Tulsa 1921: The Tulsa Race Massacre and the Destruction of Black Wall Street

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Black Wall Street was one of the
wealthiest African American

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neighborhoods in the United
States.

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Officially called the Greenwood
District, it stood just north of

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downtown Tulsa, OK, occupying
roughly 1 square mile.

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To outsiders, it may have looked
unremarkable.

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To those who live there,
Greenwood was something rare and

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dangerous in early 20th century
America.

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Independent, safe, and proof
that Black success was possible,

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Greenwood thrived.
Doctors, Lawyers, teachers, shop

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owners, hotel operators and
newspaper editors built lives of

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stability and ambition.
Emily's owned homes and

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businesses.
Children went to school.

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Money circulated within the
community, strengthening it with

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every transaction.
Greenwood was not merely

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surviving, it was flourishing.
And then in the spring of 19/21

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it was destroyed in less than 4
hours.

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I'm Brittany Ransom and This is
When Killers Get Caught, a

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podcast where we examine the
lives, behavior, and psychology

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of people who commit the most
extreme crimes and what happens

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after the truth catches up to
them.

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This story is about the Tulsa
Race Massacre.

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History often softens it by
calling it a riot.

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But it was not a riot, and it
was not a misunderstanding that

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simply spiraled out of control.
It was a coordinated act of

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racial violence carried out by
the white residents of Tulsa,

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enabled by local authorities and
followed by decades of silence

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and denial.
Tulsa was not an anomaly.

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This month, during Black History
Month, we're examining a pattern

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that America has spent
generations trying not to see.

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A pattern of Black communities
being punished for prosperity,

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Black children being murdered
for simply existing, and Black

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leaders being eliminated for
challenging power.

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Tulsa was only the beginning.
In the weeks ahead, we will

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follow that same trail through
the Rosewood Massacre, the

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brutal murder of Emmett Till,
and the assassination of Fred

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Hampton, cases separated by
decades but bound by the same

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refusal to protect citizens and
the same failure to deliver

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justice.
To understand how a community

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like Greenwood could be so
easily erased, and why justice

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never followed, we have to
understand how it came to exist

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in the first place.
Greenwell was founded in 19 O 6

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at a time when Oklahoma was
still transitioning from Indian

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Territory into statehood.
The region carried the complex

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legacy of slavery, forced
removal and Reconstruction.

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And African Americans who were
arriving in Tulsa weren't really

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entering neutral ground.
They were entering a place that

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was shaped by a racial
hierarchy, legal exclusion and

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violence.
But it was also full of so much

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opportunity.
See, after the Civil War, many

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African Americans who had been a
slave by Native American tribes

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remained in what was called
Indian Territory at the time.

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Many others migrated westward
from the Deep South.

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They were fleeing lynching,
debt, peonage, and the

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tightening grip of Jim Crow
laws.

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Oklahoma, newly opened as a
settlement, promised land

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ownership and economic
possibility in a way that the

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South just didn't.
Tulsa itself was actually

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growing at an astonishing pace.
The discovery of oil transformed

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it almost overnight from a
modest town into a booming city.

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Money was pouring in.
The railroads, expanded hotels,

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banks, office buildings just
sprang up.

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By about the 9th, Tulsa was
being referred to as the oil

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capital of the world.
This prosperity wasn't really

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shared equally.
Segregation was rigidly

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enforced.
Black residents were barred from

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living in white neighborhoods,
excluded from most white owned

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businesses, shut out of any sort
of political office.

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So no political power.
And rather than integrating into

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Tulsa's economy, African
Americans were actually pushed

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to the margins.
And out of that exclusion,

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Greenwood was born.
One of the most influential

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figures in Greenwood's early
development was a man named OW

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Early.
He was a wealthy black landowner

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and an entrepreneur, and he
purchased 40 acres of land north

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of downtown Tulsa.
And he made a deliberate,

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calculated decision.
He would only sell or lease

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property to other African
Americans.

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His goal was not just to provide
housing, but he wanted to create

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a self-sustaining community
built on ownership rather than

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dependents.
And Gurley wasn't alone.

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Other Black entrepreneurs,
professionals and investors

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followed his lead, purchased
land, open businesses and

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encouraged other neighbors to do
the same.

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Churchers became anchors of this
community.

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Schools emphasized discipline,
education and self respect.

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Fraternal organization, social
clubs, and mutual aid societies

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helped residents pool their
resources and support each other

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during hardships.
Greenwood quickly developed into

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this dense commercial district.
black-owned grocery stores

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supplied people their daily
necessities.

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Clothing shops had the latest
fashions.

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Drug stores dispensed medicine
and medical advice.

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Barber shops and beauty salons
served as informal gatherings

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places.
Hops and beauty salons served as

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informal gathering places where
news was exchanged and

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relationships were strengthened.
Something that is still

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happening in today's society,
Barber shops and beauty salons

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are still sort of the
cornerstone to the black

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experience.
On top of that, they get

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restaurants, billiard halls and
theaters where residents could

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just relax and socialize with
each other.

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The professional services
flourished, and Greenwood became

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home to Black doctors who
treated their patients with

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dignity, Black lawyers who
represented clients in a hostile

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legal system, Black teachers who
educated children to see

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themselves as capable and
worthy.

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The district even had its own
newspapers, which reported on

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local events and reinforced a
sense of shared identity and

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pride.
What made Greenwood especially

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powerful was the way that the
money moved within it.

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Because segregation limited
where black residents could even

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spend their money, the wealth
just circulated within the

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community.
A dollar paid to a shopkeeper

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might be later used to hire a
local Carpenter, who then paid a

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teacher, who spent that money in
another Greenwood business.

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This internal circulation
multiplied the value of every

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transaction and by the late
1910s Greenwood had achieved

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something that was rare in
American in history, a

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self-sufficient black community,
a self-sufficient black economy.

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Homes in Greenwood reflected
that many were very well built,

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had multiple rooms, modern
furnishings, carefully

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maintained yards.
Families took pride in

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appearance not as an act of
imitation, but as a declaration

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of their own dignity.
Education was so emphasized, and

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parents expected their children
to achieve more than they were

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able to.
Greenwood wasn't a monolith,

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though.
There were even class

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differences within this
community, ranging from working

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class families to affluent
professionals and business

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owners.
Yet there was a shared

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understanding that the success
of Greenwood depended on mutual

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support.
Prosperity was communal, not

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individual.
And then the nickname came Black

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Wall Street, and that was sort
of a recognition of this just

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extraordinary concentration of
Black wealth ambition

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organization.
It was not intended to be a

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boast, simply an acknowledgement
by its own residents and some

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white observers that Greenwood
represented something

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unprecedented and very special.
And for the people who live

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there, Greenwood was more than
an economic achievement.

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It was a refuge from the daily
humiliation of racism, a place

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where black children could see
black authority figures, where

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success didn't require an
apology, and where the future

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felt maybe not secure, but at
least something they could hope

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for.
That sense of possibility made

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Greenwood a very powerful place,
and it also made Greenwood

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dangerous in the eyes of those
who believed that black people

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should never have that kind of
power.

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Now, Greenwood's prosperity
didn't develop in isolation, and

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it didn't exist without
consequence.

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It grew alongside Tulsa.
It was close enough to be seen,

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counted, resented, yet
segregated enough to be treated

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like it was an anomaly.
The two communities shared

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streets, rail lines, labor
markets, and an economy fueled

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by the oil wealth, but they
lived under entirely different

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rules.
Greenwood's success was

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tolerated only so long as it
remains symbolically contained,

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perceived as exceptional rather
than something that other people

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could replicate.
And most importantly, it had to

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remain non threatening to white
authority.

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That tolerance was very, very
fragile.

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For many white residents of
Tulsa, Greenwood represented A

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contradiction they didn't want
to confront.

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The prevailing ideology of the
early 20th century depended on

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the belief that black people
were inherently inferior, less

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intelligent, less capable of
self governance, less

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discipline, and less deserving
of wealth or autonomy.

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Sounds kind of familiar, right?
It's kind of the thing that we

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see pushed in the news right now
that all these black schools

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have lower test scores.
But we never look further into

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why they have lower test scores.
Just understand that the concept

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that black people are inferior
didn't start 203040 even 50

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years ago.
This is something that they have

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been drilling into the brains of
black people for the last 450 or

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so years.
And so it's no wonder that

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eventually some people have
internalized it and made it a

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part of themselves.
But for a brief amount of time

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in the early nights, the people
of Greenwood got to not feel

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like they were inferior, got to
know for sure that they were

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intelligent, they were capable,
they were disciplined, and it

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was OK for them to also have
autonomy and wealth.

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They had paved streets, electric
lights, brick buildings, luxury

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goods, professional class.
And it was suggesting something

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that was unsettling, something
that we still, even now, 100

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years later, don't want to come
to terms to.

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In the United States, poverty
and marginalization are not

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natural conditions.
They are ones that we impose on

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certain people in this country
and that 10 times out of 10, you

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give people who are in poverty
the opportunity to make their

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lives better.
They do, and that's something

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that that's happening in our
government right now.

