Article Highlights:

• Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, thrived with over 100 Black-owned businesses in the early 1900s.
• The Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 destroyed Greenwood, killing up to 300 people and erasing wealth.
• Modern Black business districts face challenges but strive to rebuild wealth through entrepreneurship and support networks.

By Jazmin Goodwin

“Beautiful, bustling, and Black”—that was how author, attorney, and activist Hannibal B. Johnson described Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood District in his book “Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District.”

In the early 1900s, the Greenwood District flourished with over 100 Black-owned businesses, from restaurants and grocery stores to hotels and hospitals. Brick office buildings lined the streets with Black doctors, lawyers, and dentists ready to serve their communities. Visitors to the area included agricultural scientist George Washington Carver, famed contralto Marian Anderson, and blues singer and pianist Dinah Washington. The district’s success represented more than just commerce; it embodied Black Americans’ resilience and ingenuity in creating economic opportunities despite the crushing restrictions of Jim Crow laws.

Greenwood’s prosperity came to a violent end in 1921 when a white mob destroyed the district in what is now known as the Tulsa Race Massacre. In just two days, their ensuing violence left 35 city blocks decimated, over 800 people injured, potentially 100 to 300 people killed (though exact figures can never be determined), and generations of accumulated wealth erased.

Unfortunately, the tragedy at Greenwood wasn’t an isolated event. The years leading up to 1921 were marked by race-related violence. As Johnson noted in his book, the United States saw 61 recorded lynchings of Black Americans in 1920; the year prior, more than 25 major race riots erupted throughout the nation in what was dubbed the Red Summer.

The devastation and its lasting impact

Today, the country continues to grapple with the aftermath of such vehement destruction. Evanston, Illinois, and Asheville, North Carolina, are among the few cities carrying out reparations projects despite opposition from the 6% and 13% of respondents who argued such programs would be too expensive or too difficult to administer, respectively, according to a poll of 1,000 people by the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Boston TV station WCVB.

Though Greenwood residents reconstructed with astonishing speed after the massacre, their efforts were continually stymied—not just by violence but by policies that deprived these areas of further opportunities. “The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre temporarily stilled the economic engines that revved on Black Wall Street. That said, the community quickly rebounded and rebuilt, peaking economically in the 1940s,” Johnson told Stacker in an email. “In the 1960s and subsequent decades, structural factors like integration and urban renewal precipitated a second decline.”

The 2024 ruling denying reparations to the last survivors of the massacre serves as a sobering reminder that the consequences of this destruction continue to reverberate through time, contributing to today’s racial wealth gap.

The legacy of Black business districts across America

Though perhaps the most widely known, Tulsa’s story was not unique.

“Wherever you had large Black populations concentrated because of segregation, you had these enterprising African Americans who sprouted up to provide every need possible,” Dr. Shennette Garrett-Scott, author of “Banking on Freedom: Black Women in U.S. Finance Before the New Deal” and associate professor of history and Africana studies at Tulane University, told Stacker.

Across America, Black entrepreneurs established thriving business districts that faced similar threats from racial violence and discriminatory policies.

From Richmond’s Jackson Ward—known as “the cradle of Black capitalism”—to Detroit’s Paradise Valley, Chicago’s Bronzeville, and Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn, across America, Black entrepreneurs established communities with flourishing enterprises that stood as beacons of economic promise and prosperity.

Stacker used Census data and other sources to explore the untold history of lesser-known Black Wall Streets across the U.S. and how present-day Black business districts strive to rebuild wealth and opportunity in the current economic landscape.

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The winding path to economic freedom

The roots of Black entrepreneurship run deep in American soil. The entrepreneurial spirit of Black Americans can be traced as early as the 17th century, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Even while enslaved, Black Americans would barter and trade their surplus production with other people who were enslaved—though most profits went to their enslavers. Some with managerial duties even sold their skills and services to others. Once freed, Black Americans continued this tradition of engaging in businesses that used the skills valued by white enslavers, including catering and personal services such as tailoring and hair care.

In the decades following the Civil War, Black Americans faced a paradox: newly freed but systematically excluded from mainstream economic opportunities.

“These were enterprising, ambitious people who were trying to get their part, their piece of the American dream, who were just as enthralled with American free enterprise as their white counterparts,” Garrett-Scott said. “Through their enterprise, they were able to carve out a space within the limitations—the limited options that they were given.”

