a war. mother fletcher says all these years later she still sees black bodies around. the greenwood newspaper publisher a.j. smitherman penned a poem of what he heard and felt that night, and here s the poem. he said kill them. burn them. set the pace. teach them how to keep their place. rain of murder, theft and plirnd was the order of the night. that s what he remembers from the poem that he wrote. 100 years ago at this hour on this first day of june, smoke darkened the tulsa sky. rising from 35 blocks of greenwood that were left in ash and ember, razed in rubble. less than 24 hours, in less than
white mob stormed through tulsa s greenwood neighborhood, also known as black wall street. in less than 24 hours, more than 1,000 homes and businesses were destr destroyed, an estimated 300 back americans killed. all after allegations that were never proven, that a black man assaulted a white woman in an elevator. today, what no president has ever done, standing in tulsa, putting words to the horror of what happened. 100 years ago, at this hour, on this first day of june, smoke darkened the tulsa sky. rising from 35 blocks of greenwood, they were left in ash and ember, raised in rubble. the mob terrorized greenwood, torches and gun us, shooting at will. a mob tied a black man by the waist to the back of their truck with his head banging along the pavement as they drove off.