How the Tulsa Race Massacre Was a Violent Act of Racist Economic Injustice The "Little Africa" section of Tulsa, OK in flames in 1921 (Image by Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) An underappreciated factor in the racist violence of the 1921 Tulsa massacre is how white supremacist forces decimated Black wealth. By Sonali Kolhatkar One hundred years after the worst instance of racist mob violence in 20th-century America, the Tulsa Race Massacre is finally getting the attention it is due. The 1921 terrorist attack by an armed white mob against a prosperous Black community is perhaps one of the clearest and most extreme illustrations of how many African Americans were stripped of their wealth for a generation.