Remembering Black Wall Street, Tulsa Race Massacre 100 years later
ByNatalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
ByNatalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
TULSA, Okla. — It’s been 100 years since armed white men killed prosperous members of Tulsa’s Black community of Greenwood, called “Black Wall Street” at the time.
Greenwood got the name by being one of the most prominent African American communities in the country at the time, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. It had more than 200 Black-owned businesses by 1921, as well as churches, schools and community organizations.
But while it’s been a century since the massacre, what happened and the lives lost during those two days have not been forgotten.
Several hundred people were left dead and thousands more were left homeless, according to the museum.
Historian Jimmy White said that it was estimated that 300 people died, but he wrote in a 2001 report that he believes that number is too low, KOKI reported.
Descendants of those who survived the Tulsa Race Massacre are remembering what happened, and the community that was their bedrock.
Brenda Nails-Alford grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and is proud of her family’s heritage.
Her grandparents, James and Vasinora Nails, along with great-uncle Henry Nails, owned several Greenwood businesses, including a shoe store, dance pavilion, skating rink, limousine and taxi services.
Nails Brothers Shoe Shop
“I’m just very proud of them for what they did and how they endured, even after the race massacre,” Nails-Alford told KOKI.
She found out her family’s history and survival after being notified in 2003 about a lawsuit for reparations for survivors and descendants of the killings.
She said she had been told that there were times that her grandmother would have to hide in a church’s basement, or about those buried in the city’s Oaklawn Cemetery. But it took her time to put all of the pieces together and understand what happened.
One story was about her aunt, Dr. Cecelia Nails Palmer, who was 2 years old at the time of the massacre.
After surviving the terror that occurred around her, Nails Palmer went on to have an amazing life, including being the first Black faculty member at the University of Tulsa.
Nails Palmer is among the Nails who are depicted on a mural in Tulsa’s Lacy Park.
Nails-Alford said there is one thing she learned from her family that she lives by.
“In spite of what we go through in life, never give up. Keep moving forward. That is what they taught us, and that is what we will continue to do,” Nails-Alford told KOKI.
You can see a digital copy of the manuscript here.
The museum holds numerous items relating to the Tulsa Race Massacre, including pennies burned at the time and postcards of the massacre that documented what happened.
Franklin’s law firm was burned and destroyed along with other businesses. After the violence, the city made it more difficult for Black businesses and homeowners to rebuild what they had lost.
Franklin and other lawyers set up a tent office and worked to strike down those new laws to help his neighborhood rebuild.
He wrote the manuscript 10 years after the destruction, starting with his story in 1917, and continuing through 1931.
Friday, hundreds of participants held a memorial march through Tulsa, including the remaining survivors of the massacre.
The city also started looking for the remains of those killed a century ago.
Earlier this year, KOKI reported that there were only two known marked graves of victims of the race riot, but that leaves hundreds of others missing.
Eugine Martin says that one relative, Bob Perryman, was buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in a mass grave.
“As long as I can remember, my family always talked about my grandmother’s brother, my maternal grandmother’s brother, who was killed in (the) Tulsa race riot,” Martin told KOKI. “We all heard that after he was killed on Greenwood, his body and others were placed on a flatbed truck and placed in a mass grave in this cemetery. It’s just a nightmare to imagine such a thing happening.”
The Race Riot Commission’s report published in 2001 said there were three potential spots for mass graves in the city.
The sites were first planned to be excavated 20 years ago, but Tulsa city leaders stopped it. But in 2019, the city started investigating and found at least a dozen sets of remains in unmarked graves in Oaklawn Cemetery, KOKI reported. Other locations will also be searched. A full excavation of Oaklawn’s graves is expected to start Tuesday, KOKI reported.
Searching for graves FILE - In this July 17, 2020, file photo, workers use ground penetrating radar to search for a potential unmarked mass grave from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Okla. As the U.S. marks 100 years since one of its most shameful historical chapters, researchers, including descendants of Black victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre, are preparing to resume a search for remains believed to have been hastily buried in mass graves. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki File) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Tulsa’s Mayor G.T. Bynum issued a statement this week apologizing for the city’s role in the massacre.
“Tulsa’s city government failed to protect Black Tulsans from murder and arson on the night of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and from discrimination in subsequent decades,” Bynum wrote on Facebook.
Today marks 100 years since the worst moment in our city’s history. For those of us who love Tulsa, the 1921 Tulsa Race...
