1 00:00:10,732 --> 00:00:12,353 ♪ Black Wall Street was the soul ♪ 2 00:00:12,387 --> 00:00:13,353 ♪ I imagine for the ♪ 3 00:00:13,387 --> 00:00:15,836 ♪ Generation, post-slavery utopia ♪ 4 00:00:15,870 --> 00:00:18,043 ♪ Breathing came easy 'cause ♪ 5 00:00:18,077 --> 00:00:21,215 ♪ God blessed the child that had his own ♪ 6 00:00:21,249 --> 00:00:23,422 ♪ And we own all of this ♪ 7 00:00:23,456 --> 00:00:24,732 ♪ Imagine that ♪ 8 00:00:24,767 --> 00:00:26,905 ♪ Negros running things ♪ 9 00:00:29,525 --> 00:00:33,560 Greenwood was a very wealthy Black community 10 00:00:33,594 --> 00:00:36,008 of 11,000 people. 11 00:00:37,801 --> 00:00:41,560 [Bradley] Greenwood happened because Black people can take America's worst 12 00:00:41,594 --> 00:00:42,939 and make it excellent. 13 00:00:44,284 --> 00:00:47,698 But the racism was thick and real. 14 00:00:47,732 --> 00:00:52,249 How dare these black folks go and build a community for themselves. 15 00:00:52,284 --> 00:00:55,215 They wanted to eliminate the Black town. 16 00:00:56,422 --> 00:01:01,387 The Greenwood district is completely destroyed. 17 00:01:02,284 --> 00:01:04,145 And they lost everything. 18 00:01:07,008 --> 00:01:09,146 [Bradley] Black Wall Street is important 19 00:01:09,180 --> 00:01:11,836 to the imagination of Black people. 20 00:01:13,939 --> 00:01:17,215 The trajectory could've been different. 21 00:01:17,249 --> 00:01:20,111 And now the promises of the past 22 00:01:20,801 --> 00:01:23,698 can become the social agenda 23 00:01:23,732 --> 00:01:24,939 of the future. 24 00:01:27,353 --> 00:01:28,732 [soulful music playing] 25 00:01:40,905 --> 00:01:42,594 [song playing] 26 00:01:48,076 --> 00:01:49,905 [Hill] The Greenwood district 27 00:01:49,939 --> 00:01:55,111 was one of the most prominent and affluent Black communities in the country. 28 00:01:57,076 --> 00:02:01,180 It was a symbol of what is possible 29 00:02:01,215 --> 00:02:03,456 for Black people in America. 30 00:02:06,215 --> 00:02:08,008 But to understand 31 00:02:08,043 --> 00:02:10,870 the story of Black Wall Street, 32 00:02:10,905 --> 00:02:13,629 we have to go back to the Trail of Tears. 33 00:02:23,077 --> 00:02:24,870 First Black people to come to Oklahoma 34 00:02:24,905 --> 00:02:27,318 were actually members of the Native American tribes. 35 00:02:32,249 --> 00:02:36,594 [Harjo] The five tribes, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole 36 00:02:36,629 --> 00:02:38,215 were slave-holding tribes. 37 00:02:39,905 --> 00:02:43,077 Some of them wanted to show that they were in allyship 38 00:02:43,110 --> 00:02:46,353 by mimicking what like the white settlers are doing. 39 00:02:48,180 --> 00:02:53,525 Indigenous people were affected by anti-Black racism. 40 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:59,180 The process invited them into the slave-holder culture, 41 00:02:59,215 --> 00:03:03,215 even as they were subject to the worst forms 42 00:03:03,249 --> 00:03:06,525 of oppression and discrimination of themselves. 43 00:03:07,491 --> 00:03:11,043 When the Five Tribes signed a Removal Treaty, 44 00:03:11,077 --> 00:03:14,043 they had to remove their Black slaves too. 45 00:03:15,767 --> 00:03:18,525 [Harjo] The Indian Removal Act of 1830 46 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:22,284 forcibly evicts Native American tribes in the southeast, 47 00:03:22,318 --> 00:03:25,284 and transfers their lands to white farmers 48 00:03:25,318 --> 00:03:27,560 to expand cotton plantations. 49 00:03:28,318 --> 00:03:31,284 Over 100,000 Native Americans 50 00:03:31,318 --> 00:03:35,560 and approximately 4,000 enslaved African-Americans 51 00:03:35,594 --> 00:03:38,594 make the treacherous journey to Indian territory, 52 00:03:39,146 --> 00:03:40,870 now known as Oklahoma. 53 00:03:44,110 --> 00:03:47,698 The over 5,000 mile brutal and deadly removal 54 00:03:47,732 --> 00:03:50,905 is known as the Trail of Tears and Death. 55 00:03:53,905 --> 00:03:55,939 [Grayson] When everybody got to Oklahoma, 56 00:03:55,973 --> 00:03:58,180 there were many different ways... 57 00:03:58,215 --> 00:04:00,767 Black people were still enslaved here. 58 00:04:00,801 --> 00:04:03,525 They still were property. 59 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,629 And they had to rebuild what the Indian tribes had in the Deep South. 60 00:04:11,215 --> 00:04:15,594 After the Civil War, you had freed men living in Oklahoma. 61 00:04:17,836 --> 00:04:20,870 You have a freed Black population, 62 00:04:20,905 --> 00:04:24,836 able to live on tribal lands in a communal way. 63 00:04:27,698 --> 00:04:29,077 [jazz music playing] 64 00:04:29,111 --> 00:04:32,456 [narrator] The Dawes Act passed in 1887, 65 00:04:32,491 --> 00:04:34,836 allowing the Federal government to break up 66 00:04:34,870 --> 00:04:37,422 tribal lands into individual plots. 67 00:04:38,629 --> 00:04:40,491 [Luckerson] Black people in Oklahoma owned more land 68 00:04:40,525 --> 00:04:42,456 than any other part of the country. 69 00:04:42,491 --> 00:04:45,525 About two million acres of land were allotted to freed men. 70 00:04:47,249 --> 00:04:50,146 So when you think about forty acres and a mule, and that false promise 71 00:04:50,180 --> 00:04:51,318 after the Civil War, 72 00:04:51,353 --> 00:04:54,629 Black people actually got that in Oklahoma. 73 00:04:54,663 --> 00:05:00,422 [Hill] Those land allotments become the seeds of more than 50 Black towns 74 00:05:00,456 --> 00:05:02,525 that emerge in Oklahoma. 