there was so much money in tulsa these days. but here s the reality. money plays a complicated role in the intermingling between the races. affluence, wealth, prosperity created this tie in between black tulsans, white tulsans. but it s all about perspective. white tulsans talked about greenwood as little africa or [bleep] land. all of these four things were to be found in [bleep] town. booze, dope, bad [bleep] and guns.
white tulsans murdered black folks and were hastily trying to get rid of the bodies by dumping them in mass graves around the city. many awful things were done to get rid of the bodies. in the late 1990s, senator maxine horner and my father, state representative don ross, created the commission to study the tulsa race riot of 1921. which brought historians, consultants from around the world who tried to figure out what happened in 1921. i had many conversations with riot survivors. you know, you re sitting here, you re sitting there with a red light. nice little lady sitting here. that puts pressure on you from when you was five years old. it s one of the proudest
in the 1920s, there was a strong black community here in tulsa called greenwood. these people were the core of black entrepreneurship. people call it the black wall street. greenwood was like putting harlem, bourbon street, and chocolate city all in one place. but white tulsans talked about greenwood as little africa or [bleep] land. tulsa was a powder keg, needing only something to set the community alight.
you ve got a lot of well-to-do white tulsans who are going to hire servants, cooks, domestic workers. they would collect their paycheck at the end of the week and they would spend it back in greenwood. you know, in tulsa, like in other southern cities, african americans can t go into a department store and try on clothes. but they had been shopping in their own neighborhoods. so what happens is the merchants in greenwood had this captive population. and the money just flows and flows and flows. and it was successful because they were supported by people who looked like them, would purchase from them, do business
question. where are you people from? and if they say, well we are from oklahoma, or tulsa, or greenwood, well, when did they get here? take one, mid slate. my father, who is creek indian, was from oklahoma. my family is a mixture of indian, black, and white. and here i am. the story of oklahoma really began with the five civilized tribes in the 1830s and 1840s. the chickasaw s, the greeks,