Overcoming systemic barriers

This exclusion, though devastating, sparked a wave of Black entrepreneurship across the country. According to the Negro Year Book of 1914-1915, Black business ownership grew from virtually zero in 1863 to over 40,000 enterprises by 1913, while Black homeownership rose from near zero to over 500,000 properties in the same period. This growth occurred despite the implementation of restrictive “Black codes” that required white sponsors for Black business licenses and Jim Crow laws that systematically segregated commerce.

These communities developed sophisticated financial networks, with Black-owned banks providing crucial capital to entrepreneurs routinely denied loans by white-owned institutions. “What made these Black business districts thrive wasn’t just Black people supporting Black businesses; it was also Black-owned financial networks, Black banks, and Black insurance companies that provided the capital when white institutions refused,” said Garrett-Scott.

One of the most significant developments was the creation of Black financial institutions. Exemplifying this trend was the Grand Fountain United Order of True Reformers, founded by Rev. William Washington Browne in 1881 in Richmond, Virginia’s Jackson Ward. Beyond providing insurance and banking services, the True Reformers operated department stores, published a newspaper, maintained a home for older people, and invested in real estate across 10 Virginia cities, Washington state, Baltimore, and other locations.

Backlash and lasting impact

However, alongside these success stories came the backlash. Beyond Tulsa, Black Americans who engaged in economic activity fell victim to racial violence and intentional economic disruption. The East St. Louis Massacre of 1917, caused by white workers targeting their Black peers hired by the Aluminum Ore Company or the Elaine Massacre of Black sharecroppers seeking to unionize in 1919, marked systematic attempts to suppress Black economic independence.

“Violence plays a role in both creating Black Wall Streets and their decline,” Garrett-Scott emphasized. “There are different, varying levels and kinds of violence.” Beyond direct racial violence, Black businesses faced what Garrett-Scott calls “bureaucratic violence”—systematic exclusion from professional organizations, denial of licenses and permits, and restricted access to capital.

Discriminatory policies compounded the damage. Redlining prevented Black businesses from accessing loans and insurance, while urban renewal projects of the 1950s and 1960s often targeted Black business districts for demolition, displacing established enterprises and fragmenting communities.

“Urban renewal—ostensibly intended to eliminate urban blight—devastated Black Wall Street by displacing individuals and enterprises and gobbling up land,” said Johnson. “Wealth disparities are in large part attributable to the ability to transfer property intergenerationally. Urban renewal adversely affected that dynamic for Black folks.”

The ongoing wealth gap

The dismantling of these Black business districts has had lasting effects on economic progress for Black Americans spanning generations. According to the American Civil Liberties Union’s 2023 Visualizing the Racial Wealth Gap report, the gap in wealth between Black and white families has only grown since the 1970s. In 2018, the median white family of three earned $33,000 more than a Black family of the same size. Black homeownership rates have also stagnated, lagging behind Hispanic homeownership rates and never reaching the 50% mark in the last 10 years.

“We haven’t matched the level of economic destruction that came through those forms of violence and policy violence with the requisite level of economic investment into those communities. Each new generation can fall farther and far farther behind,” Anthony Barr, director of research and impact at the National Bankers Association, told Stacker. Barr’s research specializes in the racial wealth gap, financial wellness, and digitization.

Where Black Americans found success across the US

Different cities developed distinct patterns of Black business growth. Due to segregation, Richmond’s Jackson Ward transformed from a mixed neighborhood that hosted German, Italian, and Jewish immigrants to a Black business hub.

During this time, “the Deuce,” known as 2nd Street, became a cultural and economic powerhouse and the home of Hippodrome Theater, attracting performers like Nat King Cole and Cab Calloway. The district was also home to St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, founded in 1903 by the first Black American woman to charter a bank in the U.S., Maggie Lena Walker, and the Southern Aid and Insurance Company, the country’s first Black life insurance company.

Durham, North Carolina, presented a unique case. Unlike older Southern cities, Durham’s rapid growth as a tobacco town created unexpected opportunities. “My hunch is that the growth was so rapid that anybody could come here to get a job,” Perry Pike of the Historic Preservation Society of Durham told the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. “They couldn’t afford to discriminate in the way that other southern cities did.” Durham was also believed to be more progressive than other communities.

“White allyship helped facilitate Black business success in Durham, both in terms of relative racial progressivism and capital investment,” said Johnson.

