Tulsa, Then and Now: Reflections on the Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

What is it about?

This article explores Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District, the segregated Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that was dubbed "Black Wall Street" for it exceptional Black economic and entrepreneurial activity. Begun in 1906, the Greenwood District was destroyed in a 1921 massacre the worst of its kind in 20th century America. Despite this, the indomitable human sprit prevailed, and the community was rebuilt soon thereafter. The community thrived decades after it resuscitation, but fell victim, ironically, to integration and urban renewal in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its current renaissance is that of a Black Wall Street transformed--an racially and economically integrated space that pays homage to its past, but focuses on its future

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Why is it important?

Understanding the imperative of our shared humanity--that each and every person on the planet deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, is a key message from the Tulsa story. That imperative connects Tulsa with other instances of man's inhumanity to man: the Holocaust; Native American cultural extermination; lynching. In addition, appreciating Black excellence in the face of organized and system-supported white resistance is vital to understanding the state of race relations today. Reckoning with the interplay between power, privilege, and oppression and the physical and psychological dynamics embedded in the relationships between those concepts is crucial to racial reconciliation.

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