1921

On May 31–June 1, 1921, a white mob aided by deputized officers burned 35 square blocks of Greenwood, the prosperous Black district of Tulsa known as 'Black Wall Street.' Up to 300 people were killed, 10,000 left homeless, and millions of dollars in property destroyed. Greenwood residents began rebuilding almost immediately, and film shot by Rev. Solomon Sir Jones from 1925–1928 shows a thriving district restored within a few years—an act of collective resilience with no government assistance.

On May 31–June 1, 1921, white mobs attacked Greenwood, Tulsa's prosperous Black district known as 'Black Wall Street.' Over 300 Black residents were killed, 35 blocks burned to the ground, 1,256 homes destroyed, and more than 10,000 left homeless. The attack began after Dick Rowland, a Black shoe-shiner, was accused of assaulting white elevator operator Sarah Page. Police deputized white civilians who participated in the assault. Oklahoma National Guard units arrested Black residents rather than protecting them.

During the Tulsa Race Massacre, private and possibly National Guard aircraft flew over Greenwood. Survivors and contemporary accounts reported that planes fired on fleeing Black residents and dropped incendiary devices, making Tulsa one of the first instances of an American city being bombed from the air. At least a dozen planes circled and participated in the attack. The Oklahoma National Guard later confirmed planes were used for 'observation,' though eyewitness testimony consistently described gunfire from the air.

After the Tulsa Race Massacre, Black victims were buried in unmarked mass graves. Ground-penetrating radar surveys in 2020–2021 confirmed multiple burial sites including Oaklawn Cemetery. Survivors who filed insurance claims were denied on the grounds that riot damage was excluded. The city of Tulsa refused to pay reparations. A 1921 grand jury blamed Black residents for inciting the violence. Documented property losses exceeded $1.8 million (1921 dollars), never compensated.

After the Tulsa Race Massacre, over 6,000 Black survivors were interned in detention camps at Convention Hall, McNulty Park, and the fairgrounds under Oklahoma National Guard supervision. To be released, Black residents had to be 'vouched for' by a white employer. Many remained detained for weeks. At least 35 Black churches, 5 hotels, 31 restaurants, 4 drug stores, and 8 doctors' offices were destroyed. The city arrested Black residents for 'inciting' the riot while no white participants faced charges.

After the Tulsa Race Massacre, Black victims were buried in unmarked mass graves. Ground-penetrating radar surveys in 2020–2021 confirmed multiple burial sites including Oaklawn Cemetery. Survivors who filed insurance claims were denied on the grounds that riot damage was excluded. The city of Tulsa refused to pay reparations. A 1921 grand jury blamed Black residents for inciting the violence. Documented property losses exceeded $1.8 million (1921 dollars), never compensated.

After the Tulsa Race Massacre, over 6,000 Black survivors were interned in detention camps established at Convention Hall, McNulty Park, and the fairgrounds under the supervision of the Oklahoma National Guard. To be released, Black residents had to be 'vouched for' by a white employer. Many remained detained for weeks. At least 35 Black churches, 5 hotels, 31 restaurants, 4 drug stores, 8 doctors' offices, and hundreds of homes were destroyed. Estimates of insured property losses alone exceeded $1.5 million; total losses were far higher. The city arrested Black residents for 'inciting' the riot.

The Tulsa massacre was the most extreme but not unique example of prosperous Black business districts being destroyed by white mobs. Similar attacks occurred in Rosewood FL (1923), Johnstown PA (1923), and Springfield OH (1921). Even where outright destruction did not occur, Black business districts were systematically excluded from commercial expansion, denied business licenses, denied banking services, and blocked from contracting with governments. The targeting of Black economic success for destruction was a pattern that expressed white resentment of Black prosperity as a specific threat to the racial order.

Henry Lowry, a Black sharecropper in Arkansas, was accused of killing a white planter and his daughter after a wage dispute. He was captured in Texas and returned to Arkansas. On January 26, 1921, a mob of 500–600 white spectators gathered to watch him be tortured and burned alive. Lowry was forced to dig his own grave before being chained to a log and burned slowly. The NAACP documented the event in detail. No perpetrators were prosecuted. The event was reported nationally by the Black press.

The Elaine Massacre of 1919 — in which over 100 Black sharecroppers were killed by white mobs after a union meeting — resulted in 12 Black men being sentenced to death and 67 sentenced to prison for 'murder,' while no white participants faced charges. The NAACP challenged the convictions for years; in Moore v. Dempsey (1923), the Supreme Court ruled that the mob-dominated trials violated due process, a landmark ruling holding that federal courts could review state criminal proceedings for constitutional violations. The men were eventually released in 1925.

The Elaine Massacre of 1919 — in which over 100 Black sharecroppers were killed by white mobs after a union meeting — resulted in 12 Black men being sentenced to death and 67 sentenced to prison for 'murder,' while no white participants faced charges. The NAACP challenged the convictions for years; in Moore v. Dempsey (1923), the Supreme Court ruled that the mob-dominated trials violated due process. The men were eventually released in 1925 after sustained NAACP legal pressure.

A Tulsa County grand jury convened after the massacre concluded in August 1921 that Black residents were primarily responsible for the violence, citing the 'agitation' of armed Black men who had gathered at the courthouse to protect Dick Rowland. No white attackers were ever prosecuted. The city subsequently passed an ordinance requiring fireproof construction in Greenwood, intended to prevent rebuilding. Despite this obstruction, residents rebuilt much of Greenwood by 1922 using personal funds.

Georgia recorded 16 lynchings between 1920 and 1929, the highest of any state in the decade, continuing a pattern of racial terror that had claimed over 500 Georgia victims since Reconstruction. Notable cases included the 1921 lynching of John Henry Williams, who was burned alive in Jasper County before a large crowd after being accused of killing a white farmer in a dispute over wages. Georgia governors throughout the period declined to prosecute mob members. The state had no state anti-lynching law and actively obstructed federal investigations. The Klan's political power in Georgia peaked in this period.

Harry Pace founded Black Swan Records in New York in 1921, the first Black-owned record company to achieve major commercial success. Named for opera singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield ('The Black Swan'), the label recorded Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter, and other Black artists who faced exclusion from white-owned labels. Black Swan represented an attempt to build Black economic institutions in the cultural sphere and to ensure Black artists retained more control over their recordings. It was driven out of business by 1924 when larger white labels began targeting the 'race records' market.

Beyond the Tulsa massacre, numerous other incidents of white mob violence against Black communities occurred throughout the 1920s. In Springfield, Ohio (1921), Johnstown, Pennsylvania (1923), and elsewhere, Black communities were attacked following alleged criminal incidents. These Northern riots demonstrated that racial terror was not exclusively a Southern phenomenon. Black residents were typically blamed for 'causing' violence by their presence or alleged crimes, while white perpetrators faced no legal consequences. The pattern reinforced Black political organizing in the North around demands for legal protections.

A white mob destroys the prosperous "Black Wall Street" of Greenwood, killing hundreds.