Tulsa Has Never Faced Truth About 1921 Race Riot

[jackbristow]

I have to say that I probably believe that the race riots are probably still the cause of the relative condition of North Tulsa compared to South Tulsa today.  It is shameful that it was largely ignored for so long, and despite what has been done, it is far from enough...

George Mason University's "History News Network"

4/30/07
Tulsa Still Hasn't Faced the Truth About the Race Riot of 1921

By John Hope Franklin

Mr. Franklin is the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at the Law School at Duke University.

Following is the testimony Mr. Franklin gave on April 24, 2007 before the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which is considering the Tulsa Greenwood Riot Accountability Act of 2007. The Act would extend the statute of limitations to allow the victims of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 to sue for damages.


I am an historian currently serving as the James B. Duke Professor of History Emeritus at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. I received my Bachelor of Arts from Fisk University, and a doctorate in history from Harvard University in 1941. I have studied, written, and taught extensively on the subjects of African-American history and race over the last several decades, and my work includes numerous books and hundreds of articles and speeches on these topics. I have also served as the head of the three major historical associations in the United States, and recently served as the Chairman of the Advisory Board to President Clinton's Initiative on Race.

My father was born in the Indian territory and grew up in Oklahoma. He lived through the Tulsa race riot in 1921. I moved to Tulsa when I was ten years old, just four years after the Tulsa riot, and witnessed first-hand the impact the riot had on Tulsa.

In addition to writing and teaching on the general subjects of African American history and race, I have also written and spoken specifically about the Tulsa riot and its long term effects on Tulsa. These perspectives are based on the personal experience of moving to Tulsa four years after the riot, and on my later work studying and considering history and race, which added a scholarly perspective to these personal experiences.

I observed and have concluded the 1921 riot had a devastating impact on Tulsa that lasted for decades. In my public statements and published work, I have recounted my view that a culture of silence and official negligence descended on the white community of Tulsa in the years after the riot, and persisted for several decades, and my view that in Tulsa's black community in the ensuing decades, after the economic and physical destruction of the riot, the difficulty of rebuilding, and the indifference or worse of the white community, a public silence among blacks also settled in, even while they privately remembered and feared the riot and its aftermath. For example, in the Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 released in February 2001, I wrote an overview of the report with Scott Ellsworth in which we stated:

By any standard, the Tulsa race riot of 1921 is one of the great tragedies of Oklahoma history. Walter White, one of the nation's foremost experts on racial violence, who visited Tulsa during the week after the riot, was shocked by what had taken place. "I am able to state" he said, "that the Tulsa riot, in sheer brutality and willful destruction of life and property, stands without parallel in America."

Indeed, for a number of observers through the years, the term "riot" itself seems somehow inadequate to describe the violence and conflagration that took place. For some, what occurred in Tulsa on May 31 and June 1, 1921 was a massacre, a pogrom, or, to use a more modern term, an ethnic cleansing. For others, it was nothing short of a race war. But whatever terms is used, one thing is certain: when it was all over, Tulsa's African American district had been turned into a scorched wasteland of vacant lots, crumbling storefronts, burned churches, and blackened, leafless trees.

Like the Murrah Building bombing, the Tulsa riot would forever alter life in Oklahoma. . . . But unlike the Oklahoma City bombing, which has, to this day, remained a high profile event, for many years the Tulsa race riot practically disappeared from view. For decades afterwards, Oklahoma newspapers rarely mentioned the riot, the state's historical establishment essentially ignored it, and entire generations of Oklahoma school children were taught little or nothing about what had happened. To be sure, the riot was still a topic of conversation, particularly in Tulsa. But these discussions – whether among family or friends, in barber shops or on the front porch – were private affairs. And once the riot slipped from the headlines, its public memory also began to fade. Of course, any one who lived through the riot could never forget what had taken place. And in Tulsa's African American neighborhoods, the physical, psychological, and spiritual damage caused by the riot remained highly apparent for years. Indeed, even today there are places in the city where the scars of the riot can still be observed.

Similarly, I stated in a speech at a reconciliation service at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Tulsa in 2000, that when I first moved to Tulsa four years after the riot, seeing "half-built buildings and churches reduced to basements, including Mt. Zion," were like the images I saw "in the aftermath of World War II bombing in Europe."