75 00:05:04,939 --> 00:05:08,249 More than any other state in the country. 76 00:05:11,801 --> 00:05:14,215 Once the five tribes received their allotment, 77 00:05:15,215 --> 00:05:16,732 then whatever was left, 78 00:05:16,767 --> 00:05:18,767 that was deemed surplus 79 00:05:18,801 --> 00:05:22,560 and the government opened it for sale to whoever wanted to buy it. 80 00:05:26,870 --> 00:05:31,077 OW Gurley was a Southerner who hailed from Arkansas, 81 00:05:31,111 --> 00:05:34,836 who came to Tulsa to purchase land. 82 00:05:36,939 --> 00:05:39,836 The land that Greenwood exists on, 83 00:05:39,870 --> 00:05:44,732 was not land that whites at that time deemed as valuable, 84 00:05:44,767 --> 00:05:49,387 but as land that could be sold to "a negro buyer." 85 00:05:50,767 --> 00:05:54,180 Gurley purchases an allotment of land. 86 00:05:54,215 --> 00:05:58,560 His goal was to incubate a Black community. 87 00:06:01,043 --> 00:06:05,905 [Luckerson] OW Gurley opened a grocery store on what would become Greenwood Avenue. 88 00:06:05,939 --> 00:06:10,732 He was really able to tap into a lot of dynamics happening throughout the state, 89 00:06:10,767 --> 00:06:13,353 where people would be travelling to meet different communities. 90 00:06:13,387 --> 00:06:16,387 And some of the freed men went up and set up on Greenwood. 91 00:06:17,767 --> 00:06:20,801 They were able to provide some of that nurturing wealth. 92 00:06:22,180 --> 00:06:26,594 [Hill] Land for recently enslaved people 93 00:06:26,629 --> 00:06:27,594 is everything. 94 00:06:27,629 --> 00:06:29,594 Because we have to imagine a world 95 00:06:29,629 --> 00:06:35,456 in which an enslaved person did not have property rights in themselves. 96 00:06:40,215 --> 00:06:44,698 OW Gurley determined that he would only sell that land 97 00:06:44,732 --> 00:06:46,318 to Black buyers. 98 00:06:48,180 --> 00:06:50,594 [Goodwin] My great-grandfather knew that 99 00:06:50,629 --> 00:06:55,077 in Mississippi, folks would limit you because of your skin color. 100 00:06:55,111 --> 00:06:58,732 He wanted to go to a place where his children could be better educated. 101 00:06:58,767 --> 00:07:01,525 And that's how they would come to Oklahoma. 102 00:07:03,939 --> 00:07:06,284 It was known, if you want to be free, 103 00:07:07,525 --> 00:07:09,008 come to this territory. 104 00:07:11,077 --> 00:07:12,698 So Black folks heard the call... 105 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:15,974 "Come to Greenwood." 106 00:07:16,008 --> 00:07:20,353 There was a high level of independence and autonomy among Black folks in Oklahoma. 107 00:07:20,387 --> 00:07:22,939 It was a mixture of this freed-man wealth 108 00:07:22,974 --> 00:07:24,353 and freed-man land ownership. 109 00:07:25,043 --> 00:07:26,422 There was sort of an openness 110 00:07:26,456 --> 00:07:28,732 and they thought they would be able to chart their own new course. 111 00:07:28,767 --> 00:07:30,215 at the start of the 20th century. 112 00:07:31,491 --> 00:07:32,974 Black people went, 113 00:07:33,008 --> 00:07:34,284 "Wow! 114 00:07:34,318 --> 00:07:37,008 The Black people here are land owners. 115 00:07:37,698 --> 00:07:39,456 And they are prospering!" 116 00:07:41,146 --> 00:07:44,146 My great-great-grandfather 117 00:07:44,180 --> 00:07:46,387 took up camp in Tallahassee, Oklahoma, 118 00:07:46,422 --> 00:07:51,284 which is one of our states oldest Black towns. 119 00:07:51,318 --> 00:07:54,663 From there, some of the family members migrated to Tulsa. 120 00:07:56,525 --> 00:07:58,077 The funny thing is, 121 00:07:58,111 --> 00:08:02,008 when the government put Native Americans and freed-men on Indian territory, 122 00:08:02,043 --> 00:08:04,387 they had no idea what was on the land. 123 00:08:06,870 --> 00:08:09,456 They discovered oil in Glenpool, 124 00:08:09,491 --> 00:08:12,939 and that turned Tulsa into the oil capital of the world. 125 00:08:12,974 --> 00:08:15,456 African-Americans didn't work in oil businesses, 126 00:08:15,491 --> 00:08:18,732 but began working for the rich, white folks in the oil business. 127 00:08:20,284 --> 00:08:21,870 As more oil was found... 128 00:08:23,732 --> 00:08:25,801 Tulsa becomes this boom town. 129 00:08:38,284 --> 00:08:42,422 [soulful music plays] 130 00:08:43,525 --> 00:08:44,905 [Luckerson] Greenwood was on the ascent. 131 00:08:46,043 --> 00:08:47,767 It grew so rapidly 132 00:08:47,801 --> 00:08:50,767 and had so many people coming here, who were so ambitious. 133 00:08:50,801 --> 00:08:55,008 Greenwood was a district that had been founded 134 00:08:55,043 --> 00:08:59,387 by OW Gurley and JB Stradford. 135 00:08:59,422 --> 00:09:02,215 [Goodwin] They had a particular mindset. 136 00:09:02,249 --> 00:09:05,939 You come, you build and help the community grow. 137 00:09:07,043 --> 00:09:11,491 Mr. Stradford was a business incubator of sorts. 138 00:09:13,111 --> 00:09:16,249 He did the things that people today have to go to business school 139 00:09:16,284 --> 00:09:17,146 to learn how to do. 140 00:09:17,180 --> 00:09:20,284 Microloans, start-up capital, 141 00:09:20,318 --> 00:09:22,456 cooperative economics, 142 00:09:22,491 --> 00:09:23,905 he did that innately. 143 00:09:25,284 --> 00:09:28,146 They were able to build these businesses from the ground up 144 00:09:28,180 --> 00:09:30,456 in the Greenwood district. 