How Greenwood turned the thriving Black Wall Road earlier than Tulsa Race Bloodbath
Up to date: 7:55 AM CDT Might 28, 2023
>> I SAY ALL THE TIME GREENFIELD IS THE OLDEST LARGEST CRIME SCENE IN AMERICA. >> UNCOVERING STORIES 100 YEARS LATER. >> THEY WERE FIRING DOWN ON MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN. WHOLESALE MURDER. >> GREENWOOD, A THRIVING BLACK DISTRICT IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA, DESTROYED IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS. >> GREENWOOD WAS MORE THAN A STREET. GREENWOOD WAS A DREAM. >> INTERVIEWS FROM SURVIVORS NOT SHOWN IN DECADES. >> AIRPLANE CAME AND DROPPED, WE WOULD CALL THEM FIRE BOMBS NOW. SO THAT’S HOW THE BLACKS WERE DRIVEN OUT OF GREENWOOD. >> I LOOKED DOWN AND I SAW TWO TRUCK LOADS OF BODIES GOING BY. >> THEY TRIED TO HIDE IT, COVER IT UP TO MAKE IT LIKE IT WASN’T WAS. >> A BIG PART OF HISTORY SEEMINGLY ERASED FROM HISTORY BOOKS. >> THEN I STARTED FOR THE RESEARCH AND FOUND OUT THAT IT WAS EVEN WORSE THAN WHAT I HAD BEEN TOLD. >> THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE BECOMING LOUD AND CLEAR. >> THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO SAY IT NEVER HAPPENED. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO TODAY SAY IT DID NOT HAPPEN. >> THESE BUILDINGS DIDN’T BURN THEMSELVES DOWN. THESE FOLKS DIDN’T KILL THEMSELVES AND DUMP THEIR BODIES IN MASS GRAVES. PEOPLE DID THAT TO PEOPLE. >> 100 YEARS LATER, MANY IN THE COMMUNITY STILL FEELING THE HURT FROM THAT DARK DAY ON BLACK WALL STREET. >> HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE MASSACRE AND THE DESTRUCTION, THAT FREEWAY IS SITTING ON TOP OF MY INHERENTANCE. >> HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? IT REALLY JUST TAKES ONE SPARK. >> BLACK WALL STREET, THE RISE, THE FALL, THE LEGACY, THE FUTURE, “CHRONICLE: THE GRIT OF GREENWOOD” STARTS RIGHT. GOOD EVENING. I’M JASON HACKETT. SO MANY PEOPLE CALL THESE THE STEPS TO NOWHERE, AND YES, RIGHT NOW INDEED THEY DO LEAD NOWHERE. BUT TRY PICTURE IT. 100 YEARS AGO, THESE LED TO A THRIVING BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD. HOUSES AS FAR AS THE EYES CAN SEE. THEY CAN VISIT YOUR BLACK DOCTOR JUST DOWN THE STREET. YOU CAN VISIT A BLACK GROCERY STORE ACROSS FROM THAT. THIS WAS PERSEVERANCE. THIS WAS BLACK EXCELLENCE. AND THEY CALLED IT GREENWOOD. THE STORY OF GREENWOOD DOESN’T JUST START WITH THE 1921 MASSACRE. TO UNDERSTAND HOW WE GOT HERE, TO TELL THE STORY OF GREENWOOD, YOU HAVE TO GO BACK, WAY BACK. I WANT TO WARN YOU, THE SCARS AND HOW THEY GOT THERE ARE UGLY. BUT IN ORDER TO BETTER OUR FUTURE, YOU HAVE TO LEARN FROM THE PAST. THE STORY OF THE MASSACRE BEGINS WITH ANOTHER SHAMEFUL MOMENT IN OUR HISTORY, THE TRAIL OF TEARS. IN 1930, PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON SIGNED THE INDIAN REMOVAL ACT. THAT ACT FORCED THOUSANDS OF NATIVE INDIANS OFF THEIR LANDS IN THE SOUTHEAST UNITED STATES. MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN WERE FORCED TO WALK HUNDREDS OF MILES IN HARSH CONDITIONS TO SETTLE IN SO-CALLED INDIAN TERRITORY. IT’S NOW KNOWN AS OKLAHOMA. HISTORIANS ESTIMATE THAT MORE THAN 15,000 NATIVE AMERICANS DIED OF EXPOSURE, STARVATION, AND EXHAUSTION. MIXED IN WITH THE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE REMOVED FROM THEIR LAND WERE THOUSANDS OF BLACK PEOPLE OWNED AS SLAVES BY THE TRIBES. FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR, THE TRIBES FREED THEIR SLAVES AND INTEGRATED THEM INTO THEIR COMMUNITIES AND TREATED THEM AS EQUALS. BY 