DOCSLIB.ORG

The Burning : Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 / Tim Madigan.—1St Ed

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Burning : Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 / Tim Madigan.—1St Ed The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy. CONTENTS TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT NOTICE DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AUTHOR’S NOTE PROLOGUE: LIKE JUDGMENT DAY 1. BEYOND HATRED’S REACH 2. LINCOLN’S DEVOTEE 3. DIAMOND DICK AND THE KKK 4. THE SHERIFF’S PROMISE 5. DOWN THE ROAD TO APOCALYPSE 6. BE READY AT DAYBREAK 7. THE ATTACK ON GREENWOOD 8. A SINGLE RUTHLESS ORGANISM 9. THE NEGRO ALAMO 10. ARE YOU DR. JACKSON? 11. SICK FROM WHAT I SEE 12. ASSIGNMENT OF A LIFETIME 13. SCORCHED EARTH 14. A CHRISTMAS CAROL 15. WHAT DO YOU SAY NOW? 16. THE VEIL LIFTED CHAPTER NOTES INDEX ALSO BY TIM MADIGAN MORE PRAISE FOR TIM MADIGAN’S THE BURNING COPYRIGHT THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS, MYKE AND LOIS MADIGAN, FOR WHO THEY ARE, ALL THEY’VE DONE, AND ALL THEY CONTINUE TO DO. AND TO THEIR SECOND SON, STEVE, WHO TEACHES US STILL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS One afternoon early in this work, my brother, Steve, asked this question: When would I know when to end my book research and begin the process of writing? I thought for a second, then replied, saying something to the effect that “When you’ve done this sort of thing for a while, you just know.” A look of relief and understanding crossed his face when I answered, which surprised me because it seemed to be such a small point. But looking back, I think he saw in that discussion a metaphor for the much more profound transition then awaiting him. When was it time to stop fighting the tumor that had taken away the use of his legs? When was it time to let go? “Yeah,” Steve said that day in his hospital bed. “You just know.” And Steve knew. I know of no other person who faced the end of his life with more courage, grace, and wisdom than he. I was among his loved ones who held his hand on the sunny morning of August 3, 2000, when he passed from this life, and Steve has been holding my hand, almost literally, ever since, sustaining and inspiring me as I worked to complete this book. He is greatly loved and greatly missed. Now back to the beginning. Julie Heaberlin, my editor in the features department of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, first brought the tragedy of Tulsa to my attention, and assigned me to do a piece about the burning for the newspaper. Thus this journey began. It is fitting that it should have begun with Julie, for she is my friend, and it has been my great good fortune to work with her for several years. The support of colleagues in the features department has also meant much. For more than a decade, Star- Telegram editor Jim Witt has been a friend, mentor, and advocate. I thank him for his support on this book, and everything he has done for me in the years before. Bob Ray Sanders is a friend, mentor, and hero who has helped inspire my own awakening about race, and shared the journey of this book, as did Star-Telegram photographer Jill Johnson. Star-Telegram book editor Jeff Guinn was unfailingly generous with his advice and assistance. Dallas literary agent Jim Donovan was the first to envision my newspaper piece as the basis for a larger work. In the months afterward, Jim guided me through uncharted waters with his advice, support, editing, and slightly warped sense of humor. He’s a buddy now, and you can’t have too many of those. I’m also grateful to agent B. J. Robbins, who worked with Jim to make this book a reality. My editor at Thomas Dunne Books, Peter Wolverton, signed on early, and shared my belief that this could be both a good book and an important one. I thank him for his editorial wisdom, and all the encouraging notes via e-mail that kept me moving forward. Writer friend Carlton Stowers, who has appointed himself my literary guardian angel, also had a role in getting this project off the ground, but will never admit to what it was. It was my cosmic good fortune that this work would take me to Tulsa, where two of my dearest and oldest friends from my Minnesota childhood, Joel and Leslye Rood, had come to reside. During my trips to Tulsa, the Roods put me up in their guestroom, allowed me to raid the refrigerator, enthusiastically supported this work, and shared my grief over the loss of Steve. To their children, Timmy and Anneke, I was the “snortle monster,” but that’s another story. My thanks once again to survivors Otis Clark, George Monroe, Eldoris Ector McCondichie, Veneice Sims, and Wilhelmina Guess Howell, living examples