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They are specifically trying to
force certain people to be in

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the lower class by removing
opportunity from them.

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I am a teacher and I fully and
firmly believe, I know I've gone

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off script, but I fully and
firmly believe that the attack

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on the education system within
this country is because they

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want more of us to be stupid.
Because it's just like comedian

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George Carlin said like 40 years
ago.

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They want us smart enough to
work the machines, but not smart

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enough to know that we are being
screwed over.

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But anyway, we'll get back to
our story.

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Sorry that I went off tangent,
just I believe very strongly

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poverty and marginalization are
not natural conditions.

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Some people are not made to just
be poor and stupid.

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And we have forced people to
take on those roles.

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And that's so unfair.
But the implication cuts to the

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core of white supremacy.
If Black people can prosper

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under segregation, violence,
exclusion, if they can create a

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functioning economic ecosystem
without any white oversight,

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then the moral justification for
that racial hierarchy will

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collapse.
Greenwood did not merely

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represent wealth.
It represented possibility.

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And possibility in a rigid
racial order is dangerous.

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So white resentment toward
Greenwood was rarely framed as

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opposition to prosperity.
Tulsa was a city built on

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ambition, speculation and rapid
accumulation.

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Wealth was frequently celebrated
as long as it was wealth that

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went to white people.
What disturbed white observers

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was not money, but ownership.
Not success, but independence.

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Greenwoods residents didn't rely
on buying from white stores.

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They didn't function as a
subordinate class within the

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white economy.
They built finance, insured,

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educated, and completely
governed themselves.

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They had created something that
was parallel to white Tulsa, and

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that parallelism threatened the
social order more than an

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outright rebellion ever really
could.

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Parallel systems imply there's
choice, and choice implies

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power.
Now this resentment rarely took

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the form of open confrontation,
at least not at 1st.

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Instead of filtered through
institutions quietly with

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plausible deniability, local
newspapers play the central role

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in shaping the public
perception.

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00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,680
Stories involving black
residents were often framed in

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00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:12,840
very sensationalized language
and emphasized the danger, the

235
00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:17,240
criminality or a moral failing.
The headlines would exaggerate

236
00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:21,160
accusations, rumors would be
printed as straight facts, and

237
00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,320
racial identifiers were always
emphasized when black people

238
00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:27,240
were involved in an alleged
wrongdoing.

239
00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:29,880
Also seem familiar to today,
right?

240
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:35,000
Somehow whenever the person who
committed the crime as brown

241
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:39,520
skin, we find a way to make sure
we mention that in the headline.

242
00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:44,720
That is not to be transparent,
it's to point out, look at those

243
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:50,240
brown people doing bad stuff.
And by contrast, white violence

244
00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:53,640
is frequently minimized,
justified, or they don't even

245
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:58,480
report on it at all.
These patterns were not

246
00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:00,200
accidental.
They conditioned readers to

247
00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,440
associate blackness with threat
and disorder, and to interpret

248
00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,400
Black self-defense or resistance
as aggression.

249
00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:11,200
Greenwood, despite all of its
prosperity, was constantly being

250
00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:15,200
portrayed as volatile, a place
where violence lurked behind

251
00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,360
every corner, waiting to erupt.
The narrative didn't require

252
00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:23,960
constant reinforcement, it just
needed to exist and be ready to

253
00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,320
be activated when a circumstance
demanded justification for

254
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:32,080
force.
Now, at the same time, Tulsa is

255
00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:33,800
undergoing its own
transformation.

256
00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,600
The oil boom generated immense
wealth, but it also intensified

257
00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,560
inequality in Tulsa.
Fortunes were made quickly and

258
00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:45,720
lost just as quickly.
Many of these white residents in

259
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:50,160
Tulsa found themselves excluded
from the prosperity that they

260
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,240
believed should have been
theirs.

261
00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:58,000
Economic volatility bred
resentment, and resentment

262
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,720
needed a target.
Greenwood's visible success

263
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:06,680
became a symbol for
frustrations, even though black

264
00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:10,280
residents didn't have any
control over Tulsa's economy.

265
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,600
And just connecting this to
modern day, remember, there were

266
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,840
many people during the last
election who wanted to vote for

267
00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,760
our current president because
they felt like they were going

268
00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:26,880
to get some sort of economic
boom.

269
00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,120
And obviously that hasn't
happened.

270
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,960
But I think it's an even bigger
conversation about how these

271
00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:40,240
powerful billionaires speak to
poor white Americans, and

272
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:46,880
instead of helping their lives,
they point to successful people

273
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,280
of color and go look at that
person.

274
00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:51,400
That person has your
opportunity.

275
00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,760
That person has what you
deserve.

276
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,640
That's exactly what helped
happened in Tulsa.

277
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:04,040
And that's why we can't keep
recycling the way that we talk

278
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:08,119
about each other because this
breeds resentment.

279
00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:15,760
People today, in 2026 are
resentful of a black neighbor

280
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:21,000
who not just went to college,
got his bachelor's, master's and

281
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,040
PhD.
But they don't care about the

282
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,640
fact that this person worked for
12 years to get what they

283
00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:28,680
deserve.
They just go, they have

284
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,080
something I don't have, and
that's not fair.

285
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,280
Even though you don't know if
this person you're looking at

286
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:40,520
was ADEI hire or if they worked
their butt off all through

287
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:44,120
school to get the degrees that
they have and to get the jobs

288
00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:47,120
that they have.
Frankly, it's very unfair to

289
00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:49,520
minimize people's
accomplishments simply based on

290
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:54,040
their skin tone.
But as we see during today's

291
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:58,080
time and in the past, rather
than directing their angered

292
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:02,800
upward toward the oil magnates,
the land speculators, or the

293
00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:06,880
political leaders, the
resentment flowed sideways and

294
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,520
downward, and Greenwood was
close enough to be blamed and

295
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:12,360
distant enough to be
dehumanized.

296
00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,320
The residents of Greenwood were
not perceived as neighbors to

297
00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:20,840
Tulsa, but as competitors
occupying space and resources

298
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:26,120
that white Tulsa's coveted.
The Ku Klux Klan capitalized on

299
00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:29,960
these anxieties and by the early
90's the Klan had established a

300
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,880
pretty significant presidents in
Oklahoma, including Tulsa.

301
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,600
Unlike its earlier incarnations,
this version of the Klan

302
00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:40,840
presented itself as a
respectable civic organization.

303
00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:43,760
They weren't like the cross
burning men of the South.

304
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:48,480
They claimed to stand for law,
morality, Protestant values, and

305
00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:52,160
Americanism.
In reality, it was the same tool

306
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,000
of intimidation, enforcement and
racial control as they had in

307
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,240
the South.
But what made the Klan

308
00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,960
especially dangerous was not
simply its ideology, but its

309
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,120
reach.
Membership extended beyond just

310
00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:09,520
the violent extremists, and it
was regular businessmen, clergy,

311
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,960
journalists, police officers,
judges, elected officials.

312
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,480
This integration blurred the
line between mob violence and

313
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:20,040
institutional authority.
When racism is embedded in power

314
00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,040
structures no longer needs
secrecy.

315
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,880
It can operate openly under the
guise of order.

316
00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,440
See the Department of Homeland
Security and the expansion of

317
00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:32,720
ICE.
Now the Clans influence

318
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,160
normalized the racial hostility
within the area.

319
00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:40,200
It transformed what was private
resentment into a public

320
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,920
consensus.
When violence is framed as

321
00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,320
protection of women, of
property, of civilization, it

322
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,680
becomes not just acceptable but
righteous.

323
00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:53,640
In such an environment, the idea
that Greenwood posed a threat

324
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:57,120
didn't need any evidence.
It just needed to be repeated.

325
00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:03,520
The aftermath of World War One
The aftermath of World War One

326
00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,080
further destabilized Tulsa.
Returning white veterans face

327
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,920
job competition, housing
shortages and economic

328
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,480
uncertainty.
Many have been promised

329
00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:17,120
opportunity in exchange for
their service and returned to

330
00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:20,120
find a crowded labor market and
limited prospects.

331
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,320
Nationally, this period was
marked by labor unrest, strikes,

332
00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,680
racial violence.
The Red Summer of 1919 had

333
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:32,360
already demonstrated just how
quickly racial tension can

334
00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:36,720
ignite into mass bloodshed.
Tulsa absorbed all of these

335
00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:38,640
tensions rather than escaping
them.

336
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:43,000
The city's rapid growth created
pressure on housing, wages, and

337
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,680
public resources.
White veterans who were

338
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,520
accustomed to being treated as
heroes now found themselves

339
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,960
competing with black workers who
were more skilled, more

340
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,640
organized, and more economically
independent.

341
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,840
The contradiction was
intolerable.

342
00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:03,840
How could black men return from
war for democracy and claim the

343
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:09,240
same rights at home?
The answer was that they could

344
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,520
not.
The district set on land that

345
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:16,640
grew more valuable with every
year of Tulsa's expansion.

