1921 Tulsa race massacre destroyed ‘Black Wall Street’
The Black Wall Street Massacre of 1921 in Tulsa, Okla., was the worst incident of racial violence in U.S. history.
The Tulsa race massacre, also know as the Black Wall Street Massacre, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents attacked Black residents and businesses of the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Okla. It’s the single worst incident of racial violence in American history. The attack was carried out on the ground and from private aircraft.
The rioting left scores of African Americans dead and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district that at that time was an affluent Black community known as Black Wall Street.
The massacre began over Memorial Day weekend after a white elevator operator accused a Black man of assaulting her. He was taken into custody, and a white mob gathered outside the courthouse as rumors spread. Hours later he was lynched.
Alarmed Black residents arrived at the courthouse armed. Shots were fired, leaving 10 white people and two Black people killed.
White mobs then rampaged through the Black neighborhood, killing, burning and looting.
The next day the National Guard arrived and declared martial law.
