In 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma, had a population somewhere between 90,000 and 100,000. About 7000 were black. The black population lived under a different set of laws than the whites. They lived under Jim Crow laws. These unwritten laws basically stated that blacks were inferior to whites and would be treated as such. This was a time when it was okay to post signs that said Colored Served In Rear, No Coloreds Allowed, or Whites Only. Segregation ruled. Separate restrooms, train cars, waiting rooms, barbers, library areas, prison facilities, and burial grounds. Blacks were not to eat with whites or shake their hands. And black men were not to even look at a white woman. This was the Tulsa of 1921.
Sarah Page, a white woman, was an elevator operator in the Drexel Building. Dick Rowland, a young black man, shined shoes for a living. On Monday, May 30,1921, Dick Rowland got on the elevator, possibly to go to the floor that had the only public restroom in the downtown area available to blacks. Sarah told the police that Dick Rowland had grabbed her arm and he ran from the elevator when she started to scream. That afternoon, while this incident was still under investigation, a newspaper carried the story, full of embellishments and untruths. The sheriff decided that Dick Rowland would be safer in jail.
The next day, the sheriff received word that white townspeople were beginning to gather together and that there was talk of lynching Dick Rowland. Mr. Rowland was then moved to what was considered a safer location on the fourth floor of the court house. By late afternoon an all white crowd was outside the courthouse, many demanding that Dick Rowland be turned over to them. More whites, many armed, were joining the crowd that was rapidly becoming vicious.
The black area of Tulsa was know as Little Africa. When news of what was going on at the court house filtered into Little Africa, black men, many with guns, began to gather on Greenwood Avenue. They headed to the courthouse and said they wanted Rowland turned over to them for protection. A black deputy told them to go home and not stir up any trouble. Accustomed to doing as they were told, the black men turned to leave.
According to one report, a member of the white mob tried to take a gun away from a black man and the gun went off, killing the black. And the riot was on. White men broke into any store that carried firearms or ammunition. Men rode around town in cars, shooting at anything that moved. Women joined the fray, shouting and shooting into the streets. By midnight, white men in cars were prowling the streets for blacks and shooting them on the spot.
When a rumor started that blacks from Muskogee were coming to the aid of their brothers, the sheriff gave the white mob a city owned machine gun to stop them. Law enforcement authorities knew things were far out of control and sent a message to the governor asking for help in controlling the citizens of Tulsa. The governor sent Oklahoma National Guard and troops from Fort Sill into Tulsa.
It’s estimated that 3000 blacks and whites were battling one another in the early hours of June 1, 1921. Blacks retreated to Greenwood Avenue, the business district of Little Africa, persued by armed whites who began setting fire to homes and business. Firemen were hampered by threats of shooting if they tried to put out any fire. The fires raged until there was nothing left of the Little Africa business district.
The destruction of their homes and businesses broke the black crowd. Martial law had been declared and troops were now able to patrol the city and round up any person involved in the riot. More than 6000 rioters, black and white, were held in holding centers in the city and at the fairgrounds. Adjutant General Charles Barrett ordered all black men who were able to be of service to the military and the Red Cross, particularly in the area of sanitary needs. Whites were not so required. In the weeks following the riot, blacks could no longer buy guns or any type of weapon in Tulsa and were required to wear identification tags on their clothing when in public. If they had jobs, their tag was green and was signed by the employer.
As the still smoldering city remained quiet, martial law ended. General Barrett had given a body count of thirty dead, ten whites and twenty blacks. Even if more bodies turned up, the count should be no more than forty dead. In fact, more than 300 died in the Tulsa race riot and over 500 others were injured.
In 1997, the Oklahoma Legislature ordered a commission be formed to study the Tulsa riot of 1921. That report was completed in February 2001. In almost two hundred pages, the report details, sometimes graphically, the events and the aftermath of those few ugly days in Tulsa. Reparations were recommended but none have been made. Few survivors remain and they are frail but legal battles will probably continue as long as one remains alive to fight.
