Timelines of the Massacre
Many historians, organizations, and news entities have attempted to piece together what exactly happened during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. To make it easier for students, we have used all of those resources to construct these fact sheets.
Pre Tulsa Race Massacre
December 2022
1900
In the early 1900s, Tulsa was nothing short of an overnight sensation. Tulsa had grown so much and so fast that local boosters called it the Magic City.
1910
In 1910, the population of Greater Tulsa was 10,000. By 1920 it was more than 100,000.
1910
In Oklahoma in the 1910s, the Oklahoma legislature passes a number of segregation statutes and Jim Crow legislation.
1915
The second Ku Klux Klan was established in Atlanta in 1915.
1918
In the years leading up to 1921 in Chicago, Washington DC, Omaha and Knoxville had race riots.
1919
In 1919 alone, more than 75 blacks were lynched by white mobs, including more than a dozen black soldiers, some of whom were murdered while still in uniform.
1921
By 1921, Tulsa was practically two cities. In what some whites disparagingly called Greenwood “Little Africa” was home to nearly 10,000 African American people.
1921
Centered along busy Greenwood Ave Tulsa’s African American commercial district was a bonafide American success story.
1921
Home to dozens of black-owned and operated businesses before the riot. “Deep Greenwood” had a public library, a YMCA branch, and offices of two newspapers.
1921
While many black Tulsans made a conscious decision to patronize African American merchants, the fact of the matter was that they had few others place to go.
1921
Few periods were as turbulent as the years surrounding World War I, when the country exploded into an era of almost unprecedented racial strife.
1921
These riots were white mobs invading black neighborhoods, attacking black families and setting their homes and businesses on fire.
1921
The racial climate in America extended to all parts of the country. Northern cities began to bar blacks from restaurants and other public establishments.
1921
At Ivy League universities, a new scientific racism, that whites from northern Europe were innately superior to all other groups was all the rage.
1921
With Tulsa’s growing fame as the Oil Capital, it also gained a reputation as a wide-open town, a city where crime & criminals were as common as oil rigs.
1921
For more than a few black Tulsans, the bottom line on the matter had become clearer than ever.
1921
Namely, the only ones who might prevent the threatened lynching of an African American prisoner in Tulsa would be black Tulsans themselves.
1921
In 1920 and 1921 The Tulsa Tribune was waging an anti-crime campaign.
1921
The Tribune gave prominent attention to news stories involving vigilante activities from all over the Southwest.
1921
This included lynching threats made against African Americans in Okmulgee, Oktaha, and Hugo.
1921
Other local newspapers as well as the Tribune were praising those who took justice into their own hands.
1921
On May 21st 1921, ten days before the riot, the Tribute ha a lengthy, front-page article concerning the ongoing investigation of the police department.
1921
They ran a story that featured the highly explosive subject of relations between black men and white women and the growing prostitution industry in Tulsa.
1921
May 26th and May 30th saw two prison breaks from the county courthouse, a total of 18 prisoners escape.
Tulsa 1921 Race Massacre
December 2022
1921
Dick Rowland and Sarah Page have some sort of encounter in the elevator of the Drexel Building. She screamed, possibly drawing a clerk from Renberg’s.
1921
Tulsa Tribune headline “Nab Negro for attacking girl in elevator”
1921
Several black leaders began to organize for the possible necessity of defending Rowland from a lynch mob.
1921
The police arrive to repel a possible lynch mob. The chief of police has Rowland transferred to the county jail, on the top floor of the courthouse.
1921
The county jail was considered by both the police and sheriff’s department to be easily defendable.
1921
By sunset at 7:34 pm, the several hundred white people assembled outside the courthouse appeared to have the makings of a lynch mob.
1921
A few blocks away on Greenwood Avenue, members of the black community gathered to discuss the situation at the courthouse.
1921
About 7:30 pm, a group of around 30 black men, armed with guns, decided to go to the courthouse and support the sheriff to defend Rowland from the mob.
1921
Assuring them that Rowland was safe, the sheriff and his black deputy, Barney Cleaver, encouraged the men to return home.
1921
Having seen the armed black people, some of the more than 1,000 white people at the courthouse went home for their own guns.
1921
The black community was worried about the safety of Rowland.
1921
At the courthouse, the crowd had swollen to nearly 2,000, many of them now armed. Anxiety on Greenwood Avenue was rising.
1921
Many white men interpreted these actions as a “Negro uprising” and became concerned.
1921
Small groups of armed black men moved towards the courthouse in cars, partly for reconnaissance, and to show they were prepared to protect Rowland.
1921
Eyewitnesses reported gunshots, presumably fired into the air, increasing in frequency during the evening.
1921
Shortly after 10 pm, a second, larger group of approximately 75 armed black men decided to go to the courthouse.
1921
They offered their support to the sheriff, who declined their help.
1921
According to witnesses, a white man is alleged to have told one of the armed black men to surrender his pistol.
1921
The man refused, and a shot was fired. {This is the start of the armed violence between white and black Tulsans}
1921
The first “battle” was said to last a few seconds or so, but took a toll, as ten white people and two black people lay dead or dying in the street.
1921
The black contingent retreated toward Greenwood. A rolling gunfight ensued. The armed white mob pursued the black people toward Greenwood.
1921
At around 11 pm, members of the Oklahoma National Guard unit began to assemble at the armory to organize a plan to subdue the rioters.
1921
The forces appeared to have been deployed to protect the white districts adjacent to Greenwood.
1921
This manner of deployment led to the National Guard being set in apparent opposition to the black community.
1921
The National Guard began rounding up black people who had not returned to Greenwood and taking them to the Convention Hall on Brady Street for detention.
1921
At around 1 am, the white mob began setting fires, mainly in businesses on commercial Archer Street at the southern edge of the Greenwood district.
1921
As crews from the Tulsa Fire Department arrived to put out fires, they were turned away at gunpoint.
1921
Upon the 5 a.m. sunrise, reportedly a train whistle was heard. Many believed this to be a signal for the rioters to launch an all-out assault on Greenwood.
1921
Overwhelmed by the sheer number of white people, more black people retreated north on Greenwood Avenue to the edge of town.
1921
Chaos ensued as terrified residents fled for their lives. The rioters shot indiscriminately and killed many residents along the way.
1921
Numerous eyewitnesses described airplanes carrying white assailants, who fired rifles and dropped firebombs on buildings, homes, and fleeing families.
1921
As unrest spread to other parts of the city, many middle class white families who employed black people in their homes were accosted by white rioters.
1921
They demanded that families turn over their employees to be taken to detention centers around the city.
1921
Many white families compiled, and those who refused were subjected to attacks and vandalism in turn.
1921
Adjutant General Charles Barrett of the Oklahoma National Guard arrived with 109 troops from Oklahoma City by special train about 9:15 am.
1921
Ordered in by the governor, he could not legally act until he had contacted all the local authorities, including the mayor, the sheriff, and the police chief.
1921
Meanwhile, his troops paused to eat breakfast. Barrett summoned reinforcements from several other Oklahoma cities.
1921
By this time, thousands of surviving black citizens had fled the city; another 4,000 persons had been rounded up and detained at various centers.
1921
Under the martial law established this day, these detainees were required to carry identification cards.
1921
Barrett declared martial law at 11:49 am on June 1st, & on June 3rd @ noon the troops had managed to suppress most of the remaining violence.