1890, OKLAHOMA WAS TOUTED AS A PROMISED LAND FOR BLACKS. >> IN THE DEEP SOUTH, YOU JUST — YOU DON’T GET IT. IT ISN’T FOR YOU. AND I KNEW THAT, AND NOW WE CHANGE TO FREE DOFMENT JASON: BY 1900, THE BLACK POPULATION GREW TO MORE THAN 50,000 IN THE REGION. GLEN POOL, ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTH OF TULSA, CREATED A POPULATION EXPLOSION. BLACK ENTREPRENEUR O.W. GIRLEE SAW AN OPPORTUNITY IN THIS NEW BOOM TOWN IN 1906. HE MOVED TO TULSA WITH THE IDEA OF STARTING A BRAND-NEW TOWN AND SET ONE STIPULATION. >> MR. GIRLEE GOT 40 ACRES OF LAND, AND HIS STIPULATION WAS ONLY BLACK PEOPLE CAN BUY THIS LAND. JASON: GIRLEE ESTABLISHED GREENWOOD ON THE NORTH SIDE. BY 1907, OKLAHOMA BECAME A STATE, AND BLACK PEOPLE QUICKLY REALIZED THEY WERE BEING TREATED LIKE SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS. DESPITE THE FACT THAT BLACK PEOPLE DID NOT DIRECTLY BENEFIT FROM THE OIL BOOM, THE TRIBBLING-DOWN EFFECT SAW A LOT OF WORK OPPORTUNITIES FOR BLACK PEOPLE >> A MAN COULD WORK AT A BUS BOY, A WAITER. JASON: ONE YEAR LARKTE THE OKLAHOMA STATE LEGISLATURE PASSES OPPRESSIVE JIM CROW LAWS MANDATING STRICT SEGREGATION BETWEEN BLACK SANDEEM WHITE PEOPLE >> BECAUSE BLACK PEOPLE SEGREGATED TO JUST ONE PART OF THE CITY, A BIG BIT OF THE BUSINESS DOLLARS THAT WERE BEING SPENT WOULD BE SPENT IN THE GREENWOOD DISTRICT. BECAUSE OF NECESSITY, PEOPLE WERE SPENDING THEIR MONEY IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE AWESOME FOR THE PEOPLE OF TODAY TO RECALL. JASON: SOON GREENWOOD BECAME A MECHANIC A. WHITE PEOPLE TROFEREDE IT AS LITTLE AFRICA, BUT BLACK PEOPLE HAD A DIFFERENT NAME FOR IT. >> WE HAD OUR OWN BUSINESS, AND WE HAD OUR OWN THEATER AND GROCERY STORES, HAVE BUSINESS OF ALL KIND, BECAUSE WE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO MUCH TRINGS IN DOWNTOWN. >> GREENWOOD IS NOT JUST ONE BLOCK. THAT’S A BIG ONE THERE THAT PEOPLE THINK, WELL, IT’S JUST ONE STREET. WELL, IT WAS MULTIPLE BLOCKS OF PEOPLE WHO HAD EVERYTHING IN TERMS OF WITHIN THE VINTS WHERE THEY COULD GO. JASON: AS THE CITY GREW, SO DID TENSIONS AND RESENTMENT. THE KU KLUX KLAN BEGAN TO RESURGE IN THE EARLY 1900’S, AND THERE WAS THEN THE RED SUMMER. IN 1919, A WAVE OF RACIST, WHITE MOB VIOLENCE TERRORIZED BLACK PEOPLE IN THREE DOZEN CITIES ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, INCLUDING TULSA. >> THERE WERE SO-CALLED RACE RIOTS. THEY WERE GOING AROUND THE COUNTRY. THIS IS WHERE BLACK PEOPLE WERE BEING BURNED DOWN AND RUN OUT OF CITIES. TULSA HAD A LOT OF WHAT THEY CALL SUNDOWN TOWNS. IT HAD SIGNS, VERY OPEN, DON’T BE IN TOWN AFTER SUNDOWN. SO THE KLAN WAS ACTIVE. THE PEOPLE IN GREENWOOD WERE PROSPERING. JASON: BUT THE NEW BLACK AMERICAN DREAM WAS SITTING ON A POWDER KEG. >> BECAUSE OF THAT PROSPERITY THAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE COMMUNITY, THAT ALSO BECOMES A TENSION OF JEALOUSY, A TENSION OF YOU’RE NOT IN YOUR PLACE AND YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, AND I DO WANT TO EMPHASIZE THAT IT’S NOT EVERYONE SAYING THIS. YOU ALWAYS HAVE A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO ARE JEALOUS, WHO ARE ANGRY, WHO FEEL THAT YOU’RE DOING MORE THAN WHAT YOU SHOULD, AND SO THIS IS BASED ON RACE. SOLELY BASED ON RACE IN SAYING WHEN WE TALK ABOUT GENOCIDE, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS WHO FELT THAT THIS PARTICULAR RACE NEEDED TO BE OUT OF THE WAY, NEEDED TO BE GONE, DID NOT NEED TO BE IN THAT COMMUNITY, AND THEY WANTED TO PURGE IT. SO HOW DID THIS SNAP IT REALLY JUST TAKES ONE SPARK.
