Jeremy and I visited Black Wall Street back in 2018. There was a small monument in the neighborhood near the church, one of the few buildings to survive the riots. There was a community center. It had framed pictures of news articles from the time. There were some personal stories from the people that survived. It was all reading and no artifacts. After about two hours Jeremy was almost in tears and I was mentally exhausted. Like a Holocaust Museum, it is hard to read and absorb, but incredibly important to take the time and understand.
After all these years, there is finally a museum dedicated to that moment in history. The museum is interesting and covers the events pretty well, but with it being so long ago and with little interests in it, there are not many artifacts, so the museum tells the story through technology, pictures, and narration about the events.
So what events am I talking about?
Black Wall Street refers to the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which, in the early 20th century, thrived as a prosperous African American community. Founded and developed by African Americans, Greenwood had a number of businesses, including banks, restaurants, theaters, and more.
This changed on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents launched an attack on Greenwood. The violence started with an incident involving a young Black man named Dick Rowland, who was accused of assaulting a white woman. Rumors spread, tensions escalated, and armed confrontations between white vigilantes and Black residents attempting to protect Rowland.
The violence turned into a full-scale massacre, with mobs looting and burning Black-owned businesses, homes, and institutions. The destruction was catastrophic, with over 35 blocks of Greenwood destroyed, leaving thousands homeless and causing millions of dollars in property damage. It was the worst incident of mass racial violence against a black community in U.S. history. To this day, there is still no exact total of deaths, as many people were buried at the scene or in unmarked graves.
In the aftermath, the Black community of Greenwood faced further hardship as they struggled to rebuild amidst widespread discrimination and a lack of support from city authorities. Many survivors were denied compensation for their losses, Most of the white people charged with crimes including murder, destruction of property, and theft were found non-guilty by all white juries that said the riots were caused by Black mobs.
Over time, the massacre was largely omitted from historical records.
One of the stories that really stuck with me. After the riots, the Black citizens were rounded up and put into encampments. They could only be released if a white person vouched for them. At the same time the local paper did several stories on the white moms/wives that were having to cook and clean since their “hired help” was missing. Some of these white families had nannies taking care of their kids. When they arrived at the encampment, they asked for “Mammy” because that’s what they had called Black females that worked in their homes. They never bothered to learn the name of the person taking care of their child.
To read about some of our other trips across Kansas and beyond check out… Road Trip.
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