of grace and forgiveness, and to the white witnesses who were so generous with their time and memories, Philip Rhees, Clyde Eddy, Lee Cisco, Richard Gary, and Margaret Anderson. This is the appropriate place to add a special salute to Eddie Faye Gates, who has befriended so many of these elderly people, and always kept their best interests at heart. Let me reiterate my gratitude to Oklahoma state representative Don Ross, Scott Ellsworth, Paul Lee, Dick Warner, and Ed Wheeler, who know this story better than anyone, and who I now call my friends. It was always a delight for me to talk to Roxanne Blystone in Don’s office in the Oklahoma capital and to Frances Jordan, executive administrator of the Greenwood Cultural Center in Tulsa. Mary Warner, Dick’s wife, was always gracious and accommodating on the several occasions I invaded her home. And a special thanks to Ruth Sigler Avery, whose heroic efforts to unearth and preserve the truth informs so many of these pages. I always looked forward to my time in the Special Collections Department of the University of Tulsa’s McFarlin Library, not only for the wealth of information there, but for the good nature and professionalism of Lori Curtis, the head of the department, Lisa Inman, and Milissa Burkart. Randy Kreihbel and Wayne Greene at the Tulsa World were also of tremendous help to me, and always took time from their own assignments to return my telephone calls and answer my questions. My additional thanks to the staff of the Tulsa Public Library, and Tulsa Historical Society. I also owe a debt to the following: Beryl Ford, Jack Adams, Don Adams, Obera Mann Smith, John D. Mann, Nancy Little, Jenkins Lloyd Jones and Jenkins Lloyd Jones, Jr., Hannibal Johnson, Sherri Carriere of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department, Red Phelps, Bob Hower, Alfred Brophy, and Ron Trekell. Finally, there are no words to describe my love and gratitude for friends and family who shared these extraordinary months of my life. Chris and Kelly Molloy, Edmund Schenecker, Norval and Susan Kneten, all my good friends at Rivercrest, Dick and Janice Lord, Jim and Kathy Larsen, John and Cheri Seabers, Uncles Gordy and Vernon and their families, Mike, Patty, Carrie and Rob McMahon, Andy Martin, and Fred Rogers are all pilgrims on the same trek. They share this destination with me. A note to my players on the Wild: You guys helped me keep my sanity. It was a joy and privilege to be your coach. As Steve’s disease progressed, he urged those of us who loved him most to join hands and fight for life. My sisters Chris Madigan and Terri O’Neill, joined the battle, as did brothers Mike, Pat and Kelly, as well as their families and so many of their friends. Steve’s wife, Cally, was the first among us to fight, with Steve’s sons, Tim and Tyler, who are wonderful boys. Their dad is very proud of them, I know. My mother and father, Myke and Lois Madigan, inspired us all with their love, courage, stamina, and faith. This book is dedicated to them, and to Steve. My life is dedicated to my wife, Catherine, and to my children, Melanie and Patrick. Their great sacrifices that made this book possible were made cheerfully. I know of no man who has a sweeter existence than I. They are the reason. AUTHOR’S NOTE I was oblivious to Tulsa’s historic nightmare until that day in the winter of 2000 when Julie Heaberlin, my editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, stopped by my desk in the Features Department. It was then that Julie handed me a copy of a short wire-service story about the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, which had been created a few years before to study a particularly deadly racial outbreak in 1921. As many as three hundred people had been killed in the catastrophe, the wire story said, most of the victims black. A uniquely prosperous community of African Americans, called Greenwood—thirty-five square blocks and literally thousands of homes, businesses, churches, and schools—had been obliterated by a white mob in Tulsa that numbered in the thousands. When I read the story, my reaction was the same as my editor’s had been. How could we not have known about such a thing? If the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 was as horrible as the wire story seemed to suggest, surely it deserved a place among the watershed moments in American racial history, alongside events such as the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Brown v.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 418GBJ Web.Pdf