145 00:09:30,491 --> 00:09:33,974 [Hill] Black people see Tulsa as the place 146 00:09:34,008 --> 00:09:38,146 where they can have prosperity, can support their family, 147 00:09:38,180 --> 00:09:39,456 have education 148 00:09:39,491 --> 00:09:41,663 in relative safety, 149 00:09:41,698 --> 00:09:44,663 as opposed to the Deep South. 150 00:09:44,698 --> 00:09:47,974 Because Oklahoma did not have statehood. 151 00:09:49,284 --> 00:09:50,491 [Luckerson] You're in the Deep South, 152 00:09:50,525 --> 00:09:52,767 you're living under the boot of Jim Crow. 153 00:09:53,456 --> 00:09:55,146 Where in Oklahoma territory, 154 00:09:55,180 --> 00:09:58,008 the laws hadn't quite been settled yet. 155 00:09:59,629 --> 00:10:02,491 Oklahoma had to decide what kind of city we're gonna be. 156 00:10:02,525 --> 00:10:04,318 Are we going to be a new kind of state? 157 00:10:04,353 --> 00:10:06,146 Or are we going to be an extension of the Jim Crow South? 158 00:10:07,836 --> 00:10:10,422 [Hill] Ambitious African-Americans who wanted the territory 159 00:10:10,456 --> 00:10:12,111 to join the Union, 160 00:10:12,146 --> 00:10:16,905 asked that it be admitted as a Black state. 161 00:10:16,939 --> 00:10:20,249 [Luckerson] Black people actually travelled from Oklahoma to the White House 162 00:10:20,284 --> 00:10:21,870 to meet with Teddy Roosevelt, 163 00:10:21,905 --> 00:10:24,939 asking him not to allow Oklahoma to become a state with Jim Crow policies. 164 00:10:25,870 --> 00:10:29,353 But the powers that be chose Jim Crow. 165 00:10:29,387 --> 00:10:32,663 [news reporter] President Teddy Roosevelt addressed a proud population 166 00:10:32,698 --> 00:10:36,974 after officially signing the document which brought Oklahoma into the Union. 167 00:10:42,698 --> 00:10:47,111 [Hill] The first laws that are passed in Oklahoma in 1907 168 00:10:47,146 --> 00:10:48,732 segregate the state. 169 00:10:48,767 --> 00:10:52,111 Making it clear that Black people and white people 170 00:10:52,146 --> 00:10:54,905 were gonna live in two societies. 171 00:10:56,249 --> 00:10:58,077 You've got sundown towns, 172 00:10:58,111 --> 00:11:00,629 where Black folks can't be there after dark. 173 00:11:02,008 --> 00:11:06,974 Policies and laws walled Black people out. 174 00:11:07,905 --> 00:11:10,387 But walled them in with each other, 175 00:11:11,525 --> 00:11:14,801 and they were able to create an economic center 176 00:11:14,836 --> 00:11:16,698 for Black Tulsa. 177 00:11:16,732 --> 00:11:18,491 Black people could not shop 178 00:11:18,525 --> 00:11:24,525 anywhere else in Tulsa besides that 35-block area! 179 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:27,560 The Greenwood district gets incubated 180 00:11:27,594 --> 00:11:29,629 by these captive Black buyers. 181 00:11:32,215 --> 00:11:34,353 [Harjo] You know, folks made it work for them. 182 00:11:34,387 --> 00:11:35,767 "Fine, then. 183 00:11:35,801 --> 00:11:38,456 Actually, you're walling us in and you're walling our money in. 184 00:11:38,491 --> 00:11:40,560 We'll keep our dollars circulating 185 00:11:40,594 --> 00:11:43,525 and we'll build ourselves up." 186 00:11:43,560 --> 00:11:47,491 We're able to build out and develop our communities to 187 00:11:47,525 --> 00:11:50,560 the fullest extent that we desire. 188 00:11:50,594 --> 00:11:53,491 [Davis] The development of that vibrant community 189 00:11:53,525 --> 00:11:55,560 with its businesses 190 00:11:55,594 --> 00:11:57,663 and with its cultural dimension, 191 00:11:57,698 --> 00:12:00,284 that was certainly part of the way 192 00:12:00,318 --> 00:12:02,698 in which we learned how to inhabit 193 00:12:02,732 --> 00:12:06,801 a system of segregation and racism. 194 00:12:06,836 --> 00:12:10,732 And at the same time, assert our own dignity. 195 00:12:12,146 --> 00:12:14,560 [Hill] And so, when you have aspiring Black people 196 00:12:14,594 --> 00:12:18,560 who want the nicest goods and services of the day... 197 00:12:18,594 --> 00:12:21,215 you get businesses, you get fine establishments, 198 00:12:21,249 --> 00:12:25,215 'cause you have not just a small Black elite, 199 00:12:25,249 --> 00:12:27,732 but you have a significant Black middle-class. 200 00:12:29,215 --> 00:12:31,560 [Goodwin] Not only did you see the doctors, 201 00:12:31,594 --> 00:12:33,008 you got your pharmacists. 202 00:12:33,043 --> 00:12:35,939 And along with it now, understand... 203 00:12:35,974 --> 00:12:39,456 Greenwood wasn't all upwardly mobile. 204 00:12:39,491 --> 00:12:42,594 You had your bootleggers, you had folks that were running the numbers, 205 00:12:42,629 --> 00:12:44,767 you have all of that going on. 206 00:12:44,801 --> 00:12:46,043 It was a community. 207 00:12:48,801 --> 00:12:50,870 [Ross] So you had numerous restaurants. 208 00:12:50,905 --> 00:12:52,560 You had movie theaters, 209 00:12:52,594 --> 00:12:53,698 law offices, 210 00:12:53,732 --> 00:12:55,180 photography studios, 211 00:12:55,215 --> 00:12:57,939 all bunched up in this one little area. 212 00:12:57,974 --> 00:13:00,043 And many would call it "Little Africa." 213 00:13:04,353 --> 00:13:07,043 They would dress in their finest apparel. 214 00:13:08,146 --> 00:13:11,249 And they would go to the jazz clubs 215 00:13:11,284 --> 00:13:12,318 and blues clubs 216 00:13:12,353 --> 00:13:14,594 up and along Greenwood. 217 00:13:14,629 --> 00:13:17,180 And kinda parade for each other. 