10,000 Bloodthirsty White people Burned Black Wall Street To The Ground

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The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 was not a riot. It was a coordinated campaign of racial terror that destroyed one of the most successful Black communities in American history.

Over the course of May 31 and June 1, a white mob, with some officially deputized and others openly armed by local authorities, invaded the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. By the time the violence ended, more than 1,200 homes were burned, dozens of Black-owned businesses were looted and destroyed, and an estimated 100 to 300 Black residents were killed.

Thousands more were left homeless.

Greenwood, known nationally as “Black Wall Street,” was reduced to smoking ruins.

Greenwood had been built by formerly enslaved people and their descendants who migrated to Oklahoma seeking safety, independence, and economic opportunity. Because of segregation, Black residents were forced to build their own schools, hospitals, hotels, banks, theaters, law offices, and retail shops. What emerged was a rare concentration of Black wealth and professional success.

Doctors, lawyers, educators, and entrepreneurs lived side by side, creating a self-sustaining economy that circulated millions of dollars inside the community each year. In a nation that routinely denied Black people credit, property, and protection, Greenwood had done something extraordinary: it had thrived anyway.

The massacre was sparked by a rumor. On May 30, 1921, a young Black shoe shiner named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a white teenage elevator operator named Sarah Page. What likely occurred was a stumble or accidental contact, but the Tulsa Tribune printed a sensationalized headline suggesting an attack.

Within hours, white mobs gathered at the courthouse demanding Rowland be lynched. Black World War I veterans, aware of what lynch mobs did, arrived to defend him. A confrontation erupted. A shot was fired. And Tulsa exploded.

Nearly 10,000 bloodthirsty White people formed a frenzied mob and poured into Greenwood, looting homes and businesses before setting them ablaze. Survivors later described how men, women, and children were chased, beaten, and shot as they tried to flee. Witnesses also reported small airplanes flying overhead, dropping firebombs onto rooftops. Hospitals, churches, and schools burned alongside grocery stores and family homes. By morning, Greenwood looked like a war zone.

Instead of protecting Black citizens, local authorities arrested them. Thousands of Black Tulsans were rounded up at gunpoint and held in detention centers. To be released, they had to be claimed by a white employer or citizen, turning survivors into prisoners in their own city.