they stacked them on the truck like they was sardines. that s what they did. that s what they did . on the morning of june 1st after the massacre the national guard and some employees and maybe some civilians began rounding up all of the african-american population in greenwood that they could. there were between five and 7,000 people detained. and the reason given for that was that it was for their own protection, that they were going to be put some place safe. everybody who was still in custody was moved to the
people call it the black wall street. wood home run greenwood was like this them all in one place. but whites talk about greenwood as little africa or niggerland. tulsa was a powder keg. meaning only something can set the community alight. 100, 300 people, most of them black, were killed. today we call it a massacre.
somewhat different place now, not just because of what happened with george floyd, but the influence of pop culture, raising awareness of juneteenth, shows like watchmen raising awareness about the black wall street, where the nation feels like, yeah, we can t ignore this anymore. but there s this piece where it goes from here politically. you can t acknowledge the past implications of juneteenth if you don t talk about the future. there are two things here to acknowledge. one is the gap between our willingness to and we are struggling at this very moment to even talk about the past in an accurate and full and complete way. but our willingness to then apply those same lessons or that information to the present seems to be where we are truly lacking as a country. so first and foremost, right, for anyone who is dubious about why congress would take this action this year, there are similar questions to be asked about every institution in
days after the tulsa race riot, he was 10 at the time, drawn by the curious sight of men digging a large trench with boxes stacked nearby. clyde eddie talk about at the age of 10 when he was at the oak lawn cemetery, he saw these giant boxes. he and his cousin would go to the crates we tonight first box and there were excuse me. there were three bodies, black people. stench was terrible. there were other boxes, lift up the lid and saw that it was black folks inside of that one. black people in a box dead. that s something that will be etched in your mind forever. and so for him to tell the story with such conviction, i say let s dig them up now. so many people have said there were no bodies there. but you know, all the black folk
we have located 51 actual living riot survivors, ages 78 to 104. no research takes the place of eyewitness testimony. that is why this day is so significant. mrs. simms. you ll never forget that. that s something be always with you. this has been the age old story here in tulsa, never knew what happened to my great uncle. never saw my aunt again. you hear those stories over the ages. people were coming in with oral history where bodies could be buried. we interviewed over 300 tulsans to identify what with thought were likely spots in town where victims of the massacre victims were buried in unmarked graves. he took some steps he took 78 years ago.