346
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:20,880
What have once been considered
undesirable land allocated to

347
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,360
Black residents because white
Tulsans didn't want it was now

348
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:27,760
adjacent to downtown and vital
infrastructure.

349
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:30,240
Greenwood was no longer
invisible.

350
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,200
It occupied space that white
developers and city planners

351
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,600
just outright wanted.
And that prosperity made

352
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:39,720
Greenwood harder to displace.
Legally.

353
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,680
Its residents owned their own
property.

354
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,240
They had businesses, churches,
schools, insurance policies.

355
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,280
At least in theory.
They weren't transient.

356
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:53,040
They were rooted, And that
rootedness complicated efforts

357
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,520
to absorb or erase the district
through ordinary means.

358
00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,520
And when legal tools fail,
violence is soon to follow.

359
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:05,120
Underlying all of this was a
deeper anxiety, the fear that

360
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,120
Greenwood represented a future
in which racial hierarchy could

361
00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:12,520
not be maintained without force.
If Black prosperity continued,

362
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,400
if it spread, if it inspired
similar communities elsewhere,

363
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:21,040
then segregation would require
increasing brutality to sustain

364
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,480
it.
Greenwood was proof that white

365
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,280
supremacy was not
self-sustaining.

366
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,520
It had to be in force.
And that realization shaped the

367
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,920
psychology of white Tulsa.
Fear masqueraded as vigilance.

368
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,040
Resentment was disguised as
civic concern.

369
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:43,640
Hostility reframed as defense.
Greenwood didn't need to attack

370
00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:45,720
white Tulsa to be perceived as a
threat.

371
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:50,080
Its mere existence was enough.
The city stood at a crossroad.

372
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,320
One path required acknowledging
Greenwood's humanity, its

373
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,200
achievements and its right to
exist, and that path demanded A

374
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,600
reckoning with deeply held
beliefs about race, power and

375
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,160
entitlement.
The other path was much easier.

376
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:09,160
It required only fear, silence,
and the willingness to look away

377
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,600
when the violence came.
Tulsa chose the easiest path.

378
00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:17,920
And once that choice was made,
the destruction of Greenwood was

379
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:22,640
no longer a question of if, but
of when and under what pretense

380
00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:29,400
that pretext arrived.
On May 30th, 1921, Dick Roland

381
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,120
was a 19 year old black shoe
Shiner who worked in downtown

382
00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:35,760
Tulsa, one of the hundreds of
young black men who labor daily

383
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,400
in the white commercial district
while returning every evening to

384
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,600
Greenwood.
Like many black workers in the

385
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,160
era, Roland navigated a city
designed to extract his labor

386
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,920
while denying him any dignity.
See, Downtown Tulsa offered zero

387
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,160
public restrooms for for Black
people, and this wasn't

388
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:55,280
accidental.
It was policy segregation

389
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,640
extended beyond schools,
housing, and transportation and

390
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,800
reached into the most basic
human need for our Black

391
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,160
workers.
Like Roland, even relieving

392
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,200
yourself required planning
permission and vulnerability.

393
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,400
That brings us to the Drexel
Building, a six story commercial

394
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,120
structure at 3rd and Main
Street.

395
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,360
It was one of the few places
downtown where black workers

396
00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:18,600
were quietly permitted to use
the bathroom.

397
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,720
Located on the top floor, the
bathroom could only be accessed

398
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,320
by elevator.
And on that day, Roland entered

399
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,400
the building for the same reason
he had dozens of other times to

400
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:31,080
use the bathroom during his work
day.

401
00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,600
Now, that elevator was operated
by a woman named Sarah Page.

402
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,440
She was 17 years old, and in
1921 she was young, poor and

403
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:44,000
very working class herself.
She was just another person

404
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,720
caught in the machinery of this
rigid racial hierarchy.

405
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,680
She lived with her parents and
earned a pretty modest wage

406
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,240
operating the elevator, a job
that placed her in daily contact

407
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,880
with both white and black
business people.

408
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:59,600
Her position gave her a kind of
proximity to power without

409
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:04,040
actually granting her any power.
Like Roland, she occupied a very

410
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:10,480
vulnerable place in Tulsa social
order, but she was protected by

411
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:13,000
whiteness in ways that he just
wasn't.

412
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,080
Now, what actually happened
inside the elevator would later

413
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:22,440
be described in dramatically
different ways, shaped less by

414
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,120
evidence and more by fear,
rumor, and racial mythology.

415
00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:29,120
But the basic facts, however,
are pretty simple and

416
00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:32,240
uncontested by the closest to
this incident.

417
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,320
Roland tripped as he entered the
elevator, stumbling over the

418
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,800
threshold, losing his balance,
and he fell into Paige.

419
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,520
Paige screamed.
A white clerk from a nearby

420
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,600
store rushed towards the
elevator.

421
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:50,480
In response, Roland panicked and
ran away.

422
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,640
Now, we probably all know that
he shouldn't have done this.

423
00:25:54,920 --> 00:26:01,160
However, he's 19 and he is
living the duality of living in

424
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:07,480
both Greenville and Tulsa, and
so I understand why he ran away.

425
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,080
Unfortunately, that scream would
echo far beyond the walls of the

426
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,600
Drexel Building.
Sarah Page never actually

427
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,640
pressed any charges.
She never said she was raped.

428
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:21,480
She never said she was
assaulted.

429
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,480
There was no medical examination
conducted, no sworn statement of

430
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,520
accusing Roland of a sexual
crime ever happened.

431
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,240
Age herself told police he
simply stepped on her foot and

432
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,480
bumped into her and then ran
away.

433
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,360
Whatever fear she felt in the
moment did not translate into a

434
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:46,280
demand for punishment.
But in Tulsa, facts mattered

435
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,160
less than perception.
And perception, when filtered

436
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,840
through decades of racial
terror, was lethal.

437
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,520
The following day, May 31st,
Dick Roland was arrested by

438
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,280
Tulsa police and taken to the
County Courthouse.

439
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:05,440
That's also where the jail was.
Officially, authorities actually

440
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,600
claimed they were holding him
for his own protection.

441
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,480
Unofficially, that arrest placed
him in immediate and extreme

442
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,000
danger in the Jim Crow South and
also Oklahoma.

443
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,440
Accusations involving black men
and white women had historically

444
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:21,600
served as justification for mob
violence.

445
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,280
Lynching was not an aberration.
It was an accepted method of

446
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,800
control.
Thousands of black men had been

447
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,480
murdered across the United
States based on allegations that

448
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,440
have been proven false,
exaggerated, or completely

449
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,160
made-up.
When Tulsa was no stranger to

450
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,520
this history, Oklahoma had one
of the highest lynching rates in

451
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:44,080
the nation, and Tulsa itself had
seen this kind of racial

452
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:46,600
violence before.
The city's white residents

453
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,840
understood exactly what an
arrest like Rowland's implied.

454
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:55,040
The mere suggestion of an attack
was enough to seal this man's

455
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,440
fate.
What transformed a dangerous

456
00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:01,120
situation into a catastrophic 1
was the press.

457
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:06,160
The afternoon of May 31st, the
Tulsa Tribune published a front

458
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:10,680
page headline that would ignite
the city nabbed Negro for

459
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,400
attacking girl in elevator.
The language was deliberately

460
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:18,360
inflammatory, the word attacking
implied violence.

461
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:23,400
Girl emphasized her youth, and
the Negro was printed in bold

462
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,920
type.
It framed Roland not as an

463
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,520
individual, but as a racial
threat.

464
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,360
He was a stand in for all of the
black people in Tulsa.

465
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,720
The article itself exaggerated
the incident, suggesting this

466
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,080
was an attempted sexual assault
despite the absence of any

467
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:44,840
evidence or any charges.
Some accounts indicate that an

468
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,880
accompanying editorial, which
has now been lost to history,

469
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,440
may have openly called for
Rowland's lynching.

470
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,120
Whether or not those words ever
appeared in print, the effect

471
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,440
was unmistakable.
The newspaper didn't just report

472
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:04,400
events, it shaped them.
In a city that was already tense

473
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:09,320
with racial resentment, economic
competition and white anxiety

474
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:14,040
over Greenwood's prosperity, the
Tribune's coverage was a match

475
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:16,720
thrown right into a pile of dry
Tinder.

476
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,480
By the late afternoon, rumors
were spreading rapidly through

477
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:22,920
the city.
The stories grew more lurid with

478
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,960
every retelling.
He was no longer being described

479
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,040
as a frightened teenager who had
stumbled in an elevator.

480
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,840
He was a violent predator in the
white imagination, and the lack

481
00:29:32,840 --> 00:29:35,440
of evidence only made room for
fantasy.

482
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,160
Gossip moved through all the
Barber shops, offices, oilfield

483
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,720
salons, fueled by alcohol,
bravado and fear.

484
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,360
By evening, a white mob gathered
outside the courthouse,

485
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,240
demanding that Roland be turned
over.

486
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,680
The courthouse became the focal
point of the city's racial

487
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,280
tension.
Sheriff Willard McCullough,

488
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,840
aware of what was unfolding,
refused to release Roland.

