The Tulsa Massacre: Is Racial Justice Possible 100 Years Later?
The Tulsa Massacre: Is Racial Justice Possible 100 Years Later?
by Michael Blanding
A new Harvard Business School case by
Mihir Desai examines the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, and asks difficult questions about what reparations America owes to its Black citizens.
Early on the morning of June 1, 1921, more than 5,000 white residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, invaded the African-American neighborhood of Greenwood. They came armed with guns, sticks, and other weapons some supplied by the city’s police department and set fire to homes and businesses in a 35-block area. When residents tried to flee burning buildings, they were shot and killed in the street.