Although those churches were rebuilt, I have also noted that other, more insidious effects of the riot persisted: "One of the most profound effects [of the Riot] in the long run was what it did to the city. It robbed it of its honesty, and it sentenced it to 75 years of denial."

I have also stated to the Oklahoma Commission and in other instances that any reparation to the victims of the riot "is a mere pittance compared to the three-quarters of a century of suffering of the victims of the looting, burning, killing, and bombing, as so many endured."

I have also expressed my view that we still have much to learn from the riot, because to learn from events such as the riot, these events must be confronted and dealt with, and Tulsa, like other places in which violent racial incidences have occurred, has never dealt honestly with what happened, and because of this failure, the city and its black community in particular has simply never recovered from the event.

None of this is inconsistent with the view I expressed in the foreword to Scott Ellsworth's book, Death in a Promised Land, in which I said that immediately after the riot, there was a spirit, born no doubt of dire necessity, of people picking themselves up and rebuilding, instead of dwelling on the horror and destruction. In stating that people had high self-esteem in the period after the riot, I also said this was as a result of myths and beliefs that people developed as a means of coping with the riot and moving on.

In addition, while it is true that there was a sort of "bouncing back" period in Tulsa immediately after the riot – which is why the churches that had been reduced to basements were eventually rebuilt – this does not describe the long-term effects of the riot, which were, in my view, negative, devastating, and persistent to this day. My belief in the negative, long-term effects of the riot has grown in the years since Ellsworth's book was published, as I have learned more about the riot, have visited Tulsa, and had more time to reflect on the riot's impact.

I believe in the long-term, the riot has cast a pall over the city, and has made it feel half-dead even today. Prior to the riot, the black community in Tulsa had been economically prosperous, not to mention spiritually and physically cohesive and strong. The riot was economically devastating, and given the lack of assistance and almost absolute segregation that existed for decades after the riot, people were not able to recover economically. The combination of circumstances that existed after the riot made it impossible for blacks in Tulsa to live as upstanding and fearless citizens even if they initially tried to do so. People did not just lose their homes and businesses, they seemed eventually to lose part of their dreams and their will, at least as a group. Thus while I believe there was a period of approximately ten years in which people made their best effort to rebuild, and revitalize their community educationally and socially, eventually, given the economic devastation, and the persistent and complete separation and indifference of the white community, a pall of discouragement set in among the black community. And because the city has never honestly confronted what happened, that pall persists to this day.

[iplaw]

quote:The Act would extend the statute of limitations to allow the victims of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 to sue for damages

Who should they sue for damages?  Most of the responsible parties died long ago...

Will taking money from individuals who had nothing to do with the riots (and are in fact, ashamed and saddened by them) and giving it to descendants of victims who may or may not even remember the race riots somehow solve the socioeconomic disparities between North and South Tulsa?

Our time and money can be better spent.

[jackbristow]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

quote:The Act would extend the statute of limitations to allow the victims of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 to sue for damages

Who should they sue for damages?  Most of the responsible parties died long ago...

Will taking money from individuals who had nothing to do with the riots (and are in fact, ashamed and saddened by them) and giving it to descendants of victims who may or may not even remember the race riots somehow solve the socioeconomic disparities between North and South Tulsa?

Our time and money can be better spent.

I think this is something that should be discussed.  At the least, I think more should be written and learned about what happened and we should be made to face the history and learn from it.  It should be in the history books for what it was.  I personally don't even know what the extent of the damage was and I went to public school in Eastern Oklahoma.

[iplaw]

quote:
I think this is something that should be discussed.  At the least, I think more should be written and learned about what happened and we should be made to face the history and learn from it.  

What do you mean, "face the history?"  I have no problem with education about this terrible event, but if you mean making token gestures that make you feel better, but do little good for the parties involved, I disagree.

quote:
It should be in the history books for what it was.  I personally don't even know what the extent of the damage was and I went to public school in Eastern Oklahoma.

Google returns 61,600 hits on the exact phrase "tulsa race riot."  Google Scholar returns at least 150 journals that talk about the race riots.  What more would you like to see?