Remembering Black Wall Street A man watches as pictures of the Tulsa Race Massacre are shown in a prayer room dedicated to the massacre at the First Baptist Tulsa church during centennial commemorations, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church made the room to provide a place to explore the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and to prayerfully oppose racism. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Demetrius Boyd, left, and Loretta Boyd walk by a sculpture recognizing the Tulsa Race Massacre at the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, Wednesday, May 26, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The two, from Tulsa, visited the park memorializing the Tulsa Race Massacre ahead of the 100 year anniversary. "History and education, and you have a sense of calmness and peace," said Demetrius Boyd about visiting the park for the first time. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street FILE - In this Wednesday, May 26, 2021 file photo, people watch the documentary "Rebuilding Black Wall Street," during a drive-in screening of documentaries during centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Okla. Over 18 hours, between May 31 and June 1, 1921, whites vastly outnumbering a Black militia carried out a scorched-earth campaign against the Greenwood neighborhood of the city. Some witnesses claimed they saw and heard airplanes overhead firebombing and shooting at businesses, homes and people in the Black district. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People hold candles during a vigil for the centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre in the historic Greenwood neighborhood, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street FILE - In this Thursday, May 27, 2021 file photo, a montage of pictures from the Tulsa Race Massacre is displayed in a shop in the historic Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Okla., ahead of centennial commemorations. The area, originally know as Black Wall Street, was destroyed a hundred years ago when a murderous white mob laid waste to what was the nation's most prosperous Black-owned business district and residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People hold candles at a vigil in honor of the victims of the Tulsa race massacre, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street The headstones of Reuben Everett, left, and Eddie Lockard, right, victims of the Tulsa race massacre, are pictured with flowers Monday, May 31, 2021, at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Okla., nearly 100 years after the massacre. Fencing has been erected and markers placed in the ground in preparation for the start of mapping, site preparation and excavations of Tulsa race massacre victims in mass graves beginning June 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People pray during the dedication of a prayer wall at the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Greenwood neighborhood during the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church was largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street A person walks out as pictures from the Tulsa Race Massacre adorn doors leading to a prayer room dedicated to the massacre at the First Baptist Tulsa church during centennial commemorations, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church made the room to provide a place to explore the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and to prayerfully oppose racism. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street In this May 28, 2021, photo, Rev. Robert R.A. Turner, pastor of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church, prays in the sanctuary of the church between meetings around centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Okla. Only the basement remained of the church, partially destroyed in the massacre in 1921 that destroyed the area known as Black Wall Street. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Katina Latimer, right, and Caesar Latimer listen during a vigil for the centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street A woman points at a picture of devastation from the Tulsa Race Massacre in a prayer room dedicated to the massacre at the First Baptist Tulsa church during centennial commemorations, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church made the room to provide a place to explore the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and to prayerfully oppose racism. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street A woman walks by a mural depicting the Tulsa Race Massacre during its centennial, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Faith Hailey, left, and Brian Hailey touch hold their hands on a prayer wall outside of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Greenwood neighborhood during the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church was largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street The Rev. Robert R.A. Turner, pastor of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church, holds a candle during a vigil for the centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre in the historic Greenwood neighborhood, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People hold their hands on a prayer wall outside of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Greenwood neighborhood during the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church was largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street A man looks at a Black Wall Street mural in the historic Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Okla., Thursday, May 27, 2021, ahead of centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre. The area, originally know as Black Wall Street, was destroyed a hundred years ago when a murderous white mob laid waste to what was the nation's most prosperous Black-owned business district and residential neighborhood. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People site and contemplate in a prayer room dedicated to the Tulsa Race Massacre at the First Baptist Tulsa church during centennial commemorations, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church made the room to provide a place to explore the history of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and to prayerfully oppose racism. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Hughes Van Ellis Sr., a Tulsa Race Massacre survivor and World War II veteran, left, takes a pastry from a tray held by attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons, right, as he waits in a horse-drawn carriage for a protest march Friday, May 28, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People walk by a mural for Black Wall Street in the Greenwood district during centennial commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People pray as they hold their hands on a prayer wall outside of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Greenwood neighborhood during the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church was largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Rev. John R. Faison, Sr. kneels in prayer after preaching at a joint service for the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre at First Baptist Church of North Tulsa, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street FILE - In this Thursday, May 27, 2021 file photo, Darius Kirk looks at a mural depicting the Tulsa Race Massacre in the historic Greenwood neighborhood ahead of centennial commemorations of the massacre in Tulsa, Okla. The horror and violence visited upon Tulsa’s Black community in 1921 didn't become part of the American story. Instead, it was pushed down, unremembered and untaught until efforts decades later started bringing it into the light. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Viola Fletcher, center, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa race massacre, holds a rose she received as she arrives for a luncheon honoring survivors Saturday, May 29, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street FILE - In this July 17, 2020, file photo, workers use ground penetrating radar to search for a potential unmarked mass grave from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Okla. As the U.S. marks 100 years since one of its most shameful historical chapters, researchers, including descendants of Black victims of the Tulsa Race Massacre, are preparing to resume a search for remains believed to have been hastily buried in mass graves. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki File) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Tulsa race massacre survivors Hughes Van Ellis Sr., left, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, right, wait for a protest march Friday, May 28, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Tulsa race massacre survivor Viola Fletcher listens during a rally marking centennial commemorations of a two-day assault by armed white men on Tulsa's prosperous Black community of Greenwood, Friday, May 28, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street FILE - In this Friday, May 28, 2021 file photo, Tulsa Race Massacre survivors, from left, Hughes Van Ellis Sr., Lessie Benningfield Randle, and Viola Fletcher, wave and high-five supporters from a horse-drawn carriage before a march in Tulsa, Okla. Earlier in the month, the three gave testimony in a panel about the massacre in the U.S. House of Representatives. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street People pray at the dedication of a prayer wall outside of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Greenwood neighborhood during the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Monday, May 31, 2021, in Tulsa, Okla. The church was largely destroyed when a white mob descended on the prosperous Black neighborhood in 1921, burning, killing, looting and leveling a 35-square-block area. (AP Photo/John Locher) (John Locher/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street A sign is pictured Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Okla., nearly 100 years after the Tulsa race massacre. Fencing has been erected and markers placed in the ground in preparation for the start of mapping, site preparation and excavations of Tulsa race massacre victims in mass graves beginning June 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Remembering Black Wall Street Hughes Van Ellis Sr., a Tulsa Race Massacre survivor and World War II veteran, center, waves during a rally with Viola Fletcher, his sister and a fellow survivor, right, Friday, May 28, 2021, in the Greenwood area of Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