489
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,280
He actually barricaded the top
floor of the courthouse,

490
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,120
stationed armed deputies on the
roof and vowed to protect the

491
00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:08,760
prisoner.
His actions were unusual, but

492
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,840
not unprecedented.
Some law enforcement officials

493
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,800
did attempt to prevent
lynchings, though often it was

494
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:18,920
kind of half hearted.
Outside, though, the crowd would

495
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,280
grow larger and more agitated.
Estimates vary, but by nightfall

496
00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,240
there were hundreds of white men
assembled.

497
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,240
Many were armed.
They shouted threats, demanded

498
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,720
justice, and spoke openly about
lynching.

499
00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,440
The atmosphere was volatile,
charged with adrenaline and

500
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,520
entitlement.
For them, the courthouse

501
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,760
represented an obstacle between
righteous vengeance and racial

502
00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,400
order.
Word of the mob reached

503
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:46,320
Greenwood, and Greenwood
residents understood the stakes

504
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,440
better than anyone.
They had seen what happened when

505
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:51,480
white mobs were allowed to act
unchecked.

506
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,720
They knew that once a lynching
began, it rarely stopped with

507
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,520
just one victim.
Many black men would be

508
00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,680
murdered.
Black homes would be burned,

509
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,160
Black communities terrorized,
not as a spontaneous act, but as

510
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:09,360
demonstrations of power.
A group of Black World War One

511
00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,400
veterans decided they wouldn't
be passive.

512
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:14,360
They were men who had worn the
uniform of the United States.

513
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,440
They had fought overseas for
democracy and have returned home

514
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:20,600
to be treated as second class
citizens.

515
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:25,200
Many of them were armed, legally
and otherwise, and they believed

516
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,880
reasonably that if Roland were
handed over to the mob, he would

517
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,480
be killed.
Later that evening,

518
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,440
approximately 25 black men
marched to the courthouse to

519
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:35,120
offer their assistance to the
sheriff.

520
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:37,760
They were polite but firm,
telling him that they were

521
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:40,800
polite but telling him they were
there simply to protect the

522
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,360
prisoner.
But Sheriff McCullough declined,

523
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,080
insisting he had it under
control.

524
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,120
They returned to Greenwood,
uneasy but hopeful that

525
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:49,680
restraint would prevail.
It didn't.

526
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,960
As the night wore on, the white
crowd continued to swell, fueled

527
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,640
by more rumors and the Tribune
sensationalism.

528
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,160
The mob grew bolder.
They tried to breach the

529
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,960
courthouse.
They began looting stores for

530
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,680
weapons.
Pensions escalated with every

531
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:07,640
hour.
Around 10 PMA, second, now

532
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:12,600
larger group of black men,
around 75 in number, returned to

533
00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:15,560
the courthouse, once again
offering their help.

534
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,360
Once again they are turned away
and as they begin to leave, a

535
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,840
white man confronted one of the
black veterans and tried to take

536
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,040
his gun.
A struggle ensued and a shot

537
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,000
rang out.
That single gunshot marked the

538
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,720
point of no return.
Chaos erupted.

539
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,880
Gunfire broke out in multiple
directions.

540
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:37,200
People scattered.
When the shooting stopped,

541
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:41,680
several men lay dead or wounded.
The white mob, now enraged and

542
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:45,320
armed, and a lot of them drunk,
surged towards Greenwood.

543
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:49,360
What had begun as a pretext to
punish one man became an excuse

544
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:53,080
to destroy the entire community.
The events that followed the

545
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,800
burning of Greenwood, the mass
displacement, the loss of life

546
00:32:55,800 --> 00:33:00,040
and property would later be
called the Tulsa Race Massacre.

547
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:03,880
But it is important to to
understand this massacre never

548
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,040
started with any violence from
Greenwood.

549
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,600
It started because a kid
stumbled in an elevator, was

550
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:13,960
arrested with no charges, and a
newspaper headline inflamed

551
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:18,280
racial fear.
Dick Roland would actually

552
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,720
survive the night.
Thanks to the sheriff's refusal

553
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,680
to surrender and the eventual
intervention of the National

554
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:27,120
Guard, he wasn't lynched.
Charges against him were quietly

555
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,880
dropped, and he would leave
Tulsa shortly after.

556
00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,040
History remembers little about
his later life, only that he

557
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,480
became the unwilling spark for
one of the worst acts of racial

558
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:39,640
violence in American history.
What makes the story of Dick

559
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,800
Rowland so haunting is not just
his tragic outcome, but its

560
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,800
banality.
There was no crime, no

561
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,560
conspiracy, no uprising.
Just a guy trying to go to the

562
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,560
bathroom.
A city steeped in racial

563
00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:56,400
paranoia and institutions
willing to sacrifice truth for

564
00:33:56,400 --> 00:34:00,720
control.
The massacre wasn't inevitable,

565
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,560
but it was made possible by a
system that treated Black

566
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:07,320
existence as provocation.
In the end, the destruction of

567
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:09,560
Greenwood was not about
protecting white women or

568
00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:13,440
enforcing the law.
It was about maintaining racial

569
00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:15,719
dominance in the face of Black
excellence.

570
00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:20,400
Inside Greenwood, the news
traveled quickly and with

571
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,880
unmistakable urgency.
The word passed from Barber

572
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:27,000
shops to churches, from porches
to pool halls, from whispered

573
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,760
conversations to frantic knocks
at doors.

574
00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:33,440
A young black man had been
arrested, accused of assaulting

575
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:35,520
a white woman.
He was at the Tulsa County

576
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,800
Courthouse.
This was troubling news, but it

577
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:42,320
was also a warning for the
residents of Greenwood.

578
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:46,199
They knew what an accusation
like this meant in other parts

579
00:34:46,199 --> 00:34:49,159
of the country, and that means
it could mean the same thing

580
00:34:49,159 --> 00:34:52,920
here.
Tulsa, for all its wealth and

581
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,159
modernity, was not immune to
these patterns.

582
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,320
The city had already shown how
quickly racial tension could

583
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:05,960
turn lethal.
Just a year before Tulsa, the

584
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:10,240
white mob had lynched a white
man accused of murder.

585
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:13,560
If they could unleash that kind
of violence against one of their

586
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:17,000
own, Greenwood residents
understood that a black teenager

587
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:21,520
accused of doing the same kind
of terrible thing would have

588
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,200
absolutely no mercy and no
chance.

589
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,760
No one really knows with any
certainty who ended up firing

590
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:32,200
that first shot or whether it
was an accident, but everyone

591
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,280
agrees on what it represented.
It shattered the fragile

592
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,920
restraint holding the situation
together, and in an instant,

593
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:45,000
chaos erupted.
There was gunfire all around the

594
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,280
courthouse.
White men began shooting at the

595
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:50,360
retreating black group.
Black men returned fire while

596
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,920
they were fleeing, attempting to
escape back toward Greenwood.

597
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,720
Cars speed off within minutes,
white mobs began forming

598
00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:00,440
throughout downtown Tulsa, and
word spread that black men had

599
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,240
attacked whites at the
courthouse.

600
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,600
The story grew exaggerated with
every retelling.

601
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:07,760
Some claim Greenwood was staging
an uprising.

602
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,480
Others said white men had been
killed in large numbers.

603
00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:14,000
Fear and fury just fed into each
other, and the city descended

604
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:16,920
into violence.
Police officers and local

605
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,560
authorities didn't actually stop
anything.

606
00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:22,880
Some of them actively
participated.

607
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,240
They handed out weapons to white
civilians.

608
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:31,360
Deputies began deputizing people
from the mob, giving them badges

609
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:34,920
and licenses to act.
Rather than simply protecting

610
00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:39,280
Greenwood, the machinery of law
enforcement became a tool of its

611
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:41,760
destruction.
As the black men who had gone to

612
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,760
the courthouse fled toward
Greenwood, they were pursued.

613
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:49,960
By the time the first fires were
set, the city had crossed a

614
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:54,080
point of no return.
That stand at the courthouse had

615
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:58,240
failed in its immediate goal.
Yes, Dick Roland did survive,

616
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:04,080
but what was lost was massive.
The effort to prevent a lynching

617
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:06,160
had instead become the spark
that had ignited one of the

618
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:08,720
deadliest acts of racial
violence in American history.

619
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:14,880
The violence that followed
wasn't caused by the presence of

620
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,560
armed black men at the
courthouse, but this was a

621
00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:23,080
system that allowed angry,
drunk, armed mobs to gather

622
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:27,960
unchallenged in a society that
treated black people as

623
00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:32,960
disposable by authorities who
refused to protect the people

624
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:36,760
they were sworn to serve.
The men who went to the

625
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:39,880
courthouse did so not to provoke
violence, but they wanted to

626
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:43,840
prevent it.
By the time dawn broke June 1st,

627
00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:46,560
1921, Greenwood would lay in
ashes.

