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![Tulsa Race Riots 1921 | by naerae26]()
Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwooddistrict of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017
![Black Wall Street | by Victor Hamberlin]()
Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwooddistrict of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017
![Black Wall Street | by Victor Hamberlin]()
Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwooddistrict of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017
![Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | by imarcc]()
![Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | by imarcc]()
![Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | by imarcc]()
![Canned Meats | by Photographs By Wade]()
![Barbed Wire Around Swimming Pool | by Photographs By Wade]()
Tulsa Race Riots 1921: photo by naerae, 22 May 2011
![Little Africa on Fire Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Little Africa on Fire, Tulsa Race Riot,June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Burning of Church where Amunition [sic] Was Stored - During Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
![Chared [sic] Negro - Killed in Tulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Char[r]ed Negro Killed in Tulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Negro Slain in Tulsa Riot, June-1-1921 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Negro Slain inTulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Truck Being Used to Gather up Colored Victims - During Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Truck Being Used to Gather up Colored Victims - DuringTulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Scene During Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Scene DuringTulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Captured Negros on Way to Convention Hall - During Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Captured Negros on Way to Convention Hall - DuringTulsa Race Riot,June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University
![Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921, Scene at Convention Hall | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Tulsa Race Riot,June 1st, 1921. Scene at Convention Hall. (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![All That Was Left of His Home after the Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
All That Was Left of His Home after the Tulsa Race Riot,6-1-1921. (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Ruins of the Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Ruins of theTulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Ruins of the Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections]()
Ruins of theTulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Black Wall Street | by Victor Hamberlin]()
Ron Padgett: Tulsa Race Riots, 1921
Dick Rowland stepped on Sarah Page’s foot
and she lets out a scream.
Rowland, a 19-year-old bootblack,
flees the elevator. Sarah Page, a 17-year-old part-time
elevator operator in the Drexel Building
and divorcée attending business college,
tells those who rush to her aid that
he had assaulted her.
Later that afternoon two black police officers
arrest Rowland at his home and take him
first to the City Jail, then the County Jail.
That evening’s Tulsa Tribune carries a small story
of the alleged assault, and rumors of rape
spread through town. By 4 p.m.
Commissioner of Police J. M. Adkinson reports to Sheriff McCullough
that there’s talk of lynching Rowland.
Others confirm this report. Rumor of a lynching
reaches “Little Africa,” where Tulsa’s 15,000 Negroes live.
Blacks phone Sheriff McCullough to offer their services
to protect Rowland from a lynch mob.
(Less than a year before, in July of 1920,
Roy Belton, a white man accused of murdering a cab driver,
was taken from the Tulsa County Jail and lynched.
Witnesses stated that local police officers
had directed traffic at the lynching. The presence of a strong
and active Klan in Tulsa added to the fear of a lynching.)
By 9 p.m.about 400 white men have gathered outside the jail.
At 9:15word reaches Little Africa
that the mob had stormed the jail.
About 25 armed blacks drive to the jail and find
this rumor to be untrue. They leave,
but soon return with about 50 more armed blacks.
Sheriff McCullough persuades them to leave
and a white man tries to disarm a black.
A shot is fired.
According to the sheriff, “All hell breaks loose,”
firing from both sides. Twelve fall dead,
2 black and 10 white.
Pitched and running gun battles rage
around the County Jail at Sixth and Boulder
and spread from there. Whites break into
pawnshops, hardware and sporting goods stores
to loot for guns, ammunition and what-have-you.
The fighting continues, groups of men surging through the streets,
excited, angry and terrified, unreal.
By midnightthe blacks are forced to fall back
to Little Africa. One-half block (North Cincinnati
between Archer and the Frisco Railroad)
composed of Negro pool halls, whorehouses, and restaurants
bursts into flame. The blacks fall further back,
as far as North Greenwood, the main business street of Little Africa.
The fighting abates somewhat during the early morning hours
of Wednesday, June 1st, but sporadic shots are heard
throughout the night. The Final edition of the Tulsa World proclaims,
“Two Whites Dead in Race Riot.” An Extra edition appears with
“New Battles Now In Progress.” About 5 a.m.
10,000 white men (and Mexicans) assault Little Africa—
the total white population of Tulsa is 57,000, 7,000
of whom were in uniform for World War I—using small arms,
rifles, shotguns, machine guns, and 6 airplanes
for reconnaissance. The World brings out a Second Extra!
“Many More Whites Are Shot.” By this time
many blacks have fled town or are in hiding
with their white employers. The white army
rolls through “Niggertown,” killing the black men they see,
looting houses and businesses and dousing them with kerosene.
