The 1921 attack by a White mob on the all-Black Tulsa neighborhood of Greenwood was one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history. As the city marks the massacre’s 100th anniversary this week, this is what happened and what was lost.
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the country's deadliest episodes of racial violence. Historians believe as many as 300 Black people were killed and 10,000 were made homeless after a white mob descended on a thriving Black business district. On Tuesday, June 1 at 12:30pm ET, Washington Post race and economics reporter Tracy Jan speaks with Mary Elliott and Paul Gardullo from the National Museum of African American History and Culture about what happened and the enduring impact of the century-old massacre.
1 of 2
KYLE PHILLIPS PHOTO / CNHI News ServicePhil Armstrong, project manager for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, awaits completion of Greenwood Rising.
COURTESY OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETYThe Tulsa Race Massacre destroyed more than 1,200 homes and businesses in in 1921.
TULSA, Okla. â John W. Franklin wept as he read his grandfatherâs account of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
The fragile, yellowing, 90-year-old document, which recounts the worst race massacre in U.S. history, now sits in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
âI wept the first time I read it, the second time I read it, and the third time I read it,â he said about B.C. Franklinâs eyewitness account of the 1921 massacre. It describes the horrors in Tulsa s affluent, thriving Greenwood District, when a white mob â fueled by racism, envy and fear â murdered, looted and burned out the Black community with impu
smithsonianmag.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smithsonianmag.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Panelists include:
The Washington Post and associate professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism
Paul Gardullo, historian and curator of the exhibition on the Tulsa Race Massacre now on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
State Representative Regina Goodwin; Greg Robinson II, Director of Met Cares Foundation
Co-producer of the film, Eric Stover, Faculty Director of the Human Rights Center at University of California, Berkeley
About the Film
One of the worst incidents of racial violence in American history occurred 100 years ago, May 31-June 1, 1921. Known as the Tulsa Race Massacre, a mob of white residents set fire to “Black Wall Street” hundreds of Black-owned businesses and homes in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma killing an estimated 100-300 Black residents and leaving an estimated 10,000 Black residents homeless. The new documentary