628
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:50,560
Hundreds dead, thousands
displaced, and a thriving

629
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:55,480
community reduced to rubble.
The stand at the courthouse

630
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,920
meant to save one young man from
a lynching marked the moment

631
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,160
Tulsa chose destruction over
justice.

632
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,520
As the news traveled through
Greenwood about what happened at

633
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:09,560
the courthouse, people began to
brace for what they knew was

634
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,080
coming.
Rumors of violence have been

635
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,000
circulating all day.
Armed white crowds had been

636
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:18,640
gathering openly, unchecked and
emboldened by local authorities.

637
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:24,320
By nightfall, the restraint, if
it ever existed, was long gone,

638
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:28,080
and those white mobs that had
been organizing all day long

639
00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:32,560
poured into Greenwood from every
direction they came, armed with

640
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:34,520
rifles, shotguns, pistols,
knives.

641
00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:38,040
Some carried torches.
Other carried cans of gasoline

642
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:41,440
and kerosene.
Many of them wore those hastily

643
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:45,480
deputized badges by city
officials, transforming ordinary

644
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,040
citizens into state sanction
enforcers.

645
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:53,520
They have been given permission.
Shots rang out immediately.

646
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,400
Black residents attempted to
defend their homes, but they

647
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:58,920
were met with overwhelming
firepower.

648
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:02,720
Men were gunned down in the
streets, others were dragged

649
00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:06,960
from their doorways and beaten.
Families fled into alleyways and

650
00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:10,600
backyards as the gunfire echoed
through the neighborhood.

651
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:14,240
Greenwood wants a place of
security, pride, and prosperity.

652
00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,760
Greenwood wants a place of
security, pride, and prosperity.

653
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:22,160
Was a war zone.
In just a few minutes, homes

654
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,360
were not simply burned, they
were invaded.

655
00:39:24,720 --> 00:39:27,560
The white attackers would kick
in the doors, ransack the

656
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:31,240
furniture, loot the valuables
before setting the building on

657
00:39:31,240 --> 00:39:33,280
fire.
Businesses that had taken

658
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:36,280
decades to build, Law Offices,
grocery stores, Barber shops,

659
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,520
pharmacies, theaters.
They were all stripped bare and

660
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,560
then destroyed.
Safes were broken into, cash

661
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,480
registers smashed, merchandise
hauled away before they set

662
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,360
everything on fire.
And the destruction followed A

663
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,120
grim logic.
Fire moved block by block,

664
00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:54,280
building by building, as if
guided by a plan.

665
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:58,400
It was almost as if the wealth
of Greenwood was being erased

666
00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,320
deliberately, not accidentally.
Anything that represented black

667
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,880
independence, that suggested
permanence or success was a

668
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:08,120
target.
Some white attackers posed for

669
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,120
photographs in front of burning
buildings.

670
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:13,880
Others treated this devastation
like entertainment, cheering as

671
00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:17,720
homes collapse.
The mob swelled as the night

672
00:40:17,720 --> 00:40:21,080
went on, joined by onlookers who
had no intention of intervening,

673
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:23,880
simply watching.
Then came the airplanes.

674
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:27,200
Survivors would later describe a
sight almost too shocking to

675
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:30,600
believe small aircraft circling
above Green Lug in the early

676
00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:33,240
hours of the morning.
At first, many residents assumed

677
00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:36,240
they were being used for
observation, but that illusion

678
00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:40,040
quickly vanished.
Burning objects began to fall

679
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,240
from the sky.
Flaming balls struck rooftops,

680
00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:47,240
igniting fires that spread
faster than the ground crews can

681
00:40:47,240 --> 00:40:49,520
manage.
Some describe the smell of

682
00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:51,760
turpentine.
Others were called explosions.

683
00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:55,400
Upon impact, fires appeared
suddenly in places the mobs

684
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,240
hadn't reached yet, leaping
ahead of the advancing

685
00:40:58,240 --> 00:41:00,640
attackers.
These were not spontaneous.

686
00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:03,840
They were coordinated assaults.
One of the most detailed first

687
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,120
hand accounts came from Buck
Colbert Franklin, a prominent

688
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:10,000
black attorney and the father of
future Supreme Court Justice

689
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,720
Thurgood Marshall.
Franklin had survived earlier

690
00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:15,400
racial violence and understood
immediately what he was watching

691
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:18,600
from his office window.
He watched Greenwood burn from

692
00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:22,840
above and below.
I could see the plane circling

693
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,840
in midair, he later wrote.
I could hear something like hail

694
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:27,880
falling upon the top of my Obvis
building.

695
00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:31,480
I saw the old Midway Hotel on
fire, burning from the top.

696
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,000
Franklin's words captured a
truth that official records

697
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,800
would later deny.
Greenwood was under an aerial

698
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:41,000
attack.
Burning turpentine balls

699
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,720
littered the sidewalks.
Rooftops caught fire without

700
00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:46,680
warning.
Wooden structures so carefully

701
00:41:46,680 --> 00:41:51,000
maintained became kindling.
Entire blocks would ignite

702
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,640
almost simultaneously.
And the fire apartment did

703
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:57,800
nothing.
The fire crews arrived at the

704
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:01,080
edge of Greenwood, and they were
turned away by armed white men.

705
00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:03,760
In some cases, the hoses were
cut.

706
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:07,640
In others, firefighters were
threatened at gunpoint and

707
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:10,760
ordered to leave.
A city that relied on black

708
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,800
labor, black taxes and black
commerce offered no protection

709
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,400
in return.
Police presence was

710
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,480
conspicuously absent except
where it was used to disarm a

711
00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:23,960
black resident.
Throughout the night.

712
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,520
Any black man who attempted to
defend his home was arrested.

713
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,880
Some were marched away under
guard while their houses burned

714
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,240
behind them.
Others were shot where they

715
00:42:33,240 --> 00:42:35,440
stood.
Women and children fled through

716
00:42:35,440 --> 00:42:37,680
smoke filled streets carrying
what little they could hold.

717
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,560
Many barefoot and bleeding.
By Don Greenwood was

718
00:42:40,560 --> 00:42:46,360
unrecognizable. 35 square blocks
lay in ruin. 1200 homes

719
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:48,480
destroyed.
Nearly every Black-owned

720
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:49,880
business in the district was
gone.

721
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:53,320
Churches, schools and hospitals
were reduced to ash.

722
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,600
The sound of gunfire faded,
replaced by the crackle of

723
00:42:56,600 --> 00:43:00,080
smoldering debris and the cries
of survivors searching for their

724
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,800
loved ones.
Bodies lay uncounted.

725
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,680
Many were buried in unmarked
graves, some dumped in the

726
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:09,960
Arkansas River.
Official death counts would

727
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:14,840
later claim fewer than 40
people, but survivors insist the

728
00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,920
number was much higher, possibly
in the hundreds.

729
00:43:18,240 --> 00:43:21,320
The truth was never properly
documented, in part because no

730
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:23,680
one in power even wanted it to
be documented.

731
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:28,680
The survivors were rounded up,
detained at gunpoint and marched

732
00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:31,960
to internment camps set up at
convention halls, fairgrounds

733
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,280
and ballparks.
They were held for days, some

734
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:37,840
for weeks, and released only if
a white employer could vouch for

735
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:39,880
them.
Greenwood's residents, victims

736
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:43,160
of one of the worst acts of
violence in history, were being

737
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,560
treated like criminals.
Insurance companies refused to

738
00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:50,880
pay claims, citing riot clauses.
The city passed new zoning laws

739
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,160
designed to prevent Greenwood
from being rebuilt.

740
00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:57,680
When Black residents tried to
return and rebuild anyway, they

741
00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:00,680
faced intimidation, legal
barriers and continued threats.

742
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:04,360
But still, they tried to rebuild
against every obstacle.

743
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:07,520
Greenwood rose again, though
never to its form or height.

744
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:10,800
The wealth was gone, the trauma
remained, and the story was

745
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:14,320
buried.
For decades, Tulsa didn't speak

746
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:17,520
of this massacre.
It was removed from textbooks,

747
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:21,040
absent from any public
memorials, and it wasn't even

748
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:24,520
acknowledged by officials.
Survivors simply carried their

749
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,320
memories in silence, knowing
that telling the truth would

750
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:32,200
bring retaliation or worse.
The night Greenwood burned was

751
00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:34,080
not forgotten by those who lived
through it.

752
00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:37,680
They remembered the plains, the
fire falling from the sky,

753
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:41,200
watching everything they had
built, everything their parents

754
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:45,200
and grandparents had struggled
to achieve, consumed in a single

755
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:49,360
night of sanctioned terror.
In the aftermath of the

756
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,240
destruction of Greenwood,
Oklahoma Governor James BA

757
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:56,880
Robertson declared martial law.
The National Guard was mobilized

758
00:44:56,880 --> 00:45:00,000
and sent to Tulsa, officially
tasked with restoring order and

759
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,200
preventing any more violence.
On paper, the declaration

760
00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:05,640
suggested intervention,
restraint, the return of law,

761
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,320
but in practice, it really
cemented the unequal reality

762
00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:12,160
Black Tulsans had already
encountered the entire day

763
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,560
before.
The arrival of the National

764
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:19,120
Guard marked the beginning of
another wave of trauma carried

765
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:22,960
out by the state itself.
The Guardsmen entered the ruins

766
00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:25,640
of Greenwood, armed and
authoritative and moving through

767
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:27,600
the neighborhoods that were
still on fire.