One eyewitness said, “Cars began to drive slowly
along our street. Cars driven by the sort of men
who wear their caps backward, the visors down their necks.”
The Fire Department and National Guard are powerless
against the mob. The fires rage all morning:
800 stores and homes burned to the ground,
the business district of Little Africa completely destroyed.
Later that morning the last black stronghold,
the 40-day-old Mount Zion Baptist Church,
is overrun and burned to the ground.
At noonmartial law is declared. “State Troops
In Charge,” declares the World in its Third Extra.
National Guard reinforcements arrive
from Oklahoma City, Muskogee, Bartlesville, and Wagoner.
The Guard barricades Little Africa, disarms
blacks and whites, and herds blacks into compounds;
by evening there are 6,000 of them
in Convention Hall, McNulty ballpark at 11th and Elgin,
and out at the County Fair Grounds. Dr. A. C. Jackson,
a highly respected black physician
who had defended his home and family with a rifle,
surrenders to the Guard and is conducted to an internment camp;
on the way he is shot and killed by a sniper.
The Frisco Railroad removes its porters from trains
to Tulsa, while passenger trains leaving town
are jammed with blacks. Others leave by car or on foot,
some stay in hiding up in the Osage Hills.
Civic groups come to the aid of the homeless:
Red Cross, Humane Society, the YMCA, and YWCA,
with food, clothing, medical attention, and information.
The Tulsa Tribunecomes out with a strong editorial
condemning the lawless element, white and black,
but articles convey an undertow of public opinion:
“Martial Law Halts Race War” “Nine Whites and 68 Blacks
Slain in Race War” “Trains Held Up; Negroes Ordered Off”
“White Woman Shot 6 Times By Sniper” “Barney Cleaver,
Negro Officer, Remains On Duty” “Civic Workers Care
For Negroes Held In Concentration Camps” “Girl Attacked
By Negro Not At Home Today” “Fire Fighters Are Helpless;
Flames Raging” “Blacks Carry Belongings As They Vacate.”
One story relates how an old black woman
had given her “Bible records” to a National Guardsman.
The next morning the exaggerated headline reads, “Dead
Estimated At 100; City Is Quiet.” Blacks are slowly released from camps
if their employers vouch for them, and they wear
yellow armbands to signify their harmlessness.
The city promises reparations for damages.
A Board of Estimates is formed.
The responsible white community is shocked, ashamed, and angry.
On Fridaymartial law is lifted at 3 p.m.
One hundred members of the American Legion are sworn in
as special police officers to keep the peace.
There are rumors of truckloads of black bodies
dumped in the Arkansas River.
A grand jury is to be called to “probe the rioting.”
The Worldcarries an article in which
“Negro Deputy Sheriff Blames Black Dope-Head
For Inciting His Race Into Rioting Here.” Barney
Cleaver describes Will Robinson not only as a “dope-head”
but also as an “all-round bad Negro.”
A city board moves to rezone the area near the Frisco tracks
where black families had lived,
changing it into an industrial and warehouse area
and forming, in effect, a wall between white and black communities.
The new “Niggertown” is to be rebuilt, to have, in fact,
its own police station (until 1945).
Many blacks have fled Tulsa forever:
young hotheads and “radicals” on one side
and professional people, community builders on the other.
On June 5ththe flood in Pueblo, Colorado
is splashed across the headlines.
The Tribunewill not rehash the story of the race riots
for the next fifty years.