Education and economic growth

This relative openness enabled the rise of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company—the nation’s largest Black-owned insurer at the time—and Mechanics and Farmers Bank. Andre Vann, a North Carolina Central University historian, also noted Durham fostered unusually progressive Black-white business relationships, with white capitalists often working through Black-owned banks to invest in Black communities.

Washington D.C.’s evolution tells yet another story. The city’s Shaw neighborhood, particularly along U Street, emerged as a crucial hub after Black businessmen were forced out of downtown. By 1910, Shaw hosted over 200 Black-owned businesses, with the True Reformers’ five-story building on 12th and U streets symbolizing the community’s ambitions. The neighborhood’s growth was closely tied to Howard University, reinforcing the power of education in economic mobility. The area’s growth paralleled the expansion of Howard University, creating a symbiotic relationship between education and enterprise that became a model for other cities.

Barr notes modern Black business hubs can learn from these historical examples. “It’s not just about creating new wealth; it’s about supporting jobs, which is about supporting families,” he said. “It’s about increasing tax revenue, which is about being able to have more money available for public services and quality schools and infrastructure maintenance.”

Stacker

Collective economics: Building Black business districts today

Today’s landscape shows both progress and persistent challenges. Census data reveals that while Black Americans represented about 12% of the population, they owned just 2.4% of American small businesses in 2020. However, data suggests that Black-owned businesses thrive in Southern states. Hinesville, Georgia, leads with 18.2% of companies being Black-owned despite its population only being slightly above 35,000. On the other hand, Atlanta, a larger city with more than 500,000 residents, maintains a strong presence, with 13,766 Black-owned businesses representing 11.3% of all enterprises.

Cities like Memphis, Tennessee, also have a notable presence of Black businesses. The city, which hosts more than 600,000 residents, has a Black population comprising 48.8% of residents, and Black-owned companies comprise 9.3% of all enterprises.

The resurgence of modern Black business districts in these cities is driven by strong entrepreneurial ecosystems supporting emerging and established businesses. From local policies to entrepreneur networks, dedicated efforts are shaping sustainable ecosystems that empower Black entrepreneurs and fuel long-term success.

Building sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems

Today, this philosophy is embodied in the work of Atlanta’s Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon, founder of The Village Market and author of “No One Is Self-Made: Build Your Village to Flourish in Business and Life.” Hallmon launched The Village Market as a deliberate economic engine for Black-owned businesses. Since 2016, the model has served more than 1,440 businesses in 38 states and four countries, including the Bahamas. It has resulted in $8.8 million in direct sales to Black-owned enterprises and $800,000 in grants.

“The key for all of us is intentionality—whether through funding, mentorship, visibility, or policy changes, we must build ecosystems that not only provide opportunities but also advocate for long-term structural change in how Black businesses are supported and sustained. By working together, we can shift the narrative from survival to sustained success,” Hallmon told Stacker in an email.

Mandy Bowman, founder and CEO of Official Black Wall Street, represents another example of the power of buying and supporting Black entrepreneurs. Bowman created Official Black Wall Street to connect Black businesses with consumers nationwide. Inspired by the history of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Bowman launched her platform to ensure Black businesses received sustained visibility and consumer support.

The power of social and economic networks

Ryan Wilson is the founder and CEO of The Gathering Spot, a private membership network designed to foster collaboration among Black professionals, entrepreneurs, and creatives. He underscores the importance of community spaces providing social and financial capital to help businesses thrive. “We have to have places where you’re able to connect with the entire ecosystem. So, yes, business owners, but also the accountants, the lawyers, the people that can support your products,” Wilson told Stacker.

Wilson emphasizes that business is ultimately built on relationships, and access to the right networks is often as crucial as access to funding. “At the end of the day, social capital is going to be required in order to facilitate financial capital and then ultimately close the wealth gap. People have to know one another before they do business with one another,” Wilson said.

“Buying Black” has long been a powerful concept and driver of social capital in the fight for economic independence and wealth-building within Black communities. Johnson describes this tradition as “supporting Black-owned enterprises, entrepreneurs, and professionals; investing in our own community; and ownership—equity.” Historically, Black business districts like Greenwood in Tulsa, Sweet Auburn in Atlanta, and Jackson Ward in Richmond were thriving because of “collective economics,” or “economic cooperation” to support Black-owned businesses, ensuring that wealth circulated within Black communities.

