The most shocking aspect of the Tulsa Massacre, also known as the Tulsa Race Massacre, was the scale and brutality of the violence that occurred.
On May 31 and June 1, 1921, a white mob attacked the Greenwood District, a prosperous African American neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The mob burned down homes and businesses, looted property, and murdered Black residents. Estimates of the death toll vary, but it is believed that between 100 and 300 Black people were killed, and thousands were left homeless.
The violence was sparked by a false accusation that a Black man had assaulted a white woman. However, the underlying causes of the massacre were rooted in racism and white resentment of Black economic success and social mobility in the Greenwood District. The massacre was also enabled by the complicity and inaction of local law enforcement, who failed to protect Black residents and instead participated in the violence.
The fact that such a devastating act of racial violence could occur in the United States, even in a prosperous and relatively integrated community like Tulsa, was a shocking and tragic reminder of the depth of racism and inequality that still existed in American society at that time. The long-term impact of the massacre on the Black community in Tulsa and beyond was also profound, as it destroyed the economic and social infrastructure of the Greenwood District and perpetuated systemic racism and discrimination for decades to come.