Ron Padgett: from Radio, in Toujours l'amour (1976)
Little Africa on Fire, Tulsa Race Riot,June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
![Burning of Church where Amunition [sic] Was Stored - During Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections](http://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2907/14389841381_76e95fb738_b.jpg)
![Chared [sic] Negro - Killed in Tulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 | by SMU Libraries Digital Collections](http://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3886/14391369732_661237d849_b.jpg)
Char[r]ed Negro Killed in Tulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
Negro Slain inTulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
Truck Being Used to Gather up Colored Victims - DuringTulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
Scene DuringTulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
Captured Negros on Way to Convention Hall - DuringTulsa Race Riot,June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University
Tulsa Race Riot,June 1st, 1921. Scene at Convention Hall. (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
All That Was Left of His Home after the Tulsa Race Riot,6-1-1921. (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
Ruins of theTulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
Ruins of theTulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)
Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwooddistrict of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017
Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwooddistrict of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017
Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwooddistrict of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017
Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | The major fire in the center behind the Producers Supply Company is the Midway Hotel in flames. The building behind it that you can see is the Gurley Building burning. The flames to the right are from the Williams Building. The as yet unburned building behind the building behind the red train car is the Woods building at the corner of Greenwood and Archer. Based on shadows this was taken about 8 in the morning.Original photographer is unknown. Original photo is 1989-004-5-28, McFarlin Library. Department of Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tulsa. Used with permission.: photo by Marc Carlson, 15 June 2012
Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | The major firein the center behind the Producers Supply Company is the Midway Hotel in flames. The building behind it that you can see is the Gurley Building burning. The flames to the right are from the Williams Building. The as yet unburned building behind the building behind the red train car is the Woods building at the corner of Greenwood and Archer. Based on shadows this was taken about 8 in the morning.Original photographer is unknown. Original photo is 1989-004-5-28, McFarlin Library. Department of Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tulsa. Used with permission.: photo by Marc Carlson, 15 June 2012
Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | The major firein the center behind the Producers Supply Company is the Midway Hotel in flames. The building behind it that you can see is the Gurley Building burning. The flames to the right are from the Williams Building. The as yet unburned building behind the building behind the red train car is the Woods building at the corner of Greenwood and Archer. Based on shadows this was taken about 8 in the morning.Original photographer is unknown. Original photo is 1989-004-5-28, McFarlin Library. Department of Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tulsa. Used with permission.: photo by Marc Carlson, 15 June 2012
Canned Meats | In our canned food aisle [Collinsville, OK]: photo by Wade Harris, 23 May 2007
tarboat (2008): pig's feet are not something that appear in our local supermarket!
Wade Harris (2008): Tarboat: I worked in this store as an assistant manager twice, spaced about two years apart, and I never did see anybody actually buy any pig's feet. But...they seem to last forever so as far as I know those have been the same jars all during that time.
Barbed Wire Around Swimming Pool | Nothingadds to the fun and jollyment of swimming on a hot summer day like a couple of strands of rusty barbed wire on top of the fence surrounding the pool you're in...... [Collinsville, OK]: photo by Wade Harris, 6 March 2007
![Jackie signing autographs at Braves Field, 1948 | by MichaelRyerson]()
Jackie Robinson signing autographs at Braves Field, Boston, 1948: photo by Michael Ryerson, 2August 2018
There's a bitter-sweetness about this photo, for me. The kid with his hand on Jackie's shoulder. This is happening in Boston; Jackie is with the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers;at this point, neither of the Boston major league clubs has yet fielded a black player; this will remain the casefor quite a few more years to come. Yet these Boston kids are openly adoring a hero.
Jackie was often angry, with cause; everywhere he went, he had to break down walls, and there was constant resistance. His defiance shone out in his aggressive, challenging style of play. I worked at the ballparks in Chicago, so got to see quite a bit of Jackie when the Dodgers were in town. He played with an intensity and edge that went beyond mere athletic competition; he was furiously competitive; but his adversary was never anything as simple as an opposing team or player. A slow fire burned in Jackie, and there were days when it flared up into something almost like majesty.
There was the day he was on third base, and dancing, feinting, as if taunting, intentionally provoking; finally he got what he wanted, a moment's distraction on the pitcher's part; in the space of that brief pause and the long unfolding moment that followed, the world had changed; Jackie had bolted for home; there was a collectively held breath, and then Jackie was sliding home, in a sudden bright cloud of dust.
![Dark rocks | by ADMurr]()
Dark rocks [California]: photo by Andrew Murr, 1 August 2018
Jackie Robinson signing autographs at Braves Field, Boston, 1948: photo by Michael Ryerson, 2August 2018
There's a bitter-sweetness about this photo, for me. The kid with his hand on Jackie's shoulder. This is happening in Boston; Jackie is with the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers;at this point, neither of the Boston major league clubs has yet fielded a black player; this will remain the casefor quite a few more years to come. Yet these Boston kids are openly adoring a hero.
Jackie was often angry, with cause; everywhere he went, he had to break down walls, and there was constant resistance. His defiance shone out in his aggressive, challenging style of play. I worked at the ballparks in Chicago, so got to see quite a bit of Jackie when the Dodgers were in town. He played with an intensity and edge that went beyond mere athletic competition; he was furiously competitive; but his adversary was never anything as simple as an opposing team or player. A slow fire burned in Jackie, and there were days when it flared up into something almost like majesty.
There was the day he was on third base, and dancing, feinting, as if taunting, intentionally provoking; finally he got what he wanted, a moment's distraction on the pitcher's part; in the space of that brief pause and the long unfolding moment that followed, the world had changed; Jackie had bolted for home; there was a collectively held breath, and then Jackie was sliding home, in a sudden bright cloud of dust.
Dark rocks [California]: photo by Andrew Murr, 1 August 2018