And just as in centuries past with Black business districts, educational institutions like historically Black colleges and universities continue to be an economic mobilizer for Black entrepreneurship.

In Atlanta, the Center for Black Entrepreneurship aims to help bridge the wealth gap for Black communities through its programming and funding opportunities that serve Atlanta University Center students—which include Spelman College, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Clark Atlanta University—and Black business owners. The center, bolstered by $10 million in funding from Bank of America, also provides a research program to find solutions for the unique challenges Black entrepreneurs face.

Challenges in accessing capital

Access to capital remains a significant barrier for Black entrepreneurs. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Small Business Credit Survey, Black-owned firms are twice as likely to be denied business loans as white-owned firms. The Census Bureau’s 2022 Annual Business Survey also found that Black-owned firms were less likely to receive the full financing they sought than white-owned firms. Specifically, fewer than 2 in 5 (38.4%) Black-owned firms received all the funding they applied for, while 3 in 5 (62.3%) white-owned firms experienced the same outcome.

The venture capital landscape reflects similar disparities. In 2023, Black-founded startups in the U.S. received approximately $661 million in venture capital funding, representing just 0.48% of the total $136 billion allocated that year and 1.4% of total U.S. venture funding, TechCrunch reported. This marks a substantial decline from 2021, when Black founders secured nearly $5 billion, according to Crunchbase. The downturn of financing is more pronounced in certain regions. For instance, in Atlanta, Crunchbase reported investments in Black-owned startups dropped from $467 million in 2021 to just $23 million in 2023. However, some VC firms, such as the Atlanta-based Collab Capital, provide access to capital and strategic guidance to Black entrepreneurs and founders.

Broader economic disparities compound the financial challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 3 in 5 (64%) Black adults rate their personal financial situation as only fair or poor, and more than half experience at least one economic worry daily or almost daily. Despite these obstacles, entrepreneurship remains a key aspiration within Black communities; the same survey revealed that 22% of Black adults consider owning a business essential to their personal definition of financial success.

The Black Wall Street mindset and the future

These disparities underscore Black entrepreneurs’ systemic and historical barriers to securing necessary funding for their businesses and achieving financial success.

While the challenges remain significant, today’s Black entrepreneurs are building on their predecessors’ legacy of resilience and innovation, working to close the racial wealth gap one business at a time.

“Black Wall Street clubs have sprung up all across the country,” Johnson said. “They reflect what I call ‘the Black Wall Street mindset,’ the mental framework built on the historical example of the Black trailblazers from Tulsa’s historic Greenwood District who displayed extraordinary vision, determination, and resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Leveraging this powerful past, the Black Wall Street mindset says, essentially: ‘They did. I can. I will.'”

Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Paris Close.

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The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a case filed by the last two remaining survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre on Wednesday, June 12, casting doubt on racial equality campaigners’ aspirations for justice and reparations for one of the most heinous acts of racial violence in American history.

The nine-member court upheld a previous ruling by a district court judge in Tulsa, stating that the plaintiffs’ grievances, although legitimate, did not fall within the purview of the state’s public nuisance statute. “We further hold that the plaintiff’s allegations do not sufficiently support a claim for unjust enrichment,” the court declared in its decision.

Attempts by the Black Press to contact both parties were unsuccessful.

Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, two survivors who are both over 100 years old, filed the lawsuit in 2020 to compel the City of Tulsa and other parties to make amends for the destruction a white mob caused to the thriving Black neighborhood known as Greenwood. On May 31 and June 1, 1921, the mob, which included individuals hastily deputized by local authorities, looted and set fire to the district, famously dubbed “Black Wall Street.”

The massacre resulted in the deaths of up to 300 Black Tulsans and forced thousands of survivors into internment camps managed by the National Guard. Today, only remnants like burned bricks and part of a church basement remain of the once-thriving 30-block area.

Benningfield Randle and Fletcher, along with the now-deceased Hughes Van Ellis, sued to secure what their attorney termed “justice in their lifetime.” Van Ellis, affectionately known as “Uncle Redd,” was a WWII veteran and a symbol of resilience who died last year at age 102. The lawsuit was grounded in Oklahoma’s public nuisance law, arguing that the massacre’s legacy of racial division and economic disparity persists in Tulsa to this day.

The plaintiffs contended that the city’s history of racial tensions and the economic fallout from the massacre still reverberate, citing the lack of compensation for victims by the city and insurance companies. The lawsuit sought an exhaustive accounting of the property and wealth lost or stolen during the massacre, the construction of a hospital in north Tulsa, and the establishment of a victims’ compensation fund, among other reparations.

