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.
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Tulsa has big plans for the centennial of the 1921 race massacre that left the city’s Black community in ruins. Many residents say these efforts are important. But members of the city’s Black community say they’re just starting the process of mourning what they’ve lost – even as they’re trying to build something new.
The Greenwood Art Project aims to make sure Tulsa and the country know the history of both the massacre and Black Wall Street. Program director Jerica Wortham sees art as an opportunity to invite others into the story, and to capture the spirit of the city’s thriving Black community. “I’m so excited for the world to be able to come here and experience this story, to experience it in real time, and to feel the energy of the space being reignited,” she says.
The last remaining survivors are fighting for reparations. City leaders are building a $30 million museum. Here s a look at how Tulsa is grappling with.