    April 2018 Volume 23, Number 6 From the Executive GEORGIA BAR Director: Website and Directory Enhancements to Benefit Bar Members and the Public Financial Institutions: JOURNAL Protecting Elderly Clients From Financial Exploitation Bending the Arc: Georgia Lawyers in the Pursuit of Social Justice Writing Matters: What e-Filing May Mean to Your Writing 2018 ANNUAL MEETING Amelia Island, Fla. | June 7-10 GEORGIA LAWYERS HELPING LAWYERS Georgia Lawyers Helping Lawyers (LHL) is a new confidential peer-to-peer program that will provide u colleagues who are suffering from stress, depression, addiction or other personal issues in their lives, with a fellow Bar member to be there, listen and help. The program is seeking not only peer volunteers who have experienced particular mental health or substance use u issues, but also those who have experience helping others or just have an interest in extending a helping hand. For more information, visit: www.GeorgiaLHL.org ADMINISTERED BY: DO YOUR EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ADD UP? Finding the right benets provider doesn’t have to be a calculated risk. Our oerings range from Health Coverage to Disability and everything in between. Through us, your rm will have access to unique cost savings opportunities, enrollment technology, HR Tools, and more! The Private Insurance Exchange + Your Firm = Success START SHOPPING THE PRIVATE INSURANCE EXCHANGE TODAY! www.memberbenets.com/gabar OR CALL (800) 282-8626 APRIL 2018 HEADQUARTERS COASTAL GEORGIA OFFICE SOUTH GEORGIA OFFICE 104 Marietta St. NW, Suite 100 18 E. Bay St. 244 E. Second St. (31794) Atlanta, GA 30303 Savannah, GA 31401-1225 P.O.
    [Show full text]
  • A History Lesson: Reparations for What?
    Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 2003 A History Lesson: Reparations for What? Emma Coleman Jordan Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected] This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/102 58 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 557-613 (2003) This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub Part of the Law and Society Commons, and the Litigation Commons GEORGETOWN LAW Faculty Publications January 2010 A History Lesson: Reparations for What? 58 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 557-613 (2003) Emma Coleman Jordan Professor of Law Georgetown University Law Center [email protected] This paper can be downloaded without charge from: Scholarly Commons: http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/102/ Posted with permission of the author A HISTORY LESSON: REPARATIONS FOR WHAT? EMMA COLEMAN jORDAN* A major difficulty facing the reparations-for-slavery movement is that to date the movement has focused its litigation strategies and its rhetorical effort upon the institution of slavery. While slavery is the root of modern racism, it suffers many defects as the center­ piece of a reparations litigation strategy. The most important diffi­ culty is temporal. Formal slavery ended in 1865. Thus, the time line of potentially reparable injury extends to well before the pe­ riod of any person now living. The temporal difficulty arises from the conventional expectations of civil litigation, which require a harmony of identity between the defendants and the plaintiffs.
    [Show full text]
  • 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconnaissance Survey
    1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconnaissance Survey Final November 2005 National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 Summary Statement 1 Bac.ground and Purpose 1 HISTORIC CONTEXT 5 National Persp4l<live 5 1'k"Y v. f~u,on' World War I: 1896-1917 5 World W~r I and Postw~r ( r.: 1!1t7' EarIV 1920,; 8 Tulsa RaCR Riot 14 IIa<kground 14 TI\oe R~~ Riot 18 AIt. rmath 29 Socilot Political, lind Economic Impa<tsJRamlt;catlon, 32 INVENTORY 39 Survey Arf!a 39 Historic Greenwood Area 39 Anla Oubi" of HiOlorK G_nwood 40 The Tulsa Race Riot Maps 43 Slirvey Area Historic Resources 43 HI STORIC GREENWOOD AREA RESOURCeS 7J EVALUATION Of NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE 91 Criteria for National Significance 91 Nalional Signifiunce EV;1lu;1tio.n 92 NMiol\ill Sionlflcao<e An.aIYS;s 92 Inl~ri ly E~alualion AnalY'is 95 {"",Iu,ion 98 Potenl l~1 M~na~menl Strategies for Resource Prote<tion 99 PREPARERS AND CONSULTANTS 103 BIBUOGRAPHY 105 APPENDIX A, Inventory of Elltant Cultural Resoun:es Associated with 1921 Tulsa Race Riot That Are Located Outside of Historic Greenwood Area 109 Maps 49 The African American S«tion. 1921 51 TI\oe Seed. of c..taotrophe 53 T.... Riot Erupt! SS ~I,.,t Blood 57 NiOhl Fiohlino 59 rM Inva.ion 01 iliad. TIll ... 61 TM fighl for Standp''''' Hill 63 W.II of fire 65 Arri~.. , of the Statl! Troop< 6 7 Fil'lal FiOlrtino ~nd M~,,;~I I.IIw 69 jii INTRODUCTION Summary Statement n~sed in its history.