218 00:13:17,215 --> 00:13:20,008 It's simply amazing when you look at the list 219 00:13:20,043 --> 00:13:22,698 of the the Black-owned businesses that existed here. 220 00:13:23,698 --> 00:13:26,870 [Ross] My great-grandfather, Isaac Evitt, 221 00:13:26,905 --> 00:13:31,284 he had a business on Greenwood called the Zulu Lounge. 222 00:13:31,318 --> 00:13:33,008 It wasn't a fancy place. 223 00:13:33,043 --> 00:13:36,836 It was get that choc beer and that dead-eye whiskey, 224 00:13:36,870 --> 00:13:39,974 and have camaraderie among friends. 225 00:13:40,008 --> 00:13:44,318 It was the 1921 Greenwood version of Cheers. 226 00:13:46,043 --> 00:13:48,180 There was a Goodwin building. 227 00:13:48,215 --> 00:13:51,491 And in the Goodwin building was a Union grocery, 228 00:13:51,525 --> 00:13:53,318 a Duncan Clinton restaurant 229 00:13:53,353 --> 00:13:54,318 and a rooming house. 230 00:13:55,215 --> 00:13:57,663 Then you had the Stradford Hotel. 231 00:13:57,698 --> 00:14:02,801 One of the finest hotels owned by a Black man, JB Stradford, 232 00:14:02,836 --> 00:14:06,146 that would rival any white hotel 233 00:14:06,180 --> 00:14:08,422 in terms of the decor. 234 00:14:08,456 --> 00:14:10,387 Crystal chandeliers, etc. 235 00:14:15,698 --> 00:14:20,043 There were many businesses owned by Black women in the Greenwood district. 236 00:14:21,077 --> 00:14:24,318 Black women were just as much entrepreneurs 237 00:14:24,353 --> 00:14:26,008 as their male counterparts. 238 00:14:27,905 --> 00:14:30,077 They were savvy business owners. 239 00:14:31,249 --> 00:14:32,629 There were restaurants, 240 00:14:32,663 --> 00:14:33,905 and beauty shops, 241 00:14:33,939 --> 00:14:36,698 and clothing stores. 242 00:14:36,732 --> 00:14:41,008 They contributed to the success of the Greenwood district. 243 00:14:50,077 --> 00:14:55,146 Loula Williams is a founder of Black Wall Street. 244 00:14:56,905 --> 00:15:01,663 She and JD Williams owned the Dreamland Theater. 245 00:15:01,698 --> 00:15:03,905 They owned an autobody shop. 246 00:15:04,905 --> 00:15:08,318 These were industrious people 247 00:15:08,353 --> 00:15:11,456 who figured out a way out of no way 248 00:15:11,491 --> 00:15:14,215 to make a Black life in America. 249 00:15:15,422 --> 00:15:19,387 She is an exemplar of Black Wall Street 250 00:15:19,422 --> 00:15:20,629 and what was possible. 251 00:15:22,801 --> 00:15:25,284 [Jennings] My great-grandparents had two other theaters too, 252 00:15:25,318 --> 00:15:27,008 but Dreamland was the main one. 253 00:15:28,663 --> 00:15:30,801 Dreamland was a gathering place. 254 00:15:30,836 --> 00:15:33,939 They had vaudeville shows and featured the latest movies. 255 00:15:35,870 --> 00:15:41,422 [Hill] The Dreamland theater was the finest Black entertainment establishment 256 00:15:41,456 --> 00:15:44,560 And this is a 700-person theater! 257 00:15:45,249 --> 00:15:47,594 In 1921! 258 00:15:47,629 --> 00:15:50,905 There's not a theater like that in Oklahoma today! 259 00:15:50,939 --> 00:15:51,836 [laughs] 260 00:15:54,594 --> 00:15:57,008 [Williams] They were setting their standards. 261 00:15:57,043 --> 00:16:02,387 It was important to have a venue where Black art and Black artists 262 00:16:02,422 --> 00:16:04,353 could be featured. 263 00:16:06,456 --> 00:16:10,836 [Hill] There was a level of cooperation in the Greenwood district 264 00:16:10,870 --> 00:16:12,801 that was less about capitalism, 265 00:16:12,836 --> 00:16:15,629 and more about cooperative economics. 266 00:16:18,905 --> 00:16:21,974 It was an energetic community 267 00:16:22,008 --> 00:16:24,146 that was self-contained, 268 00:16:24,180 --> 00:16:25,974 yet self-determined. 269 00:16:27,905 --> 00:16:31,043 When Booker T. Washington visits Oklahoma, 270 00:16:31,077 --> 00:16:33,491 there's this kinetic energy that's there. 271 00:16:33,525 --> 00:16:39,870 And he's able to say this is a model for other Black communities to follow, 272 00:16:41,008 --> 00:16:43,180 to build an America 273 00:16:43,215 --> 00:16:45,663 in which Black people have independence. 274 00:16:48,387 --> 00:16:52,525 This community becomes known as Black Wall Street. 275 00:16:53,318 --> 00:16:55,180 [jazz music playing] 276 00:17:06,870 --> 00:17:08,905 "Whenever there is a will, 277 00:17:08,939 --> 00:17:10,180 there is a way. 278 00:17:11,835 --> 00:17:14,353 We must double our determination. 279 00:17:14,387 --> 00:17:16,387 We must work incessantly 280 00:17:16,421 --> 00:17:18,318 to see our hopes realized 281 00:17:18,353 --> 00:17:20,248 and our labor crowned with success. 282 00:17:22,180 --> 00:17:24,146 I hope the day will soon come, 283 00:17:24,180 --> 00:17:26,007 when our city will be more liberal 284 00:17:26,043 --> 00:17:28,318 with our colored citizens." 285 00:17:28,353 --> 00:17:31,560 JB Stradford in a letter to AJ Smitherman. 286 00:17:37,043 --> 00:17:41,146 Tulsa really begins to become a boom town 287 00:17:41,180 --> 00:17:43,387 after oil is discovered. 288 00:17:45,905 --> 00:17:51,870 Much of it was drilled on land owned by indigenous and Black people. 289 00:17:51,905 --> 00:17:56,387 Backed by the government, white settlers tried to seize control of the land. 290 00:17:59,491 --> 00:18:04,456 [Williams] Oklahoma passed a law where white guardians were appointed to children 291 00:18:04,491 --> 00:18:07,491 whose land allotments had struck oil. 292 00:18:08,974 --> 00:18:11,077 Guardians handled the money 293 00:18:11,111 --> 00:18:13,491 that was being brought in from the oil. 294 00:18:15,249 --> 00:18:18,974 We're talking about millions and millions of dollars. 