768
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:30,760
They would encounter families
wandering among the ashes of

769
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,640
their home, people searching for
relatives, trying to salvage

770
00:45:33,640 --> 00:45:36,600
anything.
People were hungry, injured and

771
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:39,960
in shock, and rather than
offering aid, the guardsmen

772
00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:42,840
ordered them to surrender any
weapons they had.

773
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:47,120
These black men who had stood
watch over their homes were

774
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,720
disarmed at gunpoint.
Veterans who served in World War

775
00:45:50,720 --> 00:45:54,560
One men who had fought for
democracy abroad were treated as

776
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,720
threats in their own city.
Possession of a firearm, which

777
00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:01,240
was legal under Oklahoma law,
became grounds for arrest if the

778
00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:05,600
owner was black.
The white rioters faced 0

779
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:08,400
scrutiny as the Guard asserted
control.

780
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:13,840
Mass detentions began.
More than 6000 black men, women

781
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:15,680
and children were illegally
detained.

782
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:18,720
They were held in places that
were never intended to actually

783
00:46:18,720 --> 00:46:24,040
house civilians.
Thus the the detainees were

784
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:27,120
forced to sleep on concrete
floors and bare ground.

785
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,180
Food was scarce.
Medical care was minimal or non

786
00:46:30,180 --> 00:46:32,920
existent.
Injuries often went untreated.

787
00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:36,000
The conditions were deliberately
dehumanizing.

788
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:41,400
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Guardsmen stood watch with

789
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:45,240
rifles, treating detainees not
as victims, but as prisoners of

790
00:46:45,240 --> 00:46:47,760
war.
The families were separated.

791
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:50,680
Names were recorded or ignored
without explanation.

792
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:53,960
Many detainees.
Many detainees had no idea how

793
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:56,960
long they would be held, whether
they would be allowed to return

794
00:46:56,960 --> 00:46:59,040
to what remained of their homes,
or their jobs.

795
00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:03,520
Release wasn't automatic.
You had to have a responsible

796
00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:06,000
white citizen come and vouch for
you.

797
00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:10,400
This requirement transformed
survival into a transaction and

798
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:14,960
reinforced the racial hierarchy.
Those without employers, women,

799
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:17,520
children, the elderly, the
unemployed were left simply

800
00:47:17,520 --> 00:47:22,680
waiting, detained for days,
weeks, while the white Tolson's

801
00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:25,000
move freely.
No mass arrests were ever

802
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:28,360
conducted among the white mob
that looted, burned and killed

803
00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:30,720
people.
No detention camp established

804
00:47:30,720 --> 00:47:32,240
for the perpetrators of the
violence.

805
00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:36,440
Martial law simply formalized
the injustice.

806
00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:38,720
For many detainees, the
experience was a bitter.

807
00:47:38,720 --> 00:47:41,400
Revelation.
They have believed, perhaps

808
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,600
naively, that government
intervention would mean safety.

809
00:47:45,240 --> 00:47:47,680
But they learned that the same
institution meant to protect

810
00:47:47,680 --> 00:47:51,320
citizens could be used to
enforce their own racial

811
00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:55,600
subjugation.
When the detainee When the

812
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:59,480
detainees were finally released,
they returned to devastation.

813
00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:03,160
Homes were gone.
Businesses mash personal

814
00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:05,320
belongings scattered or outright
stolen.

815
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,720
They had nowhere to go.
The relief efforts were slow and

816
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:13,320
frankly inadequate, administered
through white control

817
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:16,240
organizations that would impose
additional restrictions and

818
00:48:16,240 --> 00:48:19,760
humiliations.
The city turned itself to.

819
00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:21,720
Rebuilding but.
Not to Greenwood.

820
00:48:22,720 --> 00:48:25,120
Rather than assisting Black
residents in reconstruction,

821
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:30,360
Tulsa officials re proposed
those rezoning laws The legal

822
00:48:30,360 --> 00:48:32,360
challenges.
And community resistance.

823
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:35,520
Eventually overturned those
efforts, but the damage had been

824
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:37,800
done.
The time, money and momentum

825
00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:41,120
were lost.
The mass detentions left scars

826
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:44,200
that extended beyond physical
destruction, and they taught a

827
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,240
lesson that would echo for
generations.

828
00:48:46,760 --> 00:48:49,480
Even in the face of undeniable
injustice, the machinery of the

829
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:51,200
state could be turned against
the victims.

830
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:55,240
Law and order was defined by
those in power and it did not

831
00:48:55,240 --> 00:48:57,800
guarantee fairness or
protection.

832
00:48:59,240 --> 00:49:01,640
Now I mentioned earlier that.
The official counts.

833
00:49:01,720 --> 00:49:06,280
Of the Tulsa race massacre would
say both newspapers and city

834
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:10,400
leaders would report that only
35 people had been killed, a

835
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:12,160
number that grossly.
Understated.

836
00:49:12,160 --> 00:49:15,240
The true human.
Cause and these figures reflect

837
00:49:15,240 --> 00:49:17,760
not an honest accounting but a
deliberate attempt to contain

838
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:19,920
the outrage and avoid
responsibility.

839
00:49:20,880 --> 00:49:24,760
The black bodies of these
victims were buried hastily in

840
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:26,920
unmarked graves, removed without
records.

841
00:49:27,240 --> 00:49:32,520
Survivors actually spoke for
decades of truckloads of corpses

842
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:36,640
that were carried out of Tulsa
under the cover of darkness.

843
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:39,800
When the Tulsa Race Riot
Commission released its findings

844
00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:45,480
in 2001 after years of survivor
testimony, archival research and

845
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:49,080
forensic investigation, it
concluded that the death toll

846
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:53,600
would have been over 300 people,
and the vast majority of those

847
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:56,120
deaths being Black citizens of
Greenwood.

848
00:49:57,560 --> 00:49:59,640
Even that estimate.
The Commission.

849
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:02,920
Acknowledged could never be
fully confirmed because the

850
00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:08,560
destruction had been so total
and the records so purposefully

851
00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:13,080
hidden the physical.
Devastation was just as

852
00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:15,720
staggering.
It was actually more than 35

853
00:50:15,720 --> 00:50:19,320
square blocks has.
It also encompassed homes,

854
00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:24,520
churches, schools, businesses,
medical offices, many of the.

855
00:50:24,520 --> 00:50:27,280
1200 homes.
That had been burned were not

856
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:29,960
modest dwellings.
They had been carefully

857
00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:32,760
constructed.
They were symbols of Greenwoods

858
00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:37,320
prosperity and those families
lost absolutely everything.

859
00:50:37,840 --> 00:50:41,040
The economic cost of this
destruction was enormous by

860
00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:45,880
contemporary standards.
In 1921, they assessed that the

861
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:49,920
property damage would have been
around $1.5 million, an estimate

862
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:53,000
that would equal a little over
30 million today.

863
00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:55,680
And that's accounting for only
direct losses.

864
00:50:55,680 --> 00:50:59,080
It doesn't include the loss of
future wealth, businesses that

865
00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,760
would have expanded, properties
that would have appreciated,

866
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:04,960
wages that could have been
earned, children who would have

867
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:07,280
inherited stability instead of
trauma.

868
00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,000
Greenwood was not merely.
Destroyed in the present.

869
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:15,520
It was robbed of a future
insurance companies compounded.

870
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:18,360
This devastation.
By refusing to pay any claims,

871
00:51:18,720 --> 00:51:22,400
most policies contained riot
clauses which the insurers

872
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:24,960
invoked deny compensation
entirely.

873
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:28,440
Black residents who had paid
faithfully into these policies

874
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:30,000
were left with absolutely
nothing.

875
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:32,720
Appeals were ignored or outright
rejected.

876
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:37,800
Legal recourse was non existent.
The financial abandonment

877
00:51:37,800 --> 00:51:40,680
ensured that the rebuilding
would be slow, painful and self

878
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:42,120
funded, if it could happen at
all.

879
00:51:43,040 --> 00:51:48,400
Human displacement was huge.
In fact, nearly 10,000 black

880
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:50,960
residents were left homeless
overnight.

881
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:53,800
Men, women, children and the
elderly wandered through the

882
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:57,440
smoking ruins searching for any
sign of where their life had

883
00:51:57,440 --> 00:52:01,080
been just one day earlier.
They were forced to carry

884
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:04,520
identification Cags after
obtaining white sponsorship.

885
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:08,120
Many simply left.
Tulsa entirely.

886
00:52:08,160 --> 00:52:10,520
Joining the countless black
Americans driven from their

887
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:14,280
homes by racial terror across
the country, those who remain

888
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:18,040
face conditions that were just
hard.

