1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

The Tulsa Race Massacre marked one of the nation’s worst single incidents of racial violence when mobs of white residents attacked the affluent Black community of Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the overnight and early hours of May 31 and June 1, 1921. More than 800 people were injured, 35 city blocks destroyed and around 6,000 African American residents were interned in large facilities in the wake of the violence. Officials initially listed 39 confirmed dead at the time, but estimates range from 75 to 300 killed in reports and commissions years later. Many of the white rioters were deputized and given weapons by city officials to carry out the attacks in Greenwood District, which was known as the ‘Black Wall Street’ for its thriving business section. Look back at the devasta