[guido911]

This whole thing can be summed up by considering who is actively involved with that bill: John Conyers and Jerrold Nadler, Michigan and New York reps who apparetnly are more concerned about what is happening in Oklahoma than in their own districts.

Apparently they believe Oklahoma tort victims need a special, unique statute of limitations--which goes to your point, IP.

[jackbristow]

Maybe more has been done since I have left school.  I'm not claiming to have any answers.  It just seems like those in power back in those days did a decent job about keeping the situation out of the public conscience.  I mean, come on, I grew up in Oklahoma and I know VERY LITTLE about the whole thing.  More education and discussion is all I am looking for.  I don't have a clue about what should be done if anything.  I just want to learn more and see what other people know.  I think it should be more well known as a horrible event in American History.  All I know is that it is famous for not being well known...and yes, that is an oxymoron.

[swake]

quote:Originally posted by iplaw

quote:
I think this is something that should be discussed.  At the least, I think more should be written and learned about what happened and we should be made to face the history and learn from it.  

What do you mean, "face the history?"  I have no problem with education about this terrible event, but if you mean making token gestures that make you feel better, but do little good for the parties involved, I disagree.

quote:
It should be in the history books for what it was.  I personally don't even know what the extent of the damage was and I went to public school in Eastern Oklahoma.

Google returns 61,600 hits on the exact phrase "tulsa race riot."  Google Scholar returns at least 150 journals that talk about the race riots.  What more would you like to see?

At the very least a memorial and center that presents both a public acknowledgment of the riots and the history of the riots. A small stipend to the few remaining survivors would be a welcome gesture as well.

[Conan71]

Oh jeez, not this tired old canard again [V]

[guido911]

Swake "At the very least a memorial and center that presents both a public acknowledgment of the riots and the history of the riots. A small stipend to the few remaining survivors would be a welcome gesture as well."

I am sure that building a memorial and hand outs will lift the "black community in Tulsa" into economic prosperity, as well as make those white persons living in Tulsa feel all better because the sins of our great grandparents have been redeemed.
On second thought, spend your own money on this gesture, Swake.

[Rowdy]

[V][V]

[swake]

quote:Originally posted by guido911

Swake "At the very least a memorial and center that presents both a public acknowledgment of the riots and the history of the riots. A small stipend to the few remaining survivors would be a welcome gesture as well."

I am sure that building a memorial and hand outs will lift the "black community in Tulsa" into economic prosperity, as well as make those white persons living in Tulsa feel all better because the sins of our great grandparents have been redeemed.
On second thought, spend your own money on this gesture, Swake.

No jackass, a memorial mean the pains of your forefathers is not forgotten or ignored, it's important.

[inteller]

I think to save money, TUlsa should build a riot/trail of tears/immigration memorial.  it would be forward thinking seeing as how we'll someday have to feel guilty about illegal immigration too.

[waterboy]

ratio of enlightened to un, 2:8. that figures to 25% which is about right for Tulsa.

[inteller]

actually, in the spirit of saving money, tulsa should just build a 'General Guilt Memorial'.  that way anyone and anything that feels guilty about something can go down to the memorial and ponder about it.

[guido911]

quote:Originally posted by swake

quote:Originally posted by guido911

Swake "At the very least a memorial and center that presents both a public acknowledgment of the riots and the history of the riots. A small stipend to the few remaining survivors would be a welcome gesture as well."

I am sure that building a memorial and hand outs will lift the "black community in Tulsa" into economic prosperity, as well as make those white persons living in Tulsa feel all better because the sins of our great grandparents have been redeemed.
On second thought, spend your own money on this gesture, Swake.

No jackass, a memorial mean the pains of your forefathers is not forgotten or ignored, it's important.

Nice try Swake, but don't you change the subject. You wrote:

At the very least a memorial and center that presents both a public acknowledgment of the riots and the history of the riots. A small stipend to the few remaining survivors would be a welcome gesture as well.

Emphasis mine.

This post was plainly about acknowledgement/acceptance of fault, apology, and reparations. Your effort to turn that post into something noble is bs.