889
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:23,760
They slept in Red Cross tents,
enduring exposure, hunger and

890
00:52:23,760 --> 00:52:26,360
illness.
These makeshift camps would

891
00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:30,080
stretch from May into the
winter.

892
00:52:31,240 --> 00:52:33,560
Families huddled together.
Against the cold, with little.

893
00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:37,520
More than donated clothing and
sparse rations, children

894
00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,520
attended improvised schools or
none at all.

895
00:52:42,280 --> 00:52:44,240
The trauma of the.
Violence was compounded by the

896
00:52:44,240 --> 00:52:47,760
deadly.
Struggle to survive even its

897
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:49,640
destruction.
Though, Greenwood endured.

898
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:53,080
As a memory, survivors carried
the truth when institutions

899
00:52:53,080 --> 00:52:55,960
refused to record it.
They remember the scale of what

900
00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:58,400
was lost, even when the city
tried to forget.

901
00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:02,560
The devastation was not a moment
of violence, but a rupture whose

902
00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:04,880
effects rippled across
generation.

903
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:13,800
One question that echoed for
more than a century Will anyone

904
00:53:13,800 --> 00:53:15,680
be held?
Accountable and.

905
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:20,880
Immediately, that answer was
absolutely no the legal.

906
00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:22,880
Case that had been used to spark
the Dis.

907
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:25,320
Disruption.
Just collapse.

908
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:31,000
Charges against Dick Roland were
dismissed in September of 19. 21

909
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:38,160
Sarah Page didn't even testify.
There was no trial, no cross

910
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:39,880
examination, no public
reckoning.

911
00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:44,760
Roland himself disappeared, but
the absence of Justin's.

912
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:46,840
Went far past.
Roland's case.

913
00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:51,840
Despite the scale of violence
here, not a single white rioter

914
00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:55,200
was ever prosecuted.
No arrests were even made, no

915
00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:59,440
trial to examine who looted the
businesses, who shot unarmed

916
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:03,000
people, who dropped incendiaries
from airplanes.

917
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,200
The legal system, which had
failed to protect Greenwood

918
00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:09,520
during the massacre, now refused
to even acknowledge that it had

919
00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:12,960
happened.
Instead of accountability, they.

920
00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:17,160
Simply produced plane.
An all white grand jury.

921
00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:22,040
Convened later in 19. 21 but not
to indict the perpetrators of

922
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:25,560
the massacre.
They concluded that Black

923
00:54:25,560 --> 00:54:29,200
Tulsans were responsible for
this violence, arguing that

924
00:54:29,200 --> 00:54:33,160
Greenwood residents had incited
the riot by attempting to defend

925
00:54:33,160 --> 00:54:34,520
Dick Rowland and their
community.

926
00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:38,040
The official narrative cast
Black self-defense as criminal

927
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:40,800
provocation.
The judgement carried enormous

928
00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:43,800
consequences.
It cemented the version events

929
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,400
that absolved the city, the
police and the state of Oklahoma

930
00:54:47,400 --> 00:54:50,800
of responsibility.
It also sent a clear message to

931
00:54:50,800 --> 00:54:53,920
Greenwood survivors.
The law will not protect you,

932
00:54:53,960 --> 00:54:57,120
and it will not hear you.
In the years following the

933
00:54:57,120 --> 00:54:59,720
massacre, white supremacist
power grew.

934
00:54:59,720 --> 00:55:03,720
Rather than diminish the KKK
members surge across Oklahoma.

935
00:55:03,720 --> 00:55:08,200
During the early 1920s, Klansmen
occupied positions of authority.

936
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:11,960
Not surprising.
It's very consistent even in

937
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:13,960
today's time.
For decades, the Tulsa Race

938
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:16,040
Massacre was omitted from school
textbooks.

939
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:19,160
Teachers were outright forbidden
from discussing it, and

940
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:21,240
newspapers avoided the topic
entirely.

941
00:55:21,640 --> 00:55:23,880
City leaders refused to
acknowledge it publicly.

942
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:28,520
It wouldn't be until. 197115
years.

943
00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:30,640
Later that, the silence would
start to crack.

944
00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:33,520
A journalist named Don Ross
published an investigative

945
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:36,000
report that brought national
attention back to Greenwood's

946
00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:38,360
destruction.
His work helped revive public

947
00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:40,840
discussion and encouraged
survivors to speak openly for

948
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:43,480
the first time.
Oral histories emerged,

949
00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:47,360
photographs resurfaced, and
official story began to unravel

950
00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:52,800
in. 2001 The Tulsa Race Riot
Commission.

951
00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:56,600
Released a comprehensive report
detailing the massacres, causes,

952
00:55:56,600 --> 00:55:59,480
events and aftermath, the
Commission acknowledged that the

953
00:55:59,480 --> 00:56:02,480
violence was systemic, racially
motivated and aided by local

954
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:05,120
authorities.
And, importantly, it recommended

955
00:56:05,120 --> 00:56:07,680
reparations for survivors and
their descendants, including

956
00:56:07,680 --> 00:56:11,080
direct payments, scholarships
and economic development into

957
00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:13,760
Greenwood.
This seemed like a turning

958
00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:17,440
point, a long delayed omission
that justice required more than

959
00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:20,640
just acknowledgement.
But the court disagreed.

960
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:23,680
Legal challenges seeking
reparations were rejected on

961
00:56:23,680 --> 00:56:27,120
procedural grounds, including
statutes of limitation.

962
00:56:27,120 --> 00:56:29,360
Judges ruled that too much time
had passed, even though the

963
00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:32,400
massacre had been deliberately
concealed for decades and

964
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:34,720
survivors had been denied access
to court.

965
00:56:34,720 --> 00:56:37,800
In the immediate aftermath, the
law once again protected the

966
00:56:37,800 --> 00:56:40,680
institution rather than the
victims, and no reparations were

967
00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:43,360
paid.
This pattern was unmistakable.

968
00:56:43,520 --> 00:56:46,440
Violence met with silence,
Silence followed by denial.

969
00:56:46,640 --> 00:56:50,120
Denial hardened into legal
finality, and this message

970
00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:53,040
echoes across generations.
Black suffering could be

971
00:56:53,040 --> 00:56:56,480
documented, even admitted, but
never repaired.

972
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:01,160
No Justice, no reparations is
not merely a summary of

973
00:57:01,160 --> 00:57:03,840
Greenwood's aftermath.
It's a diagnosis of a broader

974
00:57:03,840 --> 00:57:07,400
American failure.
Tulsa was a test.

975
00:57:07,760 --> 00:57:10,200
Of whether the United States.
Would confront racial violence

976
00:57:10,280 --> 00:57:16,280
honestly.
That test was failed repeatedly

977
00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:18,240
in the courtroom.
City Hall classrooms.

978
00:57:18,240 --> 00:57:21,880
Public memory Greenwood
survived, the people endured,

979
00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:25,720
but justice never arrived.
And without justice, the debt

980
00:57:25,720 --> 00:57:29,200
remains unpaid.
The Tulsa Race Massacre did not

981
00:57:29,200 --> 00:57:32,000
end when the fires burned out or
when Greenwood streets fell

982
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,120
silent.
It cast a shadow that stretched

983
00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:36,680
across generations, shaping
lives through absence.

984
00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:39,160
Absence of justice.
Absence of wealth, absence of

985
00:57:39,160 --> 00:57:41,720
acknowledgement.
For the survivors, the trauma

986
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:44,760
wasn't confined to memory.
It lived out on their bodies,

987
00:57:44,760 --> 00:57:47,560
their finances, their daily
understanding of what it meant

988
00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:50,960
to be Black in America.
Survivors like Olivia Hooker

989
00:57:50,960 --> 00:57:52,840
carried that burden for more
than a century.

990
00:57:53,240 --> 00:57:56,000
She was only 6 years old in 1921
when the mob destroyed

991
00:57:56,000 --> 00:57:58,520
Greenwood, her family home
burned to the crowd.

992
00:57:58,520 --> 00:58:01,160
She remembers hiding as violence
erupted around her.

993
00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:04,720
And she remembered the confusion
of being told, even as a child,

994
00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:07,800
that she wasn't allowed to talk
about what happened to her.

995
00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:12,680
Silence was.
Survival for decades, Hooker.

996
00:58:12,680 --> 00:58:15,000
And others discouraged by
schools, by officials, by

997
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:18,120
neighbors from speaking openly
about the massacre.

998
00:58:19,800 --> 00:58:23,160
The message was clear.
Your suffering is inconvenient.

999
00:58:24,360 --> 00:58:26,000
Yet Hooker refused to let that
silence.

1000
00:58:26,000 --> 00:58:28,320
Define her life she.
Went on to become a trailblazer.

1001
00:58:28,520 --> 00:58:31,120
She became the first Black woman
to serve in the US Coast Guard.

1002
00:58:31,520 --> 00:58:34,280
Like many survivors, she sought
recognition and reparations.

1003
00:58:34,280 --> 00:58:37,080
Not a vengeance, but out of a
belief in moral accountability.