295 00:18:19,008 --> 00:18:21,594 And not in today's money, in that day's money. 296 00:18:22,939 --> 00:18:27,284 Warrior Rentie, his family's land had struck oil 297 00:18:27,318 --> 00:18:32,284 and they had appointed a white guardian to his children. 298 00:18:32,318 --> 00:18:35,284 The argument was that the parents were incompetent. 299 00:18:36,974 --> 00:18:38,249 AJ was there. 300 00:18:38,284 --> 00:18:42,594 They went over and spoke to this newly appointed guardian. 301 00:18:42,629 --> 00:18:46,456 And Warrior told him, "The day that you are a guardian of my children 302 00:18:46,491 --> 00:18:48,077 is the day you will die." 303 00:18:49,180 --> 00:18:51,767 Warrior was arrested. 304 00:18:51,801 --> 00:18:56,974 Thus the expose of the guardianship racket began. 305 00:18:58,456 --> 00:19:03,387 AJ not only managed to prevail in the case, 306 00:19:03,422 --> 00:19:07,732 so that Warrior was awarded guardianship over all of his children. 307 00:19:07,767 --> 00:19:10,560 They started the Negro Guardianship League 308 00:19:10,594 --> 00:19:15,146 so that they could help others who were part of this awful racket. 309 00:19:19,663 --> 00:19:21,180 [instrumental music playing] 310 00:19:24,353 --> 00:19:27,491 AJ Smitherman, he met with JB Stradford. 311 00:19:27,525 --> 00:19:30,629 He told him his intention of starting a Black newspaper. 312 00:19:30,663 --> 00:19:34,560 And JB offered a $200 loan. 313 00:19:34,594 --> 00:19:38,905 Fortunately, AJ found right away a press plant and two employees. 314 00:19:40,077 --> 00:19:42,008 And began The Tulsa Star. 315 00:19:42,043 --> 00:19:43,491 The rest is history. 316 00:19:46,249 --> 00:19:49,215 At that time, white newspapers weren't covering Black lives 317 00:19:49,249 --> 00:19:50,491 in any kind of comprehensive way. 318 00:19:52,387 --> 00:19:55,111 And so it fell on Black journalists to be able to tell those stories. 319 00:19:58,491 --> 00:20:01,146 AJ Smitherman brings some of the conscience of Greenwood 320 00:20:01,180 --> 00:20:02,353 across the United States. 321 00:20:04,111 --> 00:20:09,456 AJ Smitherman was the president of the Negro Press Association. 322 00:20:10,491 --> 00:20:13,560 He was the original Black social media. 323 00:20:14,491 --> 00:20:16,318 He was the Black Twitter. 324 00:20:16,836 --> 00:20:18,284 The pen warrior. 325 00:20:19,387 --> 00:20:22,284 He had the first Black female cartoonist. 326 00:20:23,698 --> 00:20:28,698 A staff of Black women who sold advertising for his paper. 327 00:20:28,732 --> 00:20:32,905 He made his wife, my big mommy, the social editor. 328 00:20:32,939 --> 00:20:37,491 He constantly reported on women organizations. 329 00:20:39,008 --> 00:20:41,215 I just love him for that. [chuckles] 330 00:20:48,767 --> 00:20:55,629 Dr. AC Jackson... is maybe the most incredible story of Greenwood. 331 00:20:55,663 --> 00:20:59,387 He was a stellar student and graduated from Meharry Medical School. 332 00:21:00,732 --> 00:21:03,387 He moved to Greenwood and opened his practice 333 00:21:03,422 --> 00:21:07,146 at the corner of Greenwood and Archer. 334 00:21:07,180 --> 00:21:13,422 Dr. AC Jackson was recognized by William and Charlie Mayo of Mayo Clinic, 335 00:21:13,456 --> 00:21:17,905 as being the finest Black surgeon in the country, if not the world. 336 00:21:20,111 --> 00:21:21,939 I actually trained at Mayo. 337 00:21:21,974 --> 00:21:27,836 I remember as a resident, reading about the most famous physicians of modern times, 338 00:21:27,870 --> 00:21:29,422 knowing who he was. 339 00:21:31,284 --> 00:21:34,560 I can't imagine how good he had to be 340 00:21:34,594 --> 00:21:36,422 to get to that point then. 341 00:21:39,456 --> 00:21:40,801 It's pretty powerful to think about. 342 00:21:46,284 --> 00:21:50,422 Black Wall Street gains the consternation of whites 343 00:21:50,456 --> 00:21:54,215 who were worried about the strivings of Black people. 344 00:21:56,284 --> 00:21:59,836 Who don't just want to be economic equals, 345 00:21:59,870 --> 00:22:01,939 they want to be social equals. 346 00:22:03,353 --> 00:22:04,698 And this becomes a threat. 347 00:22:06,525 --> 00:22:09,870 [Davis] When Black communities are successful, 348 00:22:09,905 --> 00:22:13,629 and when they exhibit a community spirit, 349 00:22:15,318 --> 00:22:17,284 they will certainly be targeted. 350 00:22:29,801 --> 00:22:33,767 No Black person ended up in Oklahoma by chance. 351 00:22:33,801 --> 00:22:37,836 You had a very specific group of people who had come out to this place. 352 00:22:37,870 --> 00:22:39,422 Asserting their own independence, 353 00:22:39,456 --> 00:22:40,594 their own equality 354 00:22:40,629 --> 00:22:41,698 and their own human worth. 355 00:22:47,387 --> 00:22:50,732 [Williams] Augusta Stradford was JB Stradford's wife. 356 00:22:50,767 --> 00:22:55,043 And she refused to give up her seat on a train. 357 00:22:59,284 --> 00:23:03,629 JB Stradford and his wife, Augusta were travelling from Kansas to Oklahoma. 358 00:23:04,698 --> 00:23:07,629 Kansas did not require Jim Crow cars. 359 00:23:07,663 --> 00:23:09,974 At that time, Oklahoma did. 360 00:23:10,008 --> 00:23:13,077 They were asked to move to a Jim Crow car when they were past the state border, 361 00:23:13,111 --> 00:23:15,629 and they refused to do so. 362 00:23:15,663 --> 00:23:18,491 And were removed from the car for insubordination. 363 00:23:21,111 --> 00:23:23,008 JB ends up suing the rail road company, 364 00:23:23,043 --> 00:23:26,836 asserting that this policy was racist and against the constitution. 