Thank you for bringing the Tulsa Massacre to the forefront once again. I am 66, was born in Tulsa and grew up in Dallas and Norman, OK. Graduated from Norman High School in 1975. I never learned about this very sad part of Oklahoma's history until about three years ago. And I took "Oklahoma" history. I will never understand why the massacre was excluded from the curriculum. Makes me incredibly angry at the system.
I learned about a similar history in my state, NC, the Wilmington coup d'etat in 1898, where a white mob rampaged and killed many Black people and forced out the integrated "fusion" city government. I learned about this after I moved here, not in my NC history classes. I didn't learn because it was not included in the curriculum. Why? White supremacy, most certainly, but the rampage was shameful and unconstitutional, and uncivilized. There are family members of the instigators still in the community, and they don't want to talk about it because today they recognize how unconscionable the actions of their ancestors were.
Tulsa is still a very divided city, North & everywhere else. A Black candidate we were courting for a position asked me at the end of the interview, if we had any Black peoples in Tulsa. Sad.
Idon’t know what this man meant when he asked if you had any black people in Tulsa. if you think about it, there are only people. There are no black people. There are no white people there are just people. Who taught them they were black? Who taught me I was white? There is no way I would have ever found out the that man is black or that I am white if somebody hadn’t come up with the idea to qualify people by color instead of by their nature, the living reality which is a human being. Your personal lived experience is what you are. When your child sees an aquarium for the first time, or goes fishing with her mom, what does she see? Fish. Not a gold fish and a gray fish and a pink fish and a blue fish. Just fish. Fish who don’t experience themselves in terms of color.
Your oversimplification is disingenuous at best. Black people have been made to feel inferior to and by White people for generations. Pretending this is not reality helps no one. Nor does it do anything to stem the growing tide of racism and oppression of people of other races.
I am reminded of a song many years ago about "raising coffee-colored people by the score," as simplistic, idealistic and out of touch as your statements. It was a nice fantasy but White oppressors made sure it was never made real. Lest you think otherwise I'm White. And i see and fight racism whenever I can. Pretending racism doesn't exist will never make it go away.
My comment does not go against yours at all. I don’t disagree with you. The ‘reality’ I was speaking of the Black man understood immediately. Not everyone would have. In fact very few would.
I was once standing outside of a building in San Francisco waiting for a meeting to begin. I was speaking with a man who, in our conversation, referred to himself as black. I said “Are you serious? You’re no more black than I am.” He burst out laughing and said yes, that’s absolutely true! He couldn’t stop laughing until the doors opened and we all walked in to the meeting.
We live in Eugene, Oregon and have since 1994. We moved from Oklahoma to the Bay Area in 1985 and then to Eugene. There was a microcosm of all nationalities and races in CA. I loved our time there and met some wonderful people. One of the first things we noticed about Eugene is that there are very few Blacks and other races. There still isn’t. I personally think it is sad for our community that we have missed opportunities to meet and learn about what life is like from others viewpoints and cultures.
That's interesting. I lived in Eugene for four years, 1974-1978. My journey was Nebraska, Eugene, San Francisco, Marin County, Palm Springs. It was in Eugene where I came out as a gay man and met my first lover (for two years. In fact they were one and the same person). I live in Palm Springs now, since 2002. I still miss Eugene in many ways.
But I was struck then by how many blonde people lived there and how white almost everyone was. Eugene was then and I hope still is a very tranquil, accepting town/small city. I'm surprised there isn't more racial diversity today. I wonder why that is? Any ideas you'd like to share?
The real reason for slavery of any kind has little to do with the colour of one's skin, but rather the darkness of one's heart. If everyone was a single colour today this shadow would still extend over life. People could get past the insignificance of colour if they had the courage to shine a light on the darkness they feed within.
Skin color with regard to Black people, and facial features (think of the Chinese) was a great convenience to the white enslavers.
