June 3, 2021 1:03 pm A contemporary photograph shows the ruins of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Okla., after a white mob and local law enforcement attacked and killed hundreds of the neighborhood s Black residents, June 1921.(Library of Congress)
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(JTA) My grandpa once told me a story about when my great-grandparents were on a steamship emigrating from Ukraine to Cuba in the 1920s, shortly before my grandpa was born. As the story went, my great-grandmother saw a Black man for the first time and she screamed and hid.
My grandpa told the story to me only once, when I was probably about 10 years old, but the image of my great-grandmother seeing a Black man and screaming stuck with me.
By Gail H. Marshall Brown, Ph.D.,
Contributing Writer,
Historic photo of 1921 Massacre in Tulsa
When President Joe Biden emphatically stated, from Tulsa, Okla., “My fellow Americans, this was not a riot; this was a massacre,” his audience burst into applause June, 1.
The 46th President of the United States was in Tulsa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
The May 31, 1921 massacre took place as a white mob violently attacked black residents, destroyed and burned their homes and businesses in the-then prosperous black Greenwood District and business hub known as “Black Wall Street.” After 16 hours of violence, the horrific event left as many as 300 dead, 35 city blocks destroyed and thousands of blacks displaced.
President Joe Biden came to Tulsa on Tuesday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, arguably the worst racist attack in American history.
Screenshot/C-SPAN
President Joe Biden came to Tulsa on Tuesday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, arguably the worst racist attack in American history.
Biden toured the Greenwood Cultural Center, the institution that preserves the heritage of the prosperous community known as Black Wall Street. He also spoke with the three living survivors of the massacre.
Biden s remarks at times included graphic descriptions of the attack on Greenwood, once deemed the Tulsa Race Riot so insurers did not have to pay claims of Black residents who lost everything. My fellow Americans, this was not a riot. This was a massacre, Biden said.