365 00:23:28,043 --> 00:23:32,353 Collective resistance was absolutely necessary. 366 00:23:32,387 --> 00:23:35,663 One cannot be free without spreading that freedom 367 00:23:35,698 --> 00:23:38,594 and encouraging the development of that freedom. 368 00:23:42,491 --> 00:23:46,663 What we have to understand about America in the 1920s 369 00:23:46,698 --> 00:23:51,180 is that racial violence against Black people gets justified 370 00:23:51,215 --> 00:23:54,008 by this idea that Black people, 371 00:23:54,043 --> 00:23:56,180 specifically Black men are criminal. 372 00:23:58,180 --> 00:24:03,698 And there needs to be spectacular violence done to them, 373 00:24:03,732 --> 00:24:07,525 in order to control the Black population. 374 00:24:13,422 --> 00:24:18,905 In 1915, Woodrow Wilson called for a screening in the White House 375 00:24:18,939 --> 00:24:20,939 of Birth of a Nation. 376 00:24:22,905 --> 00:24:29,249 And it was the emergence of a white-supremacist United States of America. 377 00:24:30,939 --> 00:24:36,525 It legitimized even the most violent forms of white supremacy... 378 00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:37,767 lynchings. 379 00:24:40,974 --> 00:24:44,560 The visual representation of lynchings 380 00:24:44,594 --> 00:24:49,043 was actually key to the racist violence 381 00:24:49,077 --> 00:24:53,836 as the only way to guard against Black leadership. 382 00:24:58,249 --> 00:25:02,215 [Hill] And Black Wall Street, they were striving. 383 00:25:02,249 --> 00:25:04,698 Not just for economic independence. 384 00:25:04,732 --> 00:25:06,594 Not just for prosperity. 385 00:25:07,111 --> 00:25:08,663 But for equality. 386 00:25:09,663 --> 00:25:11,146 This was understood. 387 00:25:12,077 --> 00:25:14,836 And therefore, created resentment 388 00:25:14,870 --> 00:25:17,594 and trepidation amongst whites in Tulsa. 389 00:25:20,353 --> 00:25:23,767 Can you imagine, you're a white man from Mississippi, 390 00:25:25,008 --> 00:25:30,249 in a age where the white man was superior to negros, 391 00:25:30,284 --> 00:25:34,318 but you see that Greenwood is full of wealthy people. 392 00:25:34,353 --> 00:25:37,111 There was a lot of animosity going on. 393 00:25:38,353 --> 00:25:42,249 There was a sense of jealousy in the air. 394 00:25:42,284 --> 00:25:46,422 How dare these Black folks go and build a community for themselves. 395 00:25:46,456 --> 00:25:48,077 How dare there be Black folks 396 00:25:48,111 --> 00:25:50,732 that are roaming around in drop-tops, 397 00:25:50,767 --> 00:25:55,043 when white folks have not amassed that same amount of wealth at all levels. 398 00:25:58,111 --> 00:26:02,043 [Ross] They did not like that these uppity negros 399 00:26:02,077 --> 00:26:04,698 were able to make all this money, 400 00:26:04,732 --> 00:26:06,663 have nice fine items, 401 00:26:06,698 --> 00:26:08,111 have nice cars, 402 00:26:08,146 --> 00:26:10,043 nice furniture in their homes 403 00:26:10,077 --> 00:26:11,456 and silverware and clothing. 404 00:26:11,491 --> 00:26:13,180 They despised that. 405 00:26:18,146 --> 00:26:19,732 [Brown-Burdex] Initially, when African-Americans 406 00:26:19,767 --> 00:26:22,629 began to build their homes and businesses 407 00:26:22,663 --> 00:26:24,836 at the corner of Greenwood and Archer, 408 00:26:24,870 --> 00:26:27,629 the city of Tulsa wasn't too concerned. 409 00:26:27,663 --> 00:26:31,629 But as that wealth trickled into the Greenwood district, 410 00:26:31,663 --> 00:26:35,836 there was an interest in having African-Americans 411 00:26:35,870 --> 00:26:37,939 sell their land in the Greenwood district 412 00:26:37,974 --> 00:26:40,491 and relocate farther north. 413 00:26:40,525 --> 00:26:44,180 They were approached and asked to relocate. 414 00:26:44,215 --> 00:26:46,491 And they refused to do so. 415 00:26:48,318 --> 00:26:49,525 [ominous music plays] 416 00:26:51,767 --> 00:26:54,525 "The Tulsa Star'ssynonymous with any term meaning 417 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,698 the civil and political rights of the American colored man. 418 00:26:57,732 --> 00:27:00,180 In this, we are not compromising." 419 00:27:01,318 --> 00:27:03,732 AJ Smitherman wrote that in The Tulsa Star. 420 00:27:06,180 --> 00:27:11,974 In the State of Oklahoma, AJ Smitherman was the first registered Black Democrat. 421 00:27:13,767 --> 00:27:16,043 At that time, it'd be very hard to find 422 00:27:16,077 --> 00:27:19,456 other Black Democrats registered throughout the United States. 423 00:27:20,905 --> 00:27:24,422 The vast majority of Blacks would always vote Republican. 424 00:27:26,836 --> 00:27:30,249 Republicans could take for granted the Black vote, 425 00:27:30,284 --> 00:27:33,249 because Lincoln had been Republican. 426 00:27:33,284 --> 00:27:37,698 AJ started noticing that Republicans were voting against Civil Rights. 427 00:27:39,387 --> 00:27:40,801 It was a huge risk, 428 00:27:40,836 --> 00:27:45,560 but he was on a mission to help diversify the Black vote in America. 429 00:27:52,249 --> 00:27:55,698 [Hill] He's the quintessential race man 430 00:27:55,732 --> 00:27:58,422 taking issue with discrimination and inequality 431 00:27:58,456 --> 00:28:01,008 that Black people experience in Tulsa. 432 00:28:01,043 --> 00:28:04,353 He was a crusader against lynching. 433 00:28:04,387 --> 00:28:08,318 In many ways, he represented the manhood. 