Enslaving them was the least of the cruelty and the horrors that were perpetrated on these people. These cruelties and horrors will still exist as long as we raise any child to hate. They watch their parent’s every action. Not a word needs to be spoken and often isn’t to convey the disgust some Whites have for Black people.
Many if not most of the perpetrators are religious and go to Church every Sunday. It’s a place they go to pat each other on the back. I don’t look to religion to solve this dark heartedness.
What will stop this hate, fear and cruelty toward our fellows?
At the root is self hate. The cure is self love. We are what we project.
Let the truth of our history, and all history out of the box of shame.
Insignificance? I would never use that term undermining the significance of what a people didn't have selfessteem because of their, (my) color! I appreciate your opinion from my heart!
History is what happened. That’s what should be taught. That would allow learning, understanding, and perhaps healing or at least better decision making.
Mary: Thank you for writing on this! We need to know this history. I also draw attention to HBO’s Tulsa Burning documentary as well as HBO’s Watchmen; both of these further address the issue.
Prior to relatively modern times, so called race riots consisted of white people destroying black towns or neighborhoods. Tulsa is just the worst example. We must never forget our past sins if we can ever expect to not repeat them. Thank you Mary for shining a bright light on our darkest ugliness.
Been hearing so much about Greenwood on NPR lately but never got to hear the reason it started. Thank you for the background. Today it was about the great grandfather who could pass “for white” standing on his front step, watching ,the rioters going by and not bothering him while his son was in the bathroom door locked.
Great article however that picture, while it is of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, is not from 1921 - that's late 1940s (maybe early 1950s) after the district was rebuilt and thriving again.
I published an essay on my substack two years ago about the massacre and the years that followed. The main point is the heroism of Greenwood's people, who rebuilt their community and returned it to a measure of the prosperity it possessed in the years before May 31st, 1921.
As I wrote in that piece, my father was born in Tulsa less than two years after the massacre and never remembered hearing about it. I was born there hirty years later and I never heard of it from my great aunts or grandmother, who all lived in Tulsa at the time. In white Tulsa it was buried deep, out of shame, maybe, and out of guilt.
Wow, Mary, you have laid bare these atrocities in a manner heretofore unseen in most historical accounts of a post Civil War United States. I'm certain it's rarely if ever even mentioned in our public educational system. And it must be. If given the emphasis it deserves it might help at least some White folks understand the obstacles Black Americans have faced for more than 150 years since they were supposedly freed, and why they so rightly fear and mistrust authority and a lot of White people to this day.
Beautifully put. I had never heard of the Greenwood massacre until I checked out a book about it in the 90s. Total shock to me. As I recall, there were rumors that the elevator operator and the young man had been in a relationship. I think this happened on either a Sunday or a holiday in a more or less empty building and there were rumors that it was a planned rendezvous. But I read that in the ensuing riot, government planes went overhead and bombed the Greenwood area to smithereens. There were eyewitness accounts of the women and children, crouching in their homes in terror. When will we humans learn that there is enough for all of us?
Sadly this was not an isolated occurrence in American history. The Wilmington Massacre of 1898 (Nov 10) was a violent attack on the African American community in Wilmington, North Carolina.
White supremacists overthrew the legitimately elected biracial government in Wilmington and killed scores of black residents and destroyed their community.
We must never forget the Tulsa massacre! Yet, this is exactly what DeSantis wants us to do!
Thank you for bringing the Tulsa Massacre to the forefront once again. I am 66, was born in Tulsa and grew up in Dallas and Norman, OK. Graduated from Norman High School in 1975. I never learned about this very sad part of Oklahoma's history until about three years ago. And I took "Oklahoma" history. I will never understand why the massacre was excluded from the curriculum. Makes me incredibly angry at the system.
