Video: 'The massacre of Tulsa's "Black Wall Street"'
(Tuesday, May 31, 1921, 10:30 p.m. EDT; during the Tulsa race massacre) — The Tulsa race massacre began tonight as white mobs began looting and leveling the affluent black district of Greenwood over reports a black man had assaulted a white woman in an elevator; hundreds are believed to have died.
The massacre began after 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a Black shoeshiner, was taken into custody, accused of assaulting Sarah Page, the 17-year-old White elevator operator of the nearby Drexel Building.
After the arrest, rumors spread through the city that Rowland was to be lynched. Upon hearing reports that a mob of hundreds of White men had gathered around the jail where Rowland was being kept, a group of 75 Black men, some of whom were armed, arrived at the jail to ensure that Rowland would not be lynched.
The sheriff persuaded the group to leave the jail, assuring them that he had the situation under control.
Video: 'From the archives: Tulsa burning'
As the group was leaving the premises, complying with the sheriff’s request, a member of the mob of White men allegedly attempted to disarm one of the Black men. A shot was fired, and then according to the reports of the sheriff, “all hell broke loose.”
At the end of the firefight, 12 people were killed: 10 White and 2 Black.
As news of these deaths spread throughout the city, mob violence exploded. White rioters rampaged through residents and businesses of the Greenwood District, at that time the wealthiest Black community in the United States, known as “Black Wall Street.”
Video: '1921: The Tulsa Race Massacre | Goin’ Back to T-Town | American Experience | PBS'
Around noon on June 1, 1921, the Oklahoma National Guard imposed martial law, effectively ending the massacre.
More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals, and as many as 6,000 Black residents were interned in large facilities, many of them for several days.
A 2001 state commission examination of events was able to confirm 39 dead, 26 Black and 13 White, based on contemporary autopsy reports, death certificates and other records. The commission gave several estimates ranging from 75 to 300 dead.
