Literature, Life-Writing, and Identity

Featured Text: The Greenwood District and Tulsa Race Riot

Background: The Greenwood District, “Black Wall Street”

During the oil boom of the 1910s, the area of northeast Oklahoma around Tulsa flourished, including the Greenwood neighborhood.⁵ With the prospect of a better life in view, the number of Black families in the Greenwood District continued to steadily increase. As the needs of families began to grow and emerge, local community members began to open businesses that would meet consumer demands. Greenwood Avenue also housed the offices of almost all of Tulsa’s black lawyers, realtors, doctors, and other professionals. Overtime, the area evolved into a thriving Black enterprise---garnering national attention as the “Negro Wall Street,” or more recently described “Black Wall Street.” A bustling center of commerce, this district was so successful that a dollar would stay within the district an estimated nineteen months before being spent elsewhere.⁶

Consumers enjoyed all of Greenwood’s various attractions: nightclubs, hotels, cafés, newspapers, clothiers, movie theaters, grocery stores, beauty salons, shoeshine shops, youth organizations, and religious societies. Even notable jazz and blues artists such as Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and many others visited Tulsa to play at white nightclubs and then jammed after hours with local musicians on Greenwood Avenue.⁷ The Greenwood District served as a national model of an independent, thriving African-American community.

Although the work of Tulsa’s Greenwood District was respected nationally, the work of the Greenwood District was not respected by local residents and authorities. The thought of Negroes rising in enterprise made some apprehensive. Would one culture eventually overpower another? Would the Negro lead the Master? In essence, Greenwood’s advancements challenged Whites’ sense of identity, stability, and control. Conversely, in the eyes of Greenwood entrepreneurs, the district represented Black ownership and independence in a time of inequality. Business gave them the opportunity to provide for their own with high-levels of professionalism that were without rival in the already-segregated city. These contrasting ideologies about human potential, and economic enterprise preserved legacy caused friction between members of the Black and White communities.  This deep-seated animosity ultimately erupted into an ongoing series of protests, shoot-outs, burnings, and bombings. In just three days, history was changed forever.

May 31, 1921

“I could see planes circling in mid-air. They grew in number and hummed, darted and dipped low. I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building. Down East Archer, I saw the old Mid-Way hotel on fire, burning from its top, and then another and another and another building began to burn from their top.”⁸

This eye-witness account given by Buck Franklin, a prominent lawyer and survivor of the Greenwood Race Riots, vividly describes the brutal destruction that occurred to the 35-block commerce center known as “The Black Wall Street.”^{9 10} Within three days, May 30-June 1, 1921, more than 300 Black-owned businesses, hotels, theatres, restaurants, and much more laid in ruins. ¹¹Brimming over from dispute---steeped in racism and feelings of inferiority---this sudden onslaught became known as the Tulsa Race Riots. These unprecedented acts of hatred have forever changed the culture and climate of North Tulsa’s Greenwood District.

The crux of the dispute was that a Black man had “allegedly assaulted” a White woman. Sarah Page, a young elevator operator, encountered Dick Rowland, a young shoe shiner, on his way to the top-floor “Blacks Only” restroom in the Drexel Building. ¹²When the elevator stopped unevenly on the top floor, Rowland accidently tripped and steadied himself against Page. This force caused their two worlds to collide…in more than one way.

In a moment of terror, Sarah Page screamed. Rowland fled away. When authorities came, accusations were made that Rowland sexually assaulted Page.¹³ Police briefly investigated the incident, concluding it was the result of an accidental fall or lovers’ quarrel (an ultimate social taboo, considering the cultural climate of the 1920’s).  Page chose not to press charges, but word continued to spread about the assault. Rowland feared for his life and took refuge at his mother’s home in the Greenwood neighborhood. One day later, police found Rowland and put him in the Tulsa City Jail. Later that day, the police commissioner received an anonymous call threatening Rowland’s life, and he was moved to a more secure location in the Tulsa County Courthouse.