    [Show full text]
  • Congressional Record—House H2407
    May 17, 2021 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2407 centers for missile attacks, and openly every aspect of our lives, yet another In the immediate aftermath of the desire to destroy the Jewish people. tax heaped upon the people. Civil War, there were newly emanci- Israel is a sovereign, democratic Na- There are already proposals around pated African Americans who set out tion and is entitled to defend itself. here to raise taxes on fuel or maybe to build a better life for themselves and The indiscriminate violence against every mile you travel in your auto- their family, only to be held back by Israeli citizens must end. Time and mobile. We have seen this in California racial terror and violence that ulti- time again, Israel has proven itself to already. I have watched what a carbon mately came to be codified in the form be America’s strongest ally, and we tax has done. It becomes a slush fund of Jim Crow. must have Israel’s back in their time of for government to spend to use on We, as the CBC, are not only here to need. I urge my fellow Members of Con- whatever it is they want to do, such as recite the facts of the Tulsa Race Mas- gress and the Biden administration to boondoggles like the high-speed rail in sacre, but we are also here to reflect on stand firm with Israel against those California, which is already triple over the deeper meaning. The massacre in who seek its destruction. its original budget concept. Tulsa tells a larger story about false So why do we want to heap more and accusation as an incitement to vio- f more on the backs of families, of small lence.
    [Show full text]
  • TEAGUE-DISSERTATION-2021.Pdf
    BLACK-WHITE INEQUALITY THROUGH THE LENS OF RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN NORTH TEXAS 1880 – 1940 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY HOLLIE A. TEAGUE DENTON, TEXAS MAY 2021 Copyright © 2021 by Hollie A. Teague ABSTRACT HOLLIE A. TEAGUE BLACK-WHITE INEQUALITY THROUGH THE LENS OF RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER IN NORTH TEXAS 1880 - 1940 MAY 2021 Utilizing the three-article format, this dissertation examines the severe inequalities related to race, class, and gender in North Texas from 1880 to 1940. The unifying theme of all three articles is the ways in which inequality was enforced in Black-White relations, including the role of creating and maintaining mainstream cultural memories. Each article investigates a different aspect of Black-White inequality and, while relating to the unifying theme, makes distinct contributions. The first article is a socio-historic examination of anti-Black police violence in North Texas from 1880 to 1930. Patterns of official dereliction of duty, misconduct, abuse, and murder are revealed to have had not only racial elements, but gendered and classed elements as well. The second article takes a comparative approach to a nonviolent community removal in Denton, Texas, and an extraordinarily violent destruction of a community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, both of which targeted economically successful Black neighborhoods and both of which were perpetrated by White Supremacists. Variations in Black resistance and the construction of local cultural memory are also explored.
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quaiity of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black arxf white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA UIVQ800-521-0600 BLACK LYNCHING IN THE PROMISED LAND: MOB VIOLENCE IN OHIO 1876 -1916 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment o f the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Marilyn K. Howard, MA. ***** The Ohio State University 1999 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Warren R.