In reflecting on Van Ellis’s legacy, advocates emphasized his lifelong commitment to seeking justice for massacre survivors. “He bravely served America, even as he spent a lifetime awaiting atonement related to the Tulsa Race Massacre,” Oklahoma Democratic Rep. Regina Goodwin stated after Van Ellis’s death. “Mr. Ellis urged us to keep fighting for justice. In the midst of his death, there remains an undying sense of right and wrong.”

Rocky Dawuni, a three-time Grammy-nominated artist, also paid tribute to Van Ellis, remarking on his indomitable and uplifting spirit. “Uncle Redd had a larger-than-life presence. His life and story have become part of our collective struggle as a people,” Dawuni said. “His experiences give us a unique glimpse into what Black people had to endure and still have to endure to this day.”

Despite the legal setback, advocates vow to continue their fight for justice, drawing inspiration from the survivors’ unwavering resolve.

“If this truly is a nation of laws and a state based on the law, then my clients, the last-known survivors of the massacre, should get the opportunity that no one else who suffered the devastation had the privilege of,” Damario Solomon-Simmons, a National Civil Rights Attorney and founder of Justice for Greenwood, recently asserted.

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By Lauren Victoria Burke,

NNPA Newswire Contributor

One of only three known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre has died on October 9 at the age of 102 years old.

Hughes Van Ellis, 102, died in Denver, Colorado on the morning of October 9. Van Ellis was born on Jan.11, 1921. The two last known survivors of the Tulles Race Massacre are now Viola Ford Fletcher, 109 and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108.

The Greenwood District was a prosperous African American community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, often referred to as “Black Wall Street.” It was a thriving business district with a vibrant Black cultural and economic life, home to many Black-owned businesses and residences. On May 31, 1921, a young Black man named Dick Rowland was falsely accused of assaulting a young white woman named Sarah Page in an elevator. The allegation led to Rowland’s arrest and tensions escalated as rumors spread about the incident.

At the time, Hughes Van Ellis was three months old. Over the years there have been several attempts to earn damage rewards for the destruction of life and property by the white community in Tulsa. None of the challenges have been successful so far.

A statement released by the family stated, “Mr. Hughes Van Ellis, 102, passed Mon. Oct. 9th at 11:30 am in Denver, Colorado. A loving family man, he was known as “Uncle Redd.” He was among the three last known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the most horrific acts of racist terrorism on American soil. A WWII war veteran, Mr. Ellis, bravely served America, even as he spent a lifetime awaiting atonement related to the Tulsa Race Massacre. Mr. Ellis was aware, that survivors, his sister Mrs. Viola Ford Fletcher, 109, Mrs. Lessie Benningfield Randle, 108, and family descendants were recently at our state capitol as part of an interim study focused on 2001 state-commissioned reparation recommendations.

Two days ago, Mr. Ellis, urged us to keep fighting for justice. In the midst of his death, there remains an undying sense of right and wrong. Mr. Ellis was assured we would remain steadfast and we repeated to him his own words, “We Are One” and we lastly expressed our love. The scripture of Jeremiah 6 reads “This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” We celebrate the rare life of Mr. Hughes Van Ellis who still inspires us!”

Funeral details are not yet known. Van Ellis’ funeral ceremony is likely to be another touchpoint around the issue of reparations for the damage done to members of the Black community as a result of systemic racism.

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David W. Marshall

News Analysis

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Looking at the events unfolding in Ukraine, it is not hard to compare them to what occurred during Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, which in 1939 marked the start of World War II, especially when you see how two dictators (Hitler and Putin) followed the same playbook. Both invasions were unprovoked attacks against innocent people. When you consider the reasons behind the attack on Ukraine, they are like the motives behind the Tulsa massacre in 1921.

It shows how acts of hatred and evil are timeless. Erasing them from history books doesn’t prevent similar human rights violations from occurring now or in the future. With Russia invading Ukraine to” keep the peace,” the world witnessed a lying dictator in action. One day after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into separatist-held parts of eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba was straightforward about Russia’s long-term objective. “His ultimate goal is to destroy Ukraine,” Kuleba said of Putin. Putin “wants the idea of Ukrainian statehood to fail. This is his objective.”

