This is what happened during that 18 hour period, 18 hours. That's all it took. The earth had not even fully turned on its axis before this prominent part of black history here in America Was destroyed 18 hours and people's livelihoods just completely uprooted like that. I imagine Just in those 18 hours just chaos on the ground. I don't know if you can kind of paint a picture in terms of what it was like for people Black people living there. I mean was it just a constant state of fear. Following the red summer of 1919, there needed to be an igniter or an event tossed on the Embers and that trigger event happened on May 30, It was an incident that involved two teenagers. This was Dick Rowland who was a shoeshine boy. I didn't think he was 19 years old and there was a Sarah page who I believe was 17 years old, a divorce site. She, they were in an elevator in a downtown building and then he's going into the one place, the Drexel building where he can he can go to the restroom. She opens it, he gets in appears just stumbled and the walkway between between the outside of the elevator and getting on, stumbles and grabs her hand. She screams, maybe maybe hit him and in response to your on me or whatever. And someone hears this in the Rosenbergs building. So they hear this and um this is reported as an attack. And so this creates the narrative going through the community that a black man has attacked a white woman, uh Greenberg's employee called the police and she said actually I've been assaulted the local newspaper here, the Tulsa tribune running this article claiming Roland had assaulted the 17 year old white elevator girl, paige had refused to press charges. But the article read like a call to action with the headlines saying quote Nab negro for attacking girl in an elevator. But many survivors remember a second article in the tribune that day. The tribune had come out and said told about the incident of Dick Rowland and the shoeshine boy and the elevator of the direction building and they said look, it looks as if there will be a lynch tonight. Notes were put on people's houses all throughout north Tulsa, It's around the counties that sit in. You'd be out of town by May 30, what else today? No copies of the second article headline exists anymore. In fact, all microfilm copies of the Tulsa Tribune from that day have been purged, adding to that conspiracy of silence and no matter what the headline said, it inflamed a large crowd at the courthouse were rolling was the white community comes in big numbers when he's arrested because of this. And the black community comes and basically there's a a back and forth between the communities of go home. It'll be we'll take care of this. And then of course this concern that maybe this will not be taken care of in the right way, and there were lynchings that had occurred, not just for black people, but for whites, for lawbreaking. And so the black community is concerned and they're wanting to watch out for Dick Rowland, not necessarily because they loved Dick Rowland, but because they did not want to see another black person who was lynched for something that he did not do. And and those who did know him said this was not some kind of character that he would have. The two groups would meet in mayhem, Survivor robert Fairchild describes being confronted by the white mob, who said, what are you doing with that crystal? He said, I'm going to use it if I need it, I need to. And he said, no, you give it to me. And he tried to take it from this. A fellow direct and when they in discovering they started shooting with one other newspapers claimed only black people were armed, but the only person at the time to be wounded by gunfire was a black man. That man shot in the abdomen writhed in pain while a white mob blocked medics from taking him to a hospital. Onlookers would watch as that man died in the street less than 100 ft away, the body of another black man was found lying in the street. That story told by Ed Miller who was just arriving for work when the massacre began right around the corner of the side doors back behind me. He's trying to get into, we're both trying to make the same door and no luck hand. I said, I think I'll go ahead, try that for the alley. By that time, some fella cruising around the corner and pulled a gun on his down there and I said, hey, I'm white and I knew he was shooting at the luck man. I said, give me a chance to get around the alley. So he said, make it snappy. So I did. By that time the black boy, he decided he crossed over into the other alley. They got the middle of the street. Brothers fella shot him, shot right on the streetcar track and things went from bad to worse. Within a few minutes there's a hill here, a standpipe hill, but there was a machine gun on standpipe hill and they were firing down on men, women and Children wholesale murder. In the midst of the massacre, the young girls of ST mary's catholic school were having graduation ceremonies. All of a sudden we heard all these shops and they were shooting through the windows and shards of glass came down and we were just scared to death ruth Siegler Avery Parker would become a vital part in telling the story of what happened in Tulsa on that day. And I heard this peculiar heavy movement of cars and it wasn't ordinarily like that and I looked out and I saw two truckloads of bodies going by. Even the black churches weren't spared rumors swirled about ammunition being stored at Mount Zion baptist church. The report out that the church was built to start around which is the biggest fraud. So there was that church was built to worship and praise God and we'll have a decent place to worship. And that church dedicated just a month before gutted. The entire Tulsa Police Department was called out there stationed in the line between black and white Tulsa. Their orders pretty simple. Keep the black people from coming back into white Tulsa. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma National Guard was put on standby shortly after midnight, a telegram sent to the military authorities in Oklahoma city. It read a race riot developed here, several killed unable to handle situation requests that National Guard forces be sent by special train, situation serious. As the National Guard made its way to Tulsa by train from Oklahoma city. A fierce gun battle was raging in Greenwood massacre. Survivor clearance fields was a World War veteran. He served without firing one shot and he only returned to Oklahoma to be engaged in a more vicious battle. I'm a shot at a, the bullet hit the wood and the spinners putting it into my arm. A B Block or two. We'd meet some officer, some captain. They're the group, you know what? Let's get those hangs up with hands held high black men, women and Children were corralled like animals into the convention hall. All this while planes were being used as weapons against them. Now it's coming to come down green and the bullets go on and on on the floor and down the pavement, airplane came and dropped. I guess we would call them fire bums now gasoline, uh, in jugs and send them a fire. You know, many refute the claims that planes were used, but historians are certain something was being dropped from the sky. You can call it turpentine, you can call it a bomb, you can call it incendiary devices. It was something that caught the house on fire. I think it's sort of, it's sending us to a different direction from the reality that this is the first time that were attacking with airplanes. A community within the United States were attacking our own. And this is a documented example where racism created the circumstances where we attacked Another community that was our own. And it happened in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921. By midday on June one Black Wall Street had been destroyed. By definition destroy means to put an end to the existence of something by damaging it or attacking it. Another definition is to quote, ruin emotionally or spiritually. This is exactly what happened in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, with the exception of one thing, the spirit of Greenwood would persevere through the atrocity that was bestowed upon them. But we'll get to that The ramifications of this massacre would not just end with those 18 hours of horror. They would go on to haunt survivors for the next 100 years. The bodies of loved ones never recovered, those who thought they were part of the American dream, living real life nightmares.
Tulsa Race Massacre: What started it and what happened during 18 hours of destruction in Greenwood
Updated: 6:00 AM EDT May 29, 2021
As we mark 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre, we take a look at what exactly happened during the 18 hours of destruction in the Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street.Watch the video above for the full segment and hear from survivors. Following the Red Summer of 1919, there needed to be an igniter or an event tossed on the embers, and that trigger event happened on May 30, 1921. It was an incident that involved two teenagers. Dick Rowland, believed to be 19 years old at the time, was in an elevator in a downtown building with Sarah Page, 17. “He's going into the one place, that Drexel building, where he can, he can go to the restroom,” Dr. Dewayne Dickens said. “He opens it, he gets in, seems to have stumbled on the walkway and grabs her hand. She screams, maybe, maybe hit him in response to, ‘You’re on me’ or whatever. And someone hears this in the Renberg building, so they hear this and this is reported as an attack. And so this creates the narrative going through the community that a Black man has attacked a white woman.”The local newspaper, the Tulsa Tribune, ran an article claiming Rowland had assaulted the 17-year-old white elevator girl. Page had refused to press charges, but the article read like a call to action with the headline saying, "Nab negro for attacking girl in an elevator.” Many survivors remember a second article in the Tribune that day. To date, no copies of the second article headline exists anymore. In fact, all microfilmed copies of the Tulsa Tribune from that day have been purged, adding to the conspiracy of silence.No matter what the headline said, it enflamed a large presence at the courthouse where Rowland was. “The white community comes in big numbers when he's arrested because of this, and the Black community comes and basically, there's a back and forth between the communities of ‘Go home , we'll take care of this,’ there's concern that maybe this will not be taken care of in the right way. And there were lynchings that had occurred, not just for Black people, but for white people as well, so the Black community is concerned and they wanted to watch out for Dick Rowland, not necessarily because they loved Dick Rowland, but because they did not want to see another Black person who was lynched for something that he did not do. And those who did know him say this was not some kind of character he would have,” Dickens said.The two groups would meet in mayhem shooting with one another. Newspapers claimed only Black people were armed, but the only person at the time to be wounded by gunfire was a Black man. He was shot in the abdomen, writhed in pain while a white mob blocked medics from taking him to a hospital.Onlookers would look as that man died in the street, and things went from bad to worse within a few minutes. “There was a machine gun on standpipe hill and they were firing down on men, women and children, wholesale murder,” Alicia Latimer, African American Resource Center Coordinator, said.Even the Black churches weren't spared. Rumors swirled about ammunition being stored at Mount Zion Baptist Church. The church, dedicated just a month before, was gutted.The entire Tulsa Police Department was called out, and they were stationed in a line between Black and white Tulsa. Their orders were pretty simple — keep Black people from coming back into white Tulsa. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma National Guard was put on standby. Shortly after midnight a telegram was sent to the military authorities in Oklahoma City. It read, "A race riot developed here. Several killed unable to handle situation. Request that National Guard forces be sent by special train. Situation serious." As the National Guard made its way to Tulsa by train from Oklahoma City, a fierce gun battle was raging in Greenwood. With hands held high, Black men, women and children were corralled like animals into the convention hall. All this while planes were being used as weapons against them. Many refute the claims that planes were used, but historians are certain something was being dropped from the sky. By midday, on June 1, Black Wall Street had been destroyed. The bodies of loved ones were never recovered. Those who thought they were part of the American dream lived real-life nightmares. And the conspiracy of silence became their reality.