434 00:28:08,353 --> 00:28:13,836 I see him as the guardian of Black Tulsa. 435 00:28:13,870 --> 00:28:17,146 [Williams] In the seven years that he had that newspaper in Tulsa, 436 00:28:17,180 --> 00:28:22,422 he turned the Black vote to over 50% Democratic. 437 00:28:22,456 --> 00:28:27,146 Here we are 100 years later, and Blacks are primarily Democrats. 438 00:28:30,732 --> 00:28:35,456 That movement was started by my great-grandfather in the early 1900s. 439 00:28:38,974 --> 00:28:44,836 The people of Greenwood were beginning to show the white leaders 440 00:28:44,870 --> 00:28:47,732 that they did have power in numbers 441 00:28:47,767 --> 00:28:48,836 and the power to vote. 442 00:28:48,870 --> 00:28:50,008 And that was a threat. 443 00:28:58,215 --> 00:29:00,698 So the way to eliminate the Black vote... 444 00:29:03,629 --> 00:29:05,077 was to get rid of the Black town. 445 00:29:11,008 --> 00:29:13,767 [ominous music plays] 446 00:29:13,801 --> 00:29:18,594 Just like today, there was a strategy that had been taking place in the south. 447 00:29:18,629 --> 00:29:22,974 Where white women accuse a Black man in order to incite violence. 448 00:29:23,008 --> 00:29:24,560 They keep following me. 449 00:29:24,594 --> 00:29:26,043 They're threatening me. 450 00:29:26,077 --> 00:29:28,698 I'm in trouble. There's an African-American man threatening my life. 451 00:29:28,732 --> 00:29:30,008 Sir, I'm asking to stop recording me. 452 00:29:30,043 --> 00:29:31,491 [man] Please don't come close to me. 453 00:29:31,525 --> 00:29:35,043 Whiteness and white supremacy gets threatened 454 00:29:35,077 --> 00:29:38,215 if folks of color gain power. 455 00:29:39,939 --> 00:29:43,939 Greenwood was a threat and you have to squash threats. 456 00:29:46,767 --> 00:29:50,180 [Goodwin] The people of Greenwood knew that racist white folks 457 00:29:50,215 --> 00:29:54,077 were envious of this prosperous Black community. 458 00:29:54,111 --> 00:29:56,974 But they didn't know the degree of the devastation 459 00:29:57,008 --> 00:29:58,836 that would visit Greenwood. 460 00:29:59,870 --> 00:30:02,008 It all started with Dick Rowland. 461 00:30:07,077 --> 00:30:10,698 [Brown-Burdex] Dick Rowland was a shoeshine boy in downtown Tulsa. 462 00:30:10,732 --> 00:30:13,491 He had dropped out of Booker T. Washington High School 463 00:30:13,525 --> 00:30:15,836 to shine the shoes of rich, white oil men. 464 00:30:16,663 --> 00:30:17,939 He made so much money 465 00:30:17,974 --> 00:30:20,353 that he wore a diamond-encrusted belt-buckle, 466 00:30:20,387 --> 00:30:22,215 and his nickname was Diamond Dick. 467 00:30:25,905 --> 00:30:27,387 Dick Rowland needed to go to the restroom 468 00:30:27,422 --> 00:30:30,387 and the restroom was on the fourth floor of the building. 469 00:30:30,422 --> 00:30:33,422 [Brown-Burdex] There was a young white girl named Sarah Page. 470 00:30:33,456 --> 00:30:37,456 And it was her job to operate the elevator from one floor to the next. 471 00:30:37,491 --> 00:30:39,077 [elevator dings] 472 00:30:39,111 --> 00:30:42,905 Everyday, Dick Rowland would enter the Drexel Building 473 00:30:42,939 --> 00:30:46,077 to go upstairs to use the restroom. 474 00:30:46,111 --> 00:30:49,491 He encountered Sarah Page on numerous occasions. 475 00:30:51,905 --> 00:30:55,077 [Luckerson] At some point in the elevator, Sarah Page screamed 476 00:30:55,111 --> 00:30:57,594 and Dick Rowland ran from the Drexel Building. 477 00:30:59,146 --> 00:31:01,456 No one can say with 1000% veracity what happened. 478 00:31:02,663 --> 00:31:05,629 [Williams] Dick Rowland went into an elevator 479 00:31:05,663 --> 00:31:11,732 and came out a man that was falsely accused. 480 00:31:14,008 --> 00:31:15,491 [Brown-Burdex] Dick Rowland was arrested. 481 00:31:16,836 --> 00:31:19,698 And he was taken to the jailhouse 482 00:31:19,732 --> 00:31:21,215 located above the courthouse. 483 00:31:23,043 --> 00:31:26,732 [Williams] The Tulsa Tribune published an article 484 00:31:26,767 --> 00:31:28,663 saying, "Nab the negro." 485 00:31:33,111 --> 00:31:35,387 [Hill] Rumors began to spread 486 00:31:35,422 --> 00:31:40,249 that it wasn't just that Dick Rowland had attacked Sarah Page, 487 00:31:40,663 --> 00:31:43,008 he raped her. 488 00:31:43,043 --> 00:31:45,456 [Luckerson] The rape allegation whips up a lot of excitement 489 00:31:45,491 --> 00:31:46,594 on both sides of the tracks. 490 00:31:48,594 --> 00:31:51,974 This becomes fodder for white men in Tulsa to say, 491 00:31:52,008 --> 00:31:55,801 "We have to stand up against this community 492 00:31:55,836 --> 00:31:58,491 in which this attack emanates from. 493 00:31:59,525 --> 00:32:02,767 And if you are a white man worth his salt, 494 00:32:02,801 --> 00:32:05,560 you would do what you could 495 00:32:05,594 --> 00:32:08,318 to defend white people, white society 496 00:32:08,353 --> 00:32:09,974 and particularly, white women 497 00:32:10,629 --> 00:32:11,905 from Black criminality." 498 00:32:16,249 --> 00:32:19,801 A second inflammatory article came out 499 00:32:19,836 --> 00:32:24,732 that says, "Looks like there is going to be a lynching in Tulsa tonight." 500 00:32:24,767 --> 00:32:28,008 [Williams] This was inciting a violent mob 501 00:32:28,043 --> 00:32:31,284 to gather before the courthouse 502 00:32:31,318 --> 00:32:34,663 and to remove Dick Rowland from the custody of the officials 503 00:32:34,698 --> 00:32:35,663 in order to lynch him. 504 00:32:39,767 --> 00:32:43,008 [Brown-Burdex] Whites had begun to gather in front of the courthouse, 505 00:32:43,043 --> 00:32:44,974 angry and upset about what had happened, 506 00:32:45,008 --> 00:32:47,180 and determined to take matters into their own hands. 