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How Greenwood turned the thriving Black Wall Road earlier than Tulsa Race Bloodbath
Up to date: 7:55 AM CDT Might 28, 2023
As we mark 100 years because the Tulsa Race Bloodbath, KOCO 5 takes a have a look at how the Greenwood District turned to thriving Black Wall Road earlier than it was destroyed.Watch the video above for the complete section.The story of the bloodbath begins with one other shameful second in our historical past – the Path of Tears.In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removing Act. It compelled 1000’s of Native Individuals off their lands within the southeast United States. Males, ladies and youngsters had been compelled to stroll lots of of miles in harsh circumstances to settle in so known as “Indian territory,” what’s now often called Oklahoma. Historians estimate that greater than 15,000 died of publicity, hunger and exhaustion.Combined in with the tens of 1000’s of individuals faraway from their land had been 1000’s of Black folks, owned as slaves by the tribes. Following the Civil Conflict, the tribes freed their slaves, and built-in them into their communities and handled them as equals. By 1890, Oklahoma was being touted as a “promise land” for Black folks.By 1900, the Black inhabitants grew to greater than 50,000 within the area. The oil increase in Glenpool, a city about 14 miles south of Tulsa, created a inhabitants explosion. Black entrepreneur O.W. Gurley noticed a possibility on this new boomtown in 1906. He moved to Tulsa with the thought of beginning a brand new city and set one stipulation.Gurley established Greenwood on the north facet of Tulsa. By 1907, Oklahoma turned a state and the Black folks shortly realized they had been being handled like second-class residents. Regardless of the very fact, Black folks didn’t immediately profit from the oil increase. The trickle-down results noticed a variety of work alternatives for them. However shortly after statehood, the Oklahoma state legislature handed oppressive Jim Crow legal guidelines, mandating strict segregation.Greenwood turned a mecca for Black folks, and white folks referred to it as little Africa. Black folks had a special identify for it. However as town grew, so did tensions and resentment. The Klu Klux Klan started to resurge within the early 1900s after which there was the crimson summer time. In 1919, a wave of racist, white mob violence terrorized Black folks in cities throughout the USA, together with Tulsa.The brand new Black American dream was sitting on a powder keg.
As we mark 100 years because the Tulsa Race Bloodbath, KOCO 5 takes a have a look at how the Greenwood District turned to thriving Black Wall Road earlier than it was destroyed.
Watch the video above for the complete section.
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The story of the bloodbath begins with one other shameful second in our historical past – the Path of Tears.
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removing Act. It compelled 1000’s of Native Individuals off their lands within the southeast United States. Males, ladies and youngsters had been compelled to stroll lots of of miles in harsh circumstances to settle in so known as “Indian territory,” what’s now often called Oklahoma. Historians estimate that greater than 15,000 died of publicity, hunger and exhaustion.
Combined in with the tens of 1000’s of individuals faraway from their land had been 1000’s of Black folks, owned as slaves by the tribes. Following the Civil Conflict, the tribes freed their slaves, and built-in them into their communities and handled them as equals. By 1890, Oklahoma was being touted as a “promise land” for Black folks.
By 1900, the Black inhabitants grew to greater than 50,000 within the area. The oil increase in Glenpool, a city about 14 miles south of Tulsa, created a inhabitants explosion. Black entrepreneur O.W. Gurley noticed a possibility on this new boomtown in 1906. He moved to Tulsa with the thought of beginning a brand new city and set one stipulation.
Gurley established Greenwood on the north facet of Tulsa. By 1907, Oklahoma turned a state and the Black folks shortly realized they had been being handled like second-class residents. Regardless of the very fact, Black folks didn’t immediately profit from the oil increase. The trickle-down results noticed a variety of work alternatives for them. However shortly after statehood, the Oklahoma state legislature handed oppressive Jim Crow legal guidelines, mandating strict segregation.
Greenwood turned a mecca for Black folks, and white folks referred to it as little Africa. Black folks had a special identify for it. However as town grew, so did tensions and resentment.
The Klu Klux Klan started to resurge within the early 1900s after which there was the crimson summer time. In 1919, a wave of racist, white mob violence terrorized Black folks in cities throughout the USA, together with Tulsa.
The brand new Black American dream was sitting on a powder keg.
