Tulsa June 1 1921 Black Holocaust

[sandnsea]

Or another reason we have Black History because this was never taught in my high school history book.

"The date was June 1, 1921, when "Black Wall Street," the name fittingly given to one of the most affluent all-black communities in America, was bombed from the air and burned to the ground by mobs of envious whites. In a period spanning fewer than 12 hours, a once thriving 36 block business district in northern Tulsa lay smoldering — A model community destroyed, and a major African American economic movement resoundingly defused."

http://hierographics.org/yourhistoryonli...caust.htm#

[Willinois]

It seems like there has been a series of research studies in the last few years about tragedies like this. I guess it happened in many American cities and most of them managed to erase it from the history books.
I've realized that the way many history classes focus on actions by the Presidents is a way to whitewash the real history of America.

[Willinois]

This got me wondering how much of the long term poverty in the South is due to wealthy or professional black people being driven out or killed for so many years. How can you build up a local economy when a major part of the business community is repeatedly removed? That means more of the regional economy is focused on activity that sends most of the money elsewhere or concentrates it in the hands of a few, like mining or share cropping.

In other words, how much poorer are people of all races in the South today because 20th & 19th century terrorists kept attacking the economic infrastructure of black communities? It's probably impossible to gather enough data to calculate. And that doesn't even get into the impact of the cultural/social brain drain.

I always hear how the South needed slavery to grow its agricultural economy before the civil war. I don't remember hearing discussions about how the regional Southern economy for all races suffered because many business leaders of one race were killed or driven north.

The more I learn about history, the more I get pissed off about the classes I took in high school and college.

[yellerpup]

this neighborhood. I heard lots of stories about these riots passed down in my family. After the Civil War, advertisements were placed in Southern newspapers soliciting African Americans to go to Indian Territory, where there were then (and still to this day--just a 'little' different) all white towns, all Native American towns, and all AA towns. Indian Territory was supposed to be the American equivalent of Soweto, SA, where all the 'minorities' were neutralized in one area of the country. My father spoke of a man who mounted a Gatling gun on top of a building and mowed down demonstrators in this holocaust. The Greenwood community never recovered.

Edited to add: When oil was discovered in Indian Territory, that made the land worth something, and when it became valuable whites did everything they could to get it back. Many of these black entrepreneurs were mixed blood native americans.

[KonaKane]

Good find. I notice this same sort of "white washing" going on with the Massacre at Jackson University in 1974, just days after Kent State. Almost everyone knows about Kent State, but few are aware of the Blacks gunned down for protesting at Jackson State.

That was a stellar job of cleaning the event out of the mass memory.

[Brewman_Jax]

90 years later, a city confronts its past.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/us/20t...wanted=all

The riot was all but forgotten in Tulsa, except by the survivors.

[OptimistesMaddie]

U.S history for decades.

We need an alternate company to the current companies that create books for schools.

Due to the "white-washing" of the true legacy of unions, successful black communites, inventors, women's movement, the true impact of the 60's etc, we are seeing the repeat of so many mistakes and intentional harm to U.S citizens.

People wonder why many blacks in this country are angry at the cellular level it's because of shit like this. I don't condone the violence that has occurred because of the anger but events like this explain it.

Look at what the Reichwing is doing to President Obama, it plays right into the history of this event. Destroying successful blacks because if they win, it shows American Minorities that if they succeed they too will be destroyed.

This is a serious effort on their part....We need to play, "smash mouth" with these bastards.....all hands on-board and all hands ready to "smash mouth" the repugs to protect the country from the Koch brothers and their ilk.