    [Show full text]
  • THE CASE for REPARATIONS in TULSA, OKLAHOMA a Human Rights Argument May 2020
    HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH THE CASE FOR REPARATIONS IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA A Human Rights Argument May 2020 The Case for Reparations in Tulsa, Oklahoma A Human Rights Argument Summary ............................................................................................................................... 1 Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 4 The Greenwood Massacre and its Legacy ............................................................................. 5 The Massacre ........................................................................................................................ 5 The Massacre’s Aftermath ...................................................................................................... 6 Obstacles to Rebuilding ....................................................................................................... 10 Greenwood Rebuilds, Subsequent Decline ............................................................................ 13 Redlining ....................................................................................................................... 14 “Urban Renewal” ........................................................................................................... 16 Tulsa Today ........................................................................................................................ 20 Poverty, Race, and Geography .............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Florida Terror: Race Relations in the Early Twentieth-Century
    The Florida Terror: Race Relations in the Early Twentieth-Century Summary Many years before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s brought nationwide attention to the plight of African-Americans in the South, racial violence was a fact of life. Many whites held firm to an unwritten code that demanded brutal punishment for individual blacks, or entire communities, that “stepped out of line.” In this lesson, students will: read about race relations in the post-WWI years and the Ku Klux Klan; explore individual incidents of racial violence in Florida before the Civil Rights era; and create annotated maps/timelines of these incidents. Objectives Students will: 1) Understand how demographic changes after World War I led to strained relations between whites and blacks in the North and the South; 2) Read an account of the origins and reformation of the Ku Klux Klan, from the early 1900’s to the present; 3) Explore five incidents of racial violence from 1920 to 1944. U.S. History Event This lesson could be used within the context of any unit on the 1920’s, including racial unrest in the post-WWI years and the nativism movement. It could also be used as am opening lesson to the Civil Rights Movement. Grade Level This lesson can be implemented in a middle school or high school American history classroom, but because of the sensitive subject matter may be more appropriate for high school. Materials AAA AutoClub maps of Florida (optional), maps of Florida found at http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/state/64000.htm (optional), a transparency of the lyrics to “Strange Fruit,” a transparency or copies of one of several pictures from http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/lynching.htm , one copy of Reading Passage #1 and Reading Passage #2 for each pair, one copy of Exhibits A-E for each pair, one copy of “Matrix for Information about Florida Racial Violence” for each student (or pair), Lesson Time This lesson can be completed in one block period.
    [Show full text]
  • Tulsa Race Massacre / Black Wall Street Massacre / Greenwood Massacre
    Radiology Diversity, Equity Inclusion & Belonging Program Tulsa Race Riots / Tulsa Race Massacre / Black Wall Street Massacre / Greenwood Massacre No matter what you call it, it marks one of “the single worst incidents of racial violence in American history”. Who was Dick Rowland? At the age of 19, Dick Rowland, a black man, held a job shining shoes in a white-owned and white- patronized shine parlor on Main Street in downtown Tulsa. At the time, Tulsa was a segregated city where black people were not allowed to use toilet facilities used by white people. There was no separate facility for blacks at the shine parlor where Rowland worked, and he had to use a segregated "Colored" restroom on the top floor of the nearby Drexel Building on S. Main Street. On May 30, 1921, Rowland entered the Drexel Building elevator. The story from there is he tripped and, trying to save himself from falling, grabbed the first thing he could, which happened to be the arm of the elevator operator, a 17 year old white girl named Sarah Page. Startled, Page screamed, and a white clerk in a first-floor store called police to report seeing Rowland flee from the elevator. The white clerk reported the incident as an attempted assault. Rowland was arrested the next day, on May 31, 1921. Upon his ar- rest, Rowland was taken to the city jail, a broken down, bug-infested jail that was inadequate. Later that afternoon, an anonymous call to the city jail, threatened Rowland’s life. After review of the situation, it was suggested to take Rowland out of town for his safety, but the sheriff refused, feeling his prisoner was safer in a secured cell than on the open road.
