A century later, America learns about the Tulsa massacre
This article is an adaptation of our weekly History newsletter that was originally sent out on May 31, 2021. Want this in your inbox? Sign up here.
By Debra Adams Simmons, HISTORY Executive Editor
No one wants to be the villain of the story.
That’s why, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates says, whites in Tulsa, Oklahoma moved quickly after killing up to 300 Black people and burning one of the nation’s most affluent African American districts. That’s why they removed traces of their massacre—a century ago today—and swept the dead into just recently discovered unmarked graves (pictured above). That’s why they refused to arrest anyone for the killings and destruction. That’s why they kept the Tulsa Massacre out of the history books used by Oklahoma schoolchildren.
Today, however, there is broadening recognition of this once-hidden shame. In separate stories for Nat Geo, DeNeen Brown and Tucker C. Toole look at efforts to unearth the truth of Tulsa and assess the multigenerational effect of the white supremacist violence.
“We lost generations, not just generational wealth. We lost bodies,” Oklahoma State Representative Regina Goodwin, whose grandfather and great-grandparents survived the massacre, tells Brown. “Dreams were unfulfilled, and the sadder truth, some dreams were never dreamt.”
In the aftermath, insurance companies refused to pay Black citizens for the damages caused by the mob’s events. Law enforcement outlawed funerals at the time, so most who died in the violence were not given proper burials, writes Toole, whose great-great-great-grandfather was one of the wealthiest Black Tulsans—until the massacre. The losses to the Greenwood district have been calculated at more than $600 million in multigenerational wealth, this Nat Geo multimedia story shows.
How does that vast economic loss translate personally to Nat Geo’s Toole? “In my grandfather's words, he said, ‘You would have been born with a silver spoon in your mouth, if this didn't happen,’” Toole told our podcast, Overheard, in its episode on Tulsa. (Above, a 1921 image of Tulsa in flames.)
Brown’s ancestors also are from Oklahoma. “I grew up riding horses and playing in the red dirt of Oklahoma,” Brown tells me. “As a journalist, I was compelled to give voice to Black ancestors. I wanted to tell the story of massacre survivors, descendants, and Black activists working on the ground in Tulsa, who had been crying for justice for nearly 100 years. What we’ve learned from reporting this story is that the truth has to be told.”
After decades of coverup, Americans are beginning to learn the truth about Tulsa. The massacre was the centerpiece and trigger of the HBO series Watchmen, which was set in Tulsa. Last October, archaeologists found a mass grave in the Black section of one of the city’s public cemeteries. This week, the National Museum of African American History and Culture has two events commemorating the massacre.
On May 19, 107-year-old Violet Fletcher—the oldest massacre survivor—called on Congress “to acknowledge what happened on May 31, 1921.” Next to her, her 100-year-old brother, World War II vet Hughes Vann Ellis, told the lawmakers: “I’m not asking for a handout. I’m asking to be treated like a first-class citizen.”
Pictured above, high school senior Brandi Ishem stands in front of a mural celebrating Black Wall Street, as Greenwood came to be known. Painted in 2018, the artwork adorns a support wall for Interstate 244, which now cuts through Greenwood, splitting it in two. The mural, a reminder of what’s possible as the neighborhood works toward revitalization, is a popular spot for senior portraits.
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TODAY IN A MINUTE
Making history: For the first time in motorsports, four of the seven over-the-wall pit crew members at the Indianapolis 500 are women. And their driver is Simona De Silvestro. And every front office role at Paretta Autosport—from business operations to public relations to merchandise and marketing—is filled by a woman. "It’s important to me that the bigger message is this isn’t women at the expense of men," team owner Beth Paretta tells ESPN.
Bittersweet farewell: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Paul Salopek, in the middle of a planned global trek, remained longer than expected in Myanmar because of COVID-19 shutdowns and, then, a brutal military coup. “Never in all my experience of murdered innocence had I stumbled into anything like the coup,” writes the Nat Geo Explorer. The instability forced Salopek, for the first time in 11,000 walked miles, to leap forward by air to his next destination, China. Follow his Out of Eden trek here.
RIP Eric Carle: His books were all about insects. Colorful spiders, crickets, ladybugs, and of course, caterpillars. Carle, the author and illustrator of the legendary The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, died May 23, NPR reports. He was 91. He also illustrated the 1967 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and 70 other children’s books.
Back down memory lane: On September 24, 1987, A Different World aired its popular TV pilot, whose ratings surpassed all others except The Cosby Show. More than three decades after the last episode, Debbie Allen, Sinbad, Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Susan Fales-Hill, and others recall the stories of A Different World in their own words for Vanity Fair. “We changed the world with that show. We did stories about racism, we did stories about the L.A. riots … we were one of the first shows to address AIDS,” says Allen, who was director and executive producer.
A lot of catfish: Ancient Judeans enjoyed a diet that didn’t fully adhere to Jewish dietary laws. Judean residents in particular ate a lot of catfish, which is not considered kosher. Archaeologists have found the remains of three non-kosher species in two ancient Judean settlements. Scholars say the findings from a new study build a more comprehensive look of how the dietary practice of keeping kosher came to be, Smithsonian magazine reports.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Big Buddhas: The first full-time editor of National Geographic, Gilbert Grosvenor, also was an avid photographer. Above, on a trip in June 1937, his wife, Elise Grosvenor, gazes at giant Buddhas carved out of rock at China’s Yungang Grottoes. The complex of 252 caves with 51,000 statues in Shanxi province, dating back more than 1,500 years, has since become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This image was recently featured in our popular Photo of the Day feature.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY
The model minority myth: Docile. Hardworking. Smart. These postwar stereotypes of Asian Americans came as many Asian Americans tried to keep their heads down, escape xenophobia, and assimilate into American society. But some white supremacists also used the “model minority” term to divide Asian Americans from Black or Latino people, which the whites would denigrate in contrast, Nat Geo’s Erin Blakemore writes. Said psychologist Amy Iwasaki Mass: “We ... paid a tremendous psychological price for this acceptance.” (Pictured above, a portrait of a New York public school class in 1964, with students holding placards giving their name in Chinese.)
IN A FEW WORDS
Greenwood represented all the best of what was possible for Black people in America—and for all the people. No one cared about us for almost 100 years. We, and our history, have been forgotten, washed away. This Congress must recognize us and our history.
Viola Fletcher, 107-year-old Tulsa massacre survivor
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LAST GLIMPSE
Tradition! For centuries, shepherds in the republic of Georgia have taken their sheep from a valley in the winter to summertime pastures in an isolated and atmospheric region of peaks. The 155-mile journey can be treacherous, with spring floods and landslides, but it’s a part of life. They’ve been “absorbed in sheep breeding since early childhood,” Tina Beladidze, who provides crucial business savvy and logistical support for the family business, tells Nat Geo. (Pictured above, a shepherd guides his flock across a flooded road.)
This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard and Monica Williams, and Jen Tse has selected the photos. Have an idea or a link? We'd love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading, and happy trails.