As we mark 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre, we take a look at what exactly happened during the 18 hours of destruction in the Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street.
Watch the video above for the full segment and hear from survivors.
Following the Red Summer of 1919, there needed to be an igniter or an event tossed on the embers, and that trigger event happened on May 30, 1921. It was an incident that involved two teenagers.
Dick Rowland, believed to be 19 years old at the time, was in an elevator in a downtown building with Sarah Page, 17.
“He's going into the one place, that Drexel building, where he can, he can go to the restroom,” Dr. Dewayne Dickens said. “He opens it, he gets in, seems to have stumbled on the walkway and grabs her hand. She screams, maybe, maybe hit him in response to, ‘You’re on me’ or whatever. And someone hears this in the Renberg building, so they hear this and this is reported as an attack. And so this creates the narrative going through the community that a Black man has attacked a white woman.”
The local newspaper, the Tulsa Tribune, ran an article claiming Rowland had assaulted the 17-year-old white elevator girl. Page had refused to press charges, but the article read like a call to action with the headline saying, "Nab negro for attacking girl in an elevator.” Many survivors remember a second article in the Tribune that day.
To date, no copies of the second article headline exists anymore. In fact, all microfilmed copies of the Tulsa Tribune from that day have been purged, adding to the conspiracy of silence.
No matter what the headline said, it enflamed a large presence at the courthouse where Rowland was.
“The white community comes in big numbers when he's arrested because of this, and the Black community comes and basically, there's a back and forth between the communities of ‘Go home , we'll take care of this,’ there's concern that maybe this will not be taken care of in the right way. And there were lynchings that had occurred, not just for Black people, but for white people as well, so the Black community is concerned and they wanted to watch out for Dick Rowland, not necessarily because they loved Dick Rowland, but because they did not want to see another Black person who was lynched for something that he did not do. And those who did know him say this was not some kind of character he would have,” Dickens said.
The two groups would meet in mayhem shooting with one another. Newspapers claimed only Black people were armed, but the only person at the time to be wounded by gunfire was a Black man. He was shot in the abdomen, writhed in pain while a white mob blocked medics from taking him to a hospital.
Onlookers would look as that man died in the street, and things went from bad to worse within a few minutes.
“There was a machine gun on standpipe hill and they were firing down on men, women and children, wholesale murder,” Alicia Latimer, African American Resource Center Coordinator, said.
Even the Black churches weren't spared. Rumors swirled about ammunition being stored at Mount Zion Baptist Church. The church, dedicated just a month before, was gutted.
The entire Tulsa Police Department was called out, and they were stationed in a line between Black and white Tulsa. Their orders were pretty simple — keep Black people from coming back into white Tulsa.
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma National Guard was put on standby. Shortly after midnight a telegram was sent to the military authorities in Oklahoma City. It read, "A race riot developed here. Several killed unable to handle situation. Request that National Guard forces be sent by special train. Situation serious."
As the National Guard made its way to Tulsa by train from Oklahoma City, a fierce gun battle was raging in Greenwood.
With hands held high, Black men, women and children were corralled like animals into the convention hall. All this while planes were being used as weapons against them.
Many refute the claims that planes were used, but historians are certain something was being dropped from the sky. By midday, on June 1, Black Wall Street had been destroyed.
The bodies of loved ones were never recovered. Those who thought they were part of the American dream lived real-life nightmares. And the conspiracy of silence became their reality.
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