Putin is scared to death of democracy. He hates that NATO was founded to provide defense of democracies on both sides of the Atlantic and provide effective opposition to any power that seeks to dominate Europe. Putin’s fears about NATO are not centered on any expected military aggression from the West but rather the optimism and hope that democracy offers. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and left in its place 15 independent states. Putin aims to restore Russia as a world superpower while reining in those nations that previously turned away from Moscow. These goals become personal and more complex when former Soviet republics like Ukraine and the former Warsaw Pact members aspire to become free democracies.

If Ukraine had successfully transformed into a democratic, unified, and prosperous state which achieved EU acceptance along with NATO membership, the credibility of Russia’s ruling dictatorship would be on the line. An independent, democratic, economically stable, and internationally integrated Ukraine exposes Putin’s lies and potentially threatens his hold on power. A successful Ukrainian model would show the Russian model as a failure and sham while showing what true democracy offers. It would inspire other regions, including Russia’s citizens, to seek greater control over their own destiny by opposing the current regime in Moscow.

The Ukrainian model is being destroyed in real-time. Compare that to the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921. Greenwood functioned independently by having its own school system, post office, bank, library, hospital, and public transit. It was a prosperous city within a city with luxury shops, restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, jewelry and clothing stores, movie theaters, barbershops and salons, pool halls, nightclubs, and offices for doctors, lawyers, and dentists. Black people living in homes, driving cars, women wearing furs, and just achieving and enjoying the benefits of economic success did not sit well with whites who were not as successful economically.

The prosperity of Greenwood residents scared them. It was intolerable to those who live to defend white supremacy. If the area known as the “Black Wall Street” and others like it were allowed to thrive unchallenged, it would have been a successful model for other Black communities to not only accumulate wealth but to transfer it generationally.

It discredits the notion that Blacks are inferior people incapable of achieving the American Dream at levels far exceeding their white counterparts. As an economic powerhouse, Greenwood would prove the idea of white superiority as a sham with no credibility. Today, the people of Ukraine, just like the 11,000 citizens living in the Greenwood district, deserve to have peace and the pursuit of happiness. Defending power and superiority has no humane limits for certain individuals throughout history. In 1921, the Tulsa massacre started with an “alleged assault” and ended in a deadly invasion by a lynch mob. They too followed the playbook, which begins with a lie and eventually ends in a deadly attack to destroy what they see as a threat to their power and control. Within Greenwood’s 35 square blocks, an estimated 300 people were killed.

The Black Wall Street model was burned to the ground, destroying more than 1,200 homes, at least 60 businesses, and dozens of churches. Unjust “supremacy” won the only way it can, through misinformation, intimidation, and violence. For the Greenwood survivors, like the Holocaust survivors after them, it was a traumatic event, and we should never forget the true motives behind these aggressions. Before the Trump administration took office, we never had an American president hold a Russian dictator in such high esteem. As the world reels in shock and sadness over Russia’s unprovoked attack on neighboring Ukraine, it really should be no surprise that former President Donald Trump described Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine as “savvy” and “genius.” As for the playbook, Trump fully recognizes it and supports its use.

David W. Marshall is the founder of the faith-based organization TRB: The Reconciled Body and author of the book God Bless Our Divided America. He can be reached at www.davidwmarshallauthor.com.

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This is the 21st episode of The Cincinnati Herald Podcast. We discuss news that you can’t get anywhere else. On today’s show we will be discussing the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, and the Heights Movement

Today’s guests are Andria Carter (Co-host and Media Consultant, The Cincinnati Herald), Wade Lacey, Sr. (Circulation Director), Maeve Hamlet (Intern, The Cincinnati Herald), and Special Guests Daronce Daniels (Lincoln Heights Council Member) and Carlton R. Collins (Director of Programs and Special Projects for the Heights Movement)

This week’s episode is hosted by John Alexander Reese (Digital Editor, The Cincinnati Herald).

To find out more about The Heights Movement, go to: https://theheightsmovement.org/.

To register for Owning It! Ohio and kentucky, a free home ownership webinar, go to: https://tinyurl.com/OwningItOhioKentucky

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Reports from Herald Columnist Jim Clingman, NPR, Tulsa Historical Society and Wikipedia contributed to this article

Viola Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, told a congressional hearing last week: “I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot.”

The day that a White mob came to Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Viola Fletcher was just 7 years old.

At the time, the African American community was a prosperous, independent neighborhood. It was one of the wealthiest, educated African American communities in the country and was known as the “Black Wall Street.”