As newspapers continued to circulate articles declaring “A Night of the Lynching” for Rowland, townspeople eagerly awaited justice for both parties. ¹⁴White crowds began to gather around the courthouse, demanding that Rowland be turned over to them.  To prevent the possibility of lynching, members of the Black community rallied in front of the courthouse as well. In apprehension of a “Negro uprising,” members of the White crowd gathered weapons, armory, artillery, and National Guard members as a means of force and protection. Day and night, both crowds grew in number, and the racial divide became more evident. Hatred seethed, and the first shot---perhaps an accident---perhaps a warning---was fired when a white man told an armed black man to surrender his pistol. This opened an exchange of fire that erupted into “the first battle,” leaving twelve men dead, ten white men and two black men. As white forces moved back their enemy, they began to loot African-American businesses for weapons and ammunition, shooting bystanders who were in the way. ¹⁵

In those night hours, the Oklahoma National Guard was assembled alongside patrol men to guard the courthouse, police station, and public facilities from black rioters.¹⁶ In essence, a protective boundary was made around white districts adjacent to Greenwood.¹⁷ On June 1, 1921 the morning air was tense with stand-offs, gun-fights, and several buildings going under fire on the Greenwood District boundary line. As time continued, protestors continued to loot and burn Black-owned businesses. Tulsa Fire Fighters who attempted to stop the burning were held at gunpoint and told to turn around. ¹⁸Air-attacks assumed, and bombs were dropped on buildings, homes and fleeing families. ¹⁹

Buck Franklin reflected on this scene:

“The side-walks were literally covered with burning turpentine balls. I knew all too well where they came from, and I knew all too well why every burning building first caught from the top,” he continues. “I paused and waited for an opportune time to escape. ‘Where oh where is our splendid fire department with its half dozen stations?’ I asked myself. ‘Is the city in conspiracy with the mob?’”.²⁰

Civil unrest continued to spread across the city of Tulsa. Middle-class families who employed blacks as live-in cooks and servants were aggressively confronted by white rioters to turn over their employees to detention centers. Some families complied with the threats; some families refused to comply with the threats and suffered attacks and vandalism. ²¹When state authorities arrived the morning of June 1, 1921, martial law was declared, and the violence stopped.

Following the riot, the number of casualties remained unclear. In terms of property loss, the entire Greenwood commercial district was destroyed: 191 businesses, a junior high school, several churches and the only hospital in the district; 1,256 houses were burned and another 215 were looted but not burned. The Tulsa Real Estate Exchange estimated property losses at $1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property ($30 million in 2016 dollars).²²

Originally, the Tulsa City Council passed an ordinance that prevented the black people of Tulsa from rebuilding their community because they wanted to rezone the area as a commercial district.²³ Attorney Buck Franklin fought against this plan, sued the city of Tulsa before the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and he won. This public record allowed Tulsans the opportunity to begin rebuilding their community.²⁴ Over time, many efforts have been made to restore the historic Greenwood area. Indeed, the downtown area has increased in overall commerce, but there is still room for further development.

I believe this historical study will be relevant because although many students are familiar with the geography of the Greenwood District, many students are unknowledgeable about the cultural legacy of the Greenwood District. This lack of consciousness is understandable, seeing that much of Greenwood’s history has gone undocumented in major textbooks and unspoken of in public circles. In fact, many of my students have come to believe the only good that comes from that area---their area---is the result of street hustle, affiliations, and other negatives. I aim to confront this mentality through close readings of informational texts that prove Greenwood---their neighborhood---began as a bustling center of commerce and featured highly-successful black professionals. Much like the Charles family, previous generations of these entrepreneurs owned neither the products of their talents or themselves. They were forced to respond to historical injustice, and their successors strived to find a way to best “own” the legacy of their families, talents, oppression, and struggles. When this dignity came under attack in the marketplace, men fought to preserve what was rightfully theirs. Decades later, younger generations continue to fight for this same cause: Identity and Ownership. Who am I? Where am I from? What is rightfully mine?

Furthermore, because my students often define themselves according to where they are from and what they do not have, I would like to use this segment to reiterate one truth that Wilson emphasized through acting: An individual can physically live and build on the strength and wealth of their ancestors. For my students, this truth can also be taken literally. (Oh, I love the irony!) Through personal reflection and group discussions, I hope to help students find strength and pride in their history that can be used for motivation. With the completion of this unit, I want my students to understand that they are human beings, not locations. Locations can change based on one’s own decisions, the decisions of others, or a combination of both factors. Where you are from and where you are going can potentially be in opposite directions. Nevertheless, personal success is optional. As individuals, we may not have the ability to exercise complete control over the content in our lives, but we do have the ability to potentially change the context of our lives.