Today marks the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre aka The Burning of the Black Wallstreet, a massacre regarded as the single worst incident of racial violence in the US. If you don’t know what it is here’s a short thread on it:

In 1921, Tulsa was a booming and highly segregated city. Most black residents resided in Greenwood, commonly referred to as Black Wallstreet

May 30th: A black teenager named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a white woman in an elevator. He is taken into police custody at the courthouse where a white mob gathers and demands Rowland be given to them to be lynched.

The sheriff refuses and at 9pm a group of armed black men arrive to offer their help protecting Rowland from the growing crowd of whites. The sheriff denies and turns them away.

During the afternoon, word spreads quickly of the arrest of Dick Rowland. There are rumors of a black uprising involving neighboring cities. There is no historical evidence of this.

At this point the white crowd tries (unsuccessfully) to break into the nearby National Guard armory to further arm themselves.

At 10 pm, 75 armed black protestors arrive at the courthouse to protect Rowland and are met with 1500 armed whites. The two groups clash with the black protestors being pushed back to their homes in Greenwood.

The white mob follows them back and begins destroying Greenwood. To add further fuel to their fire, some are deputized and given weapons to more effectively destroy the city. They commit various atrocities, even shooting a man in a movie theater.

Thousands of white tulsans then flood into Greenwood. They proceed to loot and burn the business of an area spanning 35 blocks. Firefighters who come to help put out fires and save people were threatened at gun point and forced to leave.

Planes circled and people spoke of bombs being dropped and white tulsans shooting from the air. Black men were gunned down in the street. The National Guard then arrive the next morning (June 1st) at 9 am but the massacre had mostly ceased.

Over 1,000 houses were burned, 215 looted. Newspapers, a school, a hospital, and a library are among the burned businesses. Original reports put the death toll at 36, but it is now believe to be over 300. 800 people were injured.

Dick Rowland was exonerated in the following days. Police determined he had bumped into the woman or stepped on her foot and startled her causing her to scream. He left Tulsa and never returned.

After the massacre ended, there was an effective media blackout about it. No white Tulsan was ever prosecuted for participating in the arson and murders of that night.

if you have anything to add or i got something wrong let me know and i will correct myself.