It has been called “the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.”

The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals, and as many as 6,000 Black residents were interned in large facilities. The bodies of Greenwood victims were thrown in the river of mass graves. A 2001 state commission examination of events was able to confirm 39 dead, 26 Black and 13 White, based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates and other records. The commission gave several estimates ranging from 75 to 300 dead.

The massacre began during the Memorial Day weekend after 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a Black shoeshiner, was accused of assaulting Sarah Page, the 17-year-old White elevator operator of the nearby Drexel Building. After the arrest, rumors spread through the city that Rowland was to be lynched.

Upon hearing reports that a mob of hundreds of White men had gathered around the jail where Rowland was being kept on the top floor, a group of 75 Black men, some of whom were armed, arrived at the jail to ensure that Rowland would not be lynched. The sheriff persuaded the group to leave the jail, assuring them that he had the situation under control.

As the group was leaving, a member of the mob of White men allegedly attempted to disarm one of the Black men. A shot was fired, and then according to the reports of the sheriff, “all hell broke loose.” At the end of the firefight, 12 people were killed: 10 White and two Black.

As news of these deaths spread throughout the city, mob violence exploded. White rioters rampaged through the Black neighborhood that night and morning killing men and burning and looting stores and homes. Around noon on June 1, the Oklahoma National Guard imposed martial law, effectively ending the massacre.

About 10,000 Black people were left homeless, and property damage amounted to more than $1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property (equivalent to $32.25 million in 2019).

Many survivors left Tulsa, while Black and White residents who stayed in the city kept silent about the terror, violence and resulting losses for decades. The massacre was largely omitted from local, state and national histories.

During emotional testimony on Capitol Hill, Fletcher, who is now 107, recalled her memories of the two-day massacre that left hundreds of Black people dead.

“I will never forget the violence of the White mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams,” Fletcher told lawmakers. “I have lived through the massacre every day.” 

Fletcher and two other survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, her younger brother, Hughes Van Ellis, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, testified before a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Wednesday, May 19, nearly 100 years to the date of the massacre.

Some historians say as many as 300 Black people were killed and another 10,000 were left homeless. Greenwood was destroyed by the attack that was launched on May 31, 1921.

The country is currently grappling with systemic racism laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic and the killings of George Floyd and other Black people in encounters with law enforcement. The same committee that heard from the survivors has also been studying reparations for the descendants of millions of enslaved Americans and recently advanced a bill that would create a commission to study the lingering effects of slavery.

Fletcher and other survivors are calling for justice.

“I am 107 years old and I have never … seen justice. I pray that one day I will,” she said. “I have been blessed with a long life and have seen the best and the worst of this country. I think about the terror inflicted upon Black people in this country every day.”

Survivors of the massacre are plaintiffs in a reparations lawsuit filed last year. The lawsuit argues that the state of Oklahoma and the city of Tulsa are responsible for what happened during the massacre.

Van Ellis described the multiple unsuccessful attempts by survivors and their descendants to seek justice through the courts. “You may have been taught that when something is stolen from you, you would go to the courts to be made whole. That wasn’t the case for us.” he said.

“We were made to feel that our struggle was unworthy of justice, that we were less than the Whites, that we weren’t fully Americans,” testified Van Ellis, who is a World War II veteran and wore a U.S. Army hat at the hearing. “We were shown that in the United States, not all men were equal under the law. We were shown that when Black voices called out for justice, no one cared.”

He called for the remaining survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre to be acknowledged while they are still living.

“Please, do not let me leave this earth without justice, like all the other massacre survivors,” he said, as he finished reading from prepared remarks.

Each of the survivors raised the question of what Greenwood could have been today.

“Even at the age of 100, the Tulsa Race Massacre is a footnote in the history books of us. We live it every day, and the thought of what Greenwood was or what it could have been,” Ellis said.

Lessie Benningfield Randall, who testified over video conference, said the effects of the massacre are still felt today in Tulsa.

“My opportunities were taken from me and my community. Black Tulsa is still messed up today. They didn’t rebuild it. It’s empty, it’s a ghetto,” Randall, who is now 106, said.

Randall said she not only survived the massacre, but she has also now survived “100 years of painful memories.

“By the grace of God, I am still here. I have survived to tell this story,” she said. “Hopefully, now you will all listen to us while we are still here.”

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