1004
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:42,280
What was taken from Greenwood
was not only property, but the

1005
00:58:42,280 --> 00:58:44,720
labor and the promise of an
entire community.

1006
00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:48,480
You keep hoping, Olivia said at
age 99.

1007
00:58:48,720 --> 00:58:53,640
You keep hope alive.
She died in 2018 at a. 103 years

1008
00:58:53,640 --> 00:58:55,680
old.
She passed without seeing

1009
00:58:55,680 --> 00:58:59,080
justice realized, not in the
form of reparations, not in any

1010
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:02,560
meaningful legal accountability,
and not in the restoration of

1011
00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:03,920
what Greenwood could have
become.

1012
00:59:04,680 --> 00:59:06,880
Her death marked more than the
loss of a witness.

1013
00:59:07,000 --> 00:59:11,160
It symbolized the steady closing
of a living link to the truth as

1014
00:59:11,160 --> 00:59:14,560
survivors aged and passed away,
with the legal system delaying

1015
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:18,160
and deferring their justice.
Today, the fight continues

1016
00:59:18,160 --> 00:59:19,560
through descendants and
advocates.

1017
00:59:19,920 --> 00:59:22,760
Attorney Demario Solomon
Simmons, who represents

1018
00:59:22,760 --> 00:59:26,400
survivors and their families,
has been unsparing in his

1019
00:59:26,400 --> 00:59:27,960
assessment of the nation's
failure.

1020
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:30,400
It's sad to know that they're
probably all going to die

1021
00:59:30,400 --> 00:59:31,920
without receiving anything, he
said.

1022
00:59:32,440 --> 00:59:35,400
Unfortunately, black life in
America is still not worth that

1023
00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:38,440
much.
His words reflect a painful.

1024
00:59:38,440 --> 00:59:40,760
Continuity the same.
Forces that allowed for

1025
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:44,160
Greenwood to be destroyed in the
1st place have also shaped the

1026
00:59:44,160 --> 00:59:48,680
long refusal to provide redress.
Investigations acknowledge

1027
00:59:48,680 --> 00:59:51,560
wrongdoing.
Reports confirm the skill of

1028
00:59:51,560 --> 00:59:54,800
destruction.
Apologies have been issued, but

1029
00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:59,480
material justice remains out of
reach, as if recognition alone

1030
00:59:59,480 --> 01:00:03,360
could substitute for the repair.
The long shadow of Tulsa is not

1031
01:00:03,360 --> 01:00:05,400
about the past.
It's about what the nation

1032
01:00:05,400 --> 01:00:06,920
chooses to do with its
knowledge.

1033
01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:11,560
Survivors asked to be seen,
their descendants asked to be

1034
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:14,480
heard.
And the question remains, is

1035
01:00:14,480 --> 01:00:18,480
America willing to confront not
just the history of racial

1036
01:00:18,480 --> 01:00:21,520
violence, but its enduring
consequences?

1037
01:00:21,800 --> 01:00:24,320
And whether hope, carried for
more than a century, will be

1038
01:00:24,320 --> 01:00:28,840
finally met with some kind of
action, Greenwood stood as

1039
01:00:28,840 --> 01:00:30,640
living proof.
That black Americans can.

1040
01:00:30,640 --> 01:00:33,880
Build prosperity, governance and
culture in a nation determined

1041
01:00:33,880 --> 01:00:36,600
to deny them all three.
This is not an accident of

1042
01:00:36,600 --> 01:00:38,240
history that the neighborhood
was targeted.

1043
01:00:38,240 --> 01:00:41,160
It was reaction.
Greenwood contradicted the lie

1044
01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:45,120
at the heart of white supremacy.
Black people are not inferior,

1045
01:00:45,560 --> 01:00:50,360
not an intellect or economic
power lies that powerful.

1046
01:00:50,360 --> 01:00:54,080
Though have to be defended with.
Violence, redlining, Hwy.

1047
01:00:54,080 --> 01:00:58,080
construction, predatory zoning,
disinvestment complete what?

1048
01:00:58,080 --> 01:01:02,880
The fires started in Greenwood
and that massacre was erased

1049
01:01:02,880 --> 01:01:06,400
from the textbooks.
America did not.

1050
01:01:06,400 --> 01:01:11,920
Simply forget Greenwood.
They chose to and that choice.

1051
01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:15,640
Reverberates into the present.
The racial violence of today may

1052
01:01:15,640 --> 01:01:18,560
not always arrive with torches
and airplanes, but it is no less

1053
01:01:18,560 --> 01:01:21,240
real.
It appears in a disproportionate

1054
01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:24,600
police killings in neighborhoods
flooded with surveillance but

1055
01:01:24,600 --> 01:01:28,160
starved of resources and schools
that teach around history rather

1056
01:01:28,160 --> 01:01:29,800
than through it.
It appears when Black wealth is

1057
01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:33,560
still viewed as suspicious,
Black protest is dangerous,

1058
01:01:33,600 --> 01:01:36,960
Black survival as provocation.
What happened in Greenwood

1059
01:01:36,960 --> 01:01:39,800
established a pattern.
When Black communities thrive,

1060
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:43,120
they are police dismantled or
destroyed like Colfax,

1061
01:01:43,120 --> 01:01:46,400
Louisiana, Wilmington, North
Carolina, Atlanta, GA, Forsyth

1062
01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:50,080
County, Georgia East St.
Louis, IL, Elaine, Arkansas,

1063
01:01:51,440 --> 01:01:56,040
Ocoee FL, Tulsa, Rosewood,
Florida, Cicero, IL.

1064
01:01:56,160 --> 01:01:59,480
All violent upheavals where the
systems responsible absolved

1065
01:01:59,480 --> 01:02:03,280
themselves of all wrongdoing.
From Tulsa to Rosewood, from Red

1066
01:02:03,280 --> 01:02:05,800
Line cities to mass
incarceration, from vigilante

1067
01:02:05,800 --> 01:02:09,120
killings to state sanctioned
violence, the through line is

1068
01:02:09,120 --> 01:02:13,200
unmistakable.
The ashes of Greenwood.

1069
01:02:13,200 --> 01:02:16,880
Remain a warning and.
A question what does justice

1070
01:02:16,880 --> 01:02:21,360
look like when an entire city is
allowed to erase a people and

1071
01:02:21,360 --> 01:02:25,280
then forget them?
I was reminded of Tulsa last

1072
01:02:25,280 --> 01:02:28,160
year when that white community
was being built in Arkansas.

1073
01:02:28,720 --> 01:02:31,520
For most of my childhood and
adult life, I have heard people

1074
01:02:31,520 --> 01:02:34,400
in the United States say, if you
don't like it here, just make

1075
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:37,640
your own place.
We did, and it was burned to the

1076
01:02:37,640 --> 01:02:41,880
ground in under 24 hours after
decades of hard work.

1077
01:02:42,320 --> 01:02:45,120
And this has happened dozens of
times.

1078
01:02:45,200 --> 01:02:48,400
We have built our own
communities over and over and

1079
01:02:48,400 --> 01:02:51,520
over, and every single time the
same thing happens.

1080
01:02:52,320 --> 01:02:55,840
Justice cannot exist without the
truth, and truth is not passive.

1081
01:02:55,920 --> 01:02:59,280
It demands recognition, repair,
and responsibility.

1082
01:02:59,680 --> 01:03:02,240
It demands that we stop treating
racial violence like isolated

1083
01:03:02,240 --> 01:03:04,560
incidents rather than structural
realities.

1084
01:03:04,840 --> 01:03:07,960
It demands that remembrance be
more than ceremony, that it be

1085
01:03:07,960 --> 01:03:10,960
paired with action.
Greenwood matters not only

1086
01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:13,720
because of how it was destroyed,
but because of what it revealed,

1087
01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:17,760
the lengths to which America
would go to preserve racial

1088
01:03:17,760 --> 01:03:21,080
hierarchy and the resilience of
those who survived it anyway.

1089
01:03:21,600 --> 01:03:24,000
The descendants of Greenwood
carry more than their trauma.

1090
01:03:24,320 --> 01:03:27,520
They carry evidence.
Evidence of stolen futures,

1091
01:03:27,600 --> 01:03:30,680
broken promises.
Evidence that prosperity alone

1092
01:03:30,680 --> 01:03:33,920
does not protect Black life in a
society unwilling to value it.

1093
01:03:34,920 --> 01:03:37,680
I'm Brittany Ransom, and this
has been a historical episode of

1094
01:03:37,680 --> 01:03:41,200
When Killers Get Caught.
This history isn't behind us.

1095
01:03:41,400 --> 01:03:43,920
It's beneath us, shaping the
ground we still stand on,

1096
01:03:44,360 --> 01:03:47,680
written in land policy, our
bodies and memories.

1097
01:03:47,800 --> 01:03:50,840
And that's why it has to be told
clearly and without comfort.

1098
01:03:51,160 --> 01:03:53,640
Because denial survives in
darkness.

1099
01:03:53,960 --> 01:03:59,360
But the truth of Tulsa, like all
truth, always leaves a trail.