Black Wall Street: Tulsa Race Massacre 100th Memorial

What started as an allegation ended up as an assault on an entire Oklahoma community.

Black Wall Street has shattered 100 years ago and was covered up and unearthed. The Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma became one of the wealthiest U.S. Black communities in the country with thriving black entrepreneurial businesses. As a result, Tulsa was invaded and burned to the ground.

In 1921, a young black man named Dick Rowland 19 years old was riding in the elevator and his hand accidentally caught the shoulder of a white woman named Sarah Page 17 years old. Page screamed and Rowland was seen running away scared. The relationship between the two varied; did they know each other or were they, strangers. An incident surrounding Rowland circulated among the white community and Tulsa police arrested Rowland the following day.

Tulsa was a thriving community with black advancement and success.

On May 31st. In a Tulsa confrontation between blacks and whites armed around the courthouse, shots were fired, leaving the African Americans outnumbered and retreating to Greenwood. A white mob burned Greenwood upside down leaving it to be one of the worst racial massacres in U.S. history, leaving nearly 40 square blocks of the emerging black community smoldered in ashes.

In the wake of the violence more than 300 blacks were killed and covered up, and 1,000 homes and businesses were looted and set on fire. Also, over 800 people were treated for injuries.

As a result, Today there's are only a few black businesses on what is known to be " Black Wall Street" in Greenwood district and the Georgia congressman introduced a bill to seek reparations for the Tulsa 1921 Massacre in Oklahoma.

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