I learned about a similar history in my state, NC, the Wilmington coup d'etat in 1898, where a white mob rampaged and killed many Black people and forced out the integrated "fusion" city government. I learned about this after I moved here, not in my NC history classes. I didn't learn because it was not included in the curriculum. Why? White supremacy, most certainly, but the rampage was shameful and unconstitutional, and uncivilized. There are family members of the instigators still in the community, and they don't want to talk about it because today they recognize how unconscionable the actions of their ancestors were.
Tulsa is still a very divided city, North & everywhere else. A Black candidate we were courting for a position asked me at the end of the interview, if we had any Black peoples in Tulsa. Sad.
Idon’t know what this man meant when he asked if you had any black people in Tulsa. if you think about it, there are only people. There are no black people. There are no white people there are just people. Who taught them they were black? Who taught me I was white? There is no way I would have ever found out the that man is black or that I am white if somebody hadn’t come up with the idea to qualify people by color instead of by their nature, the living reality which is a human being. Your personal lived experience is what you are. When your child sees an aquarium for the first time, or goes fishing with her mom, what does she see? Fish. Not a gold fish and a gray fish and a pink fish and a blue fish. Just fish. Fish who don’t experience themselves in terms of color.
Your oversimplification is disingenuous at best. Black people have been made to feel inferior to and by White people for generations. Pretending this is not reality helps no one. Nor does it do anything to stem the growing tide of racism and oppression of people of other races.
I am reminded of a song many years ago about "raising coffee-colored people by the score," as simplistic, idealistic and out of touch as your statements. It was a nice fantasy but White oppressors made sure it was never made real. Lest you think otherwise I'm White. And i see and fight racism whenever I can. Pretending racism doesn't exist will never make it go away.
My comment does not go against yours at all. I don’t disagree with you. The ‘reality’ I was speaking of the Black man understood immediately. Not everyone would have. In fact very few would.
Idealism is a wonderful thing. I assume you have never been profiled.
What is being profiled?
I was once standing outside of a building in San Francisco waiting for a meeting to begin. I was speaking with a man who, in our conversation, referred to himself as black. I said “Are you serious? You’re no more black than I am.” He burst out laughing and said yes, that’s absolutely true! He couldn’t stop laughing until the doors opened and we all walked in to the meeting.
We live in Eugene, Oregon and have since 1994. We moved from Oklahoma to the Bay Area in 1985 and then to Eugene. There was a microcosm of all nationalities and races in CA. I loved our time there and met some wonderful people. One of the first things we noticed about Eugene is that there are very few Blacks and other races. There still isn’t. I personally think it is sad for our community that we have missed opportunities to meet and learn about what life is like from others viewpoints and cultures.
That's interesting. I lived in Eugene for four years, 1974-1978. My journey was Nebraska, Eugene, San Francisco, Marin County, Palm Springs. It was in Eugene where I came out as a gay man and met my first lover (for two years. In fact they were one and the same person). I live in Palm Springs now, since 2002. I still miss Eugene in many ways.
But I was struck then by how many blonde people lived there and how white almost everyone was. Eugene was then and I hope still is a very tranquil, accepting town/small city. I'm surprised there isn't more racial diversity today. I wonder why that is? Any ideas you'd like to share?
The real reason for slavery of any kind has little to do with the colour of one's skin, but rather the darkness of one's heart. If everyone was a single colour today this shadow would still extend over life. People could get past the insignificance of colour if they had the courage to shine a light on the darkness they feed within.
Skin color with regard to Black people, and facial features (think of the Chinese) was a great convenience to the white enslavers.
Enslaving them was the least of the cruelty and the horrors that were perpetrated on these people. These cruelties and horrors will still exist as long as we raise any child to hate. They watch their parent’s every action. Not a word needs to be spoken and often isn’t to convey the disgust some Whites have for Black people.
Many if not most of the perpetrators are religious and go to Church every Sunday. It’s a place they go to pat each other on the back. I don’t look to religion to solve this dark heartedness.
What will stop this hate, fear and cruelty toward our fellows?
