcomed” to mix with white businesses south of the tracks.

In the 1920s, supporters of the “Ku Klux Klan” came together and established a “KKK” group in Oklahoma. Crime was pertinent in certain parts of the city directed towards citizens of Greenwood. On May 31, 1921 an African American teen named Dick Rowlands was arrested for alleged assault towards an elevator operator named Sarah Page. After provocative articles were published over the subject, by evening a crowd of 2,000 white men appeared onto the scene of the county jail that Rowlands was being held in. A hundred community members of Greenwood came to defend Rowland. Soon after their arrival, shots rang out and more than a dozen people on both sides fell dead or wounded.

The African-Americans retreated to Greenwood and the white mob followed them into town; homes and businesses were set on fire, and brawls between angry men broke out in the streets. Out of control white men with guns shot innocent people along Greenwood Avenue. Furious whites broke into sports stores along “Negro Wall Street” (as they would call it), and stole guns and ammunition to raid all of the fine neighborhood homes. Whoever resisted the intruders into their homes would be shot and killed. New York Times published on June 2, 1921 that 9 whites and 68 blacks had died in the riot but many people believe there were much more people who had died in the catastrophe.

Greenwood was the most substantial black community in Tulsa, but the “KKK” stoked the fires of discrimination and tore the city apart. The Tulsa Race Massacre ruined Greenwood’s neighborhoods, businesses, churches, and schools. Racism in Tulsa caused burnings, shootings, stabbings, robberies, fights, and false allegations towards innocent people. Historians still talk about this momentous event to this day. The Tulsa Race Massacre happened 100 years ago this summer, but unfortunately, there still is racism that endures today.