    [Show full text]
  • Corvus Review: Fall 2015 Company
    [TYPE THE CORVUS REVIEW: FALL 2015 COMPANY NAME] CONTENTS Belle 78 Kopp 84 Editorial 3 Deeren 95 Cover Art/Editor Bio’s 4 Parrish 98 Kratz 101 PROSE Soto 105 Cairns 107 Silver 5 Carlton 119 Davis 17 Ferrell 122 Half-Pillow 21 Wall 124 McNulty 29 Kane 126 Phillips 35 Bensoussan 134 Laing 38 Campbell 137 Duquette 47 Roberts 139 Dukowitz 54 Rank 156 Sheehan 66 Price 77, 89 POETRY George 185 Sears 163 Prihoda 187 Ahern 164 Mydosh 191 Plath 165 Garcia-Bassier 194 Hamilton 167 Corey 195 Ingram 168 Semtex 197 Garrett 169 Plenefisch 199 Pearce 170 Gregg 201 Davis, J 172 Brownstein 203 Grey 173 Scharwath 205 Kanev 175 Bacher 207 Beck 177 Vince 208 Burt 179 Soricelli 210 Demaree 181 Roth 212 Boucheron 182 Haynes 214 Kushner 183 Johnson 216 Del Col Brown 184 3 EDITORIAL Dear Reader, With pleasure, I present the Fall issue of Corvus Review. This is our largest issue to date, over 200 pages of quality work, and I couldn’t be prouder. Each piece offers a glimpse into each writer’s mind. You might like what you see and you might not, but I challenge you, dear reader, to peruse this issue to its end. For this issue, I opened the door to new editors. Andy Tu and Luciana Fitzgerald generously gave of their time and expertise and, as a whole, I feel allowing them into Corvus’ inner sanctum proved most productive. Special thanks to them for their help sorting out the bones. When I began this little lit journal around this time last year, I never imagined it would reach so many.
    [Show full text]
  • Red Cross Relief After the Tulsa Massacre
    Social Education 85(1) , pp.20–25 ©2021 National Council for the Social Studies Teaching with Documents “The Responsibility is Placed in Your Hands Entirely” – Red Cross Relief after the Tulsa Massacre Netisha Currie Among the holdings in the American Red Cross Collection at the National Archives is a photo album and report documenting the destruction, relief, and partial recovery of the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as Black Wall Street. With its photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence this report reveals both the racial divide created in the interest of white supremacy and the resilience of people of color. The Tulsa Race Massacre (or Riot, or Disaster) began on a planned lynching, arrived at the courthouse with firearms Memorial Day, May 30, 1921. Dick Rowland, working at his intending to protect Rowland from the lynch mob. The sight shoeshine post in downtown Tulsa, took an otherwise incon- of armed Black men did not sit well with white Tulsans, who sequential break to use the restroom. During this era, a simple alternately called for the men’s disarmament or retrieved their bathroom break for a young Black man was not so simple. Most own firearms. As tensions rose a shot was fired, igniting what of the United States operated under a strict system of segrega- was described in a 1921 liability lawsuit as nearly 24 hours of tion, which meant Rowland did not have equal access to any “lawlessness and rioting […] between the white and colored available restroom. The only restroom apportioned for use by citizens of Tulsa, to the extent that the colored business and Black people was in another building down Main Street—on residence portions of said city were practically wiped out of the top floor of the Drexel Building.
    [Show full text]
  • Reggae: Jamaica's Rebel Music
    74 ',1,.)ryry (n ro\ 6 o\ tz o a q o = Kingston 75 Reggqes Jomqicq's Rebel fUlusic By Rita Forest* "On the day that Bob Marley died from which this burst forth, has I was buying vegetables in the mar- been described as a "very small con- ket town of Kasr El Kebir in nor- nection that's glowing red-hot" bet- thern Morocco. Kasr El Kebir was a ween "two extremely heavy cultu- E great city with running water and res"-Africa and North America. ot streetlights when London and Paris But reggae (and its predecessors, ska were muddy villages. Moroccans and rock-steady) came sparking off U tend not to check for any form of that red-hot wire at a particular o western music, vastly preferring the moment-a time in the mid-1960s odes of the late great Om Kalthoum when Jamaica was in the throes of a or the latest pop singer from Cairo mass migration from the country- z= or Beirut. But young Moroccans side to the city. These people, driven 5 love Bob Marley, the from green a only form of the hills into the hellish Ut non-Arabic music I ever saw country tangle of Kingston shantytowns, d= Moroccans willingly dance to. That created reggae music. afternoon in Kasr El Kebir, Bob This same jolting disruption of a Marley banners in Arabic were centuries-old way of life has also strung across the main street. ." shaped the existence of many mil- (Stephen Davis, Reggoe Internatio- lions of people in cities around the nal, 1982).
    [Show full text]