The Secret is Revealed
On May 31, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma a riot broke out in the African American community of Greenwood after a white woman claimed an African American male, Dick Rowland, raped her. When the riot was over and daylight showed the smoldering Greenwood, some felt indignation for the African Americans while others including city leaders felt remorse for what occurred. The remorseful wanted Greenwood rebuilt, but soon, the prominent leaders of Tulsa turned their backs on the African Americans. Neither local history books, nor Oklahoma history writers ever told the story of the Tulsa race riot until the latter part of the twentieth century.
In 1995, Don Ross, an Oklahoma legislature, decided to give a public voice to the Tulsa race riot by commemorating the riot on its seventy-fifth anniversary. Ross had a bullying personality and known for alienating friends of both races forced the event to occur and intended to make it a success. He persuaded Ken Levit, who was Jewish and grew up in Tulsa, to assist him with the planning.
On June 1, 1996, the commemoration of the riot went as planned. The Mt. Zion Baptist Church, destroyed during the riot and then rebuilt, was filled with people of both races wanting to heal the past and move forward by recognizing the event.
Tulsa Race Riot Commission is Established
As the public commemoration gave voice to the riot, it forced the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma to acknowledge the riot. The Oklahoma legislature in 1997 established the Tulsa Race Riot Commission.
The commission’s primary responsibility was to investigate the reason for the riot and who was responsible. Bob Blackburn became the first chairperson of the commission and hoped the commission’s findings would unite the Tulsa community.
As the research began, it was obvious that each group had their own story of what took place. The white Tulsans said the African Americans sensationalized their stories by saying airplanes dropped bombed and that there were mass graves. Because most of the newspapers from the riot days have turned up missing it is difficult to know the real truth.
Blackburn brought Scott Ellsworth in to lead research for the commission. Years earlier Ellsworth wrote a book titled, Death to the Promised Land, which was about the Tulsa race riot. His first order of research was to investigate the reality of mass graves. He called on a David Warner, a local historian, to assist him.
Public Relations Nightmare
As Ellsworth’s research began, reporters from major networks, such as CNN, ABC, and CBS flocked to Tulsa in order to broadcast the finding of mass graves, which later proved unsuccessful. HBO filmed a documentary on the research titling it, The Tulsa Lynching of 1921: A Hidden Story, which changed from the Holocaust in the Heartland.
Oklahomans did not approve of media attention. Outsiders still envisioned John Steinbeck’s Oklahoma as portrayed in the Grapes of Wrath, while Oklahoma state and local governments tried to show Oklahoma as a progressive state. The media frenzy did not help rid outsiders of their stereotypical view of Oklahoma. Several white Tulsans spoke out against the media circus.
Beryl Ford, one of the most outspoken residents, was angered by the media taking the African American survivors at their word. He said, “We’ve got these one hundred twenty-five alleged survivors, and the memory of a seven-year-old on his eightieth or ninetieth birthday is pretty thin.” Ford meant no disrespect; he meant their memories just were not clear.
Controversy and Racial Divide Continues
As the controversies continued, so did the racial divide. In 2001, the TRR Commission submitted its report. Finding that the main cause of the riot was yellow journalism and that “black Tulsans had every reason to believe Dick Rowland’s safety was at risk; that the civil authorities deputized white men whose illegal actions added to the violence”. Not everyone agreed with the findings of the commission or with historian Danney Goble, who was hired by the commission to review the findings and to write the report.
The commission did not decide on retribution. Retribution was a controversial topic during the commission’s research and still is today. The survivors and the children of survivors feel the state should pay them for the wrong that was done to them. The state feels that they were not responsible for what happened to the survivors and therefore should not have to pay them.
To leave the state off the hook in regards to action Oklahoma National Guard during the riot the report states “. . . the question is whether the city and state wish to acknowledge that as a debt and to pay for it.”
Tulsa Youth Attempts to Unite the Community
On May 31, 2001, A Song of Greenwood opened. The musical play, written by Tim Long (white) and Jerome Johnson (African American), was performed by Tulsan youth. The play, based on the Tulsa race riots, portrays a young white girl and a young African American boy as lovers. A riot erupts when the boy no longer shows interest in the girl. Knowing the community would react negatively against the boy, the white girl screams rape. Little did the girl know that a riot would break out and people killed. She tries to recant her charge, but it was too late, the stage is covered with bodies. The lights then go down, the play ends with the players uniting on stage, linking arms and singing, “Tulsa, you’ll survive. You made it through the night.” This is why the hope lies with the Tulsa youth.
Sources:
Hirsch, James S, Riot and Remembrance: America’s Worst Race Riot and Its Legacy
(New York: Mariner Books, 2001)
Tulsa Race Riot Commission Report, 2001
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