At the root is self hate. The cure is self love. We are what we project.
Let the truth of our history, and all history out of the box of shame.
Insignificance? I would never use that term undermining the significance of what a people didn't have selfessteem because of their, (my) color! I appreciate your opinion from my heart!
History is what happened. That’s what should be taught. That would allow learning, understanding, and perhaps healing or at least better decision making.
Thank you for the history lesson.
Mary: Thank you for writing on this! We need to know this history. I also draw attention to HBO’s Tulsa Burning documentary as well as HBO’s Watchmen; both of these further address the issue.
Thank you, Mary, for your in-depth column on the massacre of Black Wall Street.
Prior to relatively modern times, so called race riots consisted of white people destroying black towns or neighborhoods. Tulsa is just the worst example. We must never forget our past sins if we can ever expect to not repeat them. Thank you Mary for shining a bright light on our darkest ugliness.
Been hearing so much about Greenwood on NPR lately but never got to hear the reason it started. Thank you for the background. Today it was about the great grandfather who could pass “for white” standing on his front step, watching ,the rioters going by and not bothering him while his son was in the bathroom door locked.
Great article however that picture, while it is of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, is not from 1921 - that's late 1940s (maybe early 1950s) after the district was rebuilt and thriving again.
I had the same thought, because those cars look like they’re from the 1940s. But this is only a small correction to a deeply thought-provoking piece.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deniskaufman/p/greenwood-and-t-town?utm_source=direct&r=dvn1w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I published an essay on my substack two years ago about the massacre and the years that followed. The main point is the heroism of Greenwood's people, who rebuilt their community and returned it to a measure of the prosperity it possessed in the years before May 31st, 1921.
As I wrote in that piece, my father was born in Tulsa less than two years after the massacre and never remembered hearing about it. I was born there hirty years later and I never heard of it from my great aunts or grandmother, who all lived in Tulsa at the time. In white Tulsa it was buried deep, out of shame, maybe, and out of guilt.
Also this essay written the previous year: https://open.substack.com/pub/deniskaufman/p/greenwood-and-the-memory-hole-20-01-11?utm_source=direct&r=dvn1w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This is amazing! Thank you.
Wow, Mary, you have laid bare these atrocities in a manner heretofore unseen in most historical accounts of a post Civil War United States. I'm certain it's rarely if ever even mentioned in our public educational system. And it must be. If given the emphasis it deserves it might help at least some White folks understand the obstacles Black Americans have faced for more than 150 years since they were supposedly freed, and why they so rightly fear and mistrust authority and a lot of White people to this day.
I never knew about this until I was well into my 60’s I was sickened by it.
Beautifully put. I had never heard of the Greenwood massacre until I checked out a book about it in the 90s. Total shock to me. As I recall, there were rumors that the elevator operator and the young man had been in a relationship. I think this happened on either a Sunday or a holiday in a more or less empty building and there were rumors that it was a planned rendezvous. But I read that in the ensuing riot, government planes went overhead and bombed the Greenwood area to smithereens. There were eyewitness accounts of the women and children, crouching in their homes in terror. When will we humans learn that there is enough for all of us?
Sadly this was not an isolated occurrence in American history. The Wilmington Massacre of 1898 (Nov 10) was a violent attack on the African American community in Wilmington, North Carolina.
White supremacists overthrew the legitimately elected biracial government in Wilmington and killed scores of black residents and destroyed their community.
Here's some of photos and headlines racists used to whip incite the armed mob. https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/how-to-incite-a-white-riot-1898
A great book about a horrific event
I am in of middle reading "Wilmington's Lie" by David Zucchino.
It is hard for me to read knowing what is coming at the end.
Excellent Exact Historical Account Mary. More Of Us Need To Be Educated By This. I Shared on Twitter 5 times. PEACE
This truth needs to be taught in our schools. Is this the “great” we want to return to?