Greenwood District Tulsa Becomes 'Black Wall Street': 35 Blocks of Black Prosperity

The Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, developed between 1905 and 1921 into one of the most prosperous Black communities in the United States, earning the name 'Black Wall Street.' It contained over 300 Black-owned businesses including hotels, theaters, law offices, a hospital, a library, and a bus system — all serving a community denied access to white-owned establishments. Booker T. Washington had visited and praised it in 1905. Its very prosperity made it a target for white resentment that would culminate in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.