507 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,111 They had hung a white man few months before. 508 00:32:54,043 --> 00:32:57,663 So they know if they hung a white man, they sure enough would hang a Black man. 509 00:32:59,008 --> 00:33:00,698 [Williams] In front ofThe Tulsa Star, 510 00:33:00,732 --> 00:33:04,801 AJ Smitherman gathered World War I veterans, 511 00:33:04,836 --> 00:33:08,077 Black men who had fought overseas and had been trained, 512 00:33:08,111 --> 00:33:13,180 with the intention of going to protect Dick Rowland from a mob. 513 00:33:13,215 --> 00:33:14,698 Some accounts say a thousand white people 514 00:33:14,732 --> 00:33:16,215 were outside of the county courthouse. 515 00:33:17,974 --> 00:33:20,422 Later, those people would say that they were there 516 00:33:20,456 --> 00:33:22,077 to observe what was going to happen. 517 00:33:22,111 --> 00:33:24,284 But, you know... What are you expecting to happen 518 00:33:24,318 --> 00:33:26,870 if you're outside of a courthouse in the middle of the night, May 31st, 1921? 519 00:33:30,801 --> 00:33:33,870 [Cooper] Wasn't something that happened out of nowhere. 520 00:33:33,905 --> 00:33:36,698 This is years of racial tension and racial violence. 521 00:33:40,111 --> 00:33:43,905 [Goodwin] On that evening, my grandfather, Ed Goodwin Senior, 522 00:33:43,939 --> 00:33:47,215 he was a senior at Booker T. 523 00:33:47,249 --> 00:33:51,732 They were supposed to be preparing for their graduation. 524 00:33:51,767 --> 00:33:54,111 While they were engaged in what they were doing, 525 00:33:54,146 --> 00:33:57,249 someone came to them and they said, 526 00:33:57,284 --> 00:33:58,560 "There's troubles coming." 527 00:34:04,318 --> 00:34:06,318 [Luckerson] A very large group of white men were out there 528 00:34:06,353 --> 00:34:09,456 and then armed Black men come driving down from Greenwood 529 00:34:09,490 --> 00:34:11,456 to the courthouse. 530 00:34:11,490 --> 00:34:13,490 And I would imagine that the white people there, 531 00:34:13,525 --> 00:34:17,043 probably felt a mix of surprise, anger and fear at what they were seeing. 532 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:21,146 This is not how they expect society to function. 533 00:34:23,008 --> 00:34:28,353 [Hill] The ways in which the white mob encircle the county courthouse 534 00:34:28,387 --> 00:34:33,111 was part and parcel of lynching culture in America. 535 00:34:34,180 --> 00:34:35,525 [Goodwin] There were white folks saying, 536 00:34:35,559 --> 00:34:37,353 "We're looking to lynch Dick Rowland tonight." 537 00:34:38,559 --> 00:34:41,146 Black World War I veterans said, 538 00:34:41,180 --> 00:34:44,077 "Listen, we're not gonna allow this young, Black man to be hung. 539 00:34:45,180 --> 00:34:46,800 He needs to have his day in court." 540 00:34:47,870 --> 00:34:49,422 The tensions are high. 541 00:34:51,180 --> 00:34:52,456 Black man had a gun. 542 00:34:52,490 --> 00:34:54,077 The white man said, "What are you gonna do with the gun?" 543 00:34:54,111 --> 00:34:56,077 Black man says, "I'mma use it if I have to." 544 00:34:56,111 --> 00:34:58,560 They attempt to take the gun from the Black man. 545 00:34:58,594 --> 00:34:59,629 A shot rings out. 546 00:34:59,663 --> 00:35:00,698 [gun fires] 547 00:35:04,353 --> 00:35:05,180 From that point... 548 00:35:06,422 --> 00:35:07,698 all hell broke lose. 549 00:35:08,594 --> 00:35:10,215 [crowd screaming] 550 00:35:10,249 --> 00:35:11,663 [gunshots firing] 551 00:35:29,698 --> 00:35:31,939 [Davis] All of the major steps 552 00:35:31,974 --> 00:35:35,318 in democratizing the United States of America 553 00:35:35,353 --> 00:35:39,836 have happened as a result of the struggles of Black people. 554 00:35:41,008 --> 00:35:43,939 And the efforts to prevent this, 555 00:35:43,974 --> 00:35:47,146 of course, are extreme and they are violent. 556 00:35:49,043 --> 00:35:54,422 And one sees that after the Wilmington, North Carolina massacre, 557 00:35:54,456 --> 00:35:57,456 the Red Summer in 1919, 558 00:35:58,974 --> 00:36:01,456 and then of course, Greenwood. 559 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,422 [Luckerson] White people tried to loot the National Guard armory. 560 00:36:09,456 --> 00:36:12,491 They broke into a hardware store to take as many weapons as they possibly could. 561 00:36:13,939 --> 00:36:16,698 They were attempting to be deputized by police. 562 00:36:16,732 --> 00:36:19,318 This man names Laurel Buck was at the courthouse 563 00:36:19,353 --> 00:36:22,043 shortly before Black men came in the cars, 564 00:36:22,077 --> 00:36:25,111 sees everything unfold, and he just makes a beeline for the police department. 565 00:36:25,146 --> 00:36:27,801 What was said by the police was, 566 00:36:27,836 --> 00:36:29,525 "Get a gun, get busy and get a nigger." 567 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:30,387 [gun cocking] 568 00:36:32,905 --> 00:36:38,629 [Brown-Burdex] The Sherriff's department deputized over 500 white men 569 00:36:38,663 --> 00:36:41,560 who were joined by the police force. 570 00:36:41,594 --> 00:36:45,008 Who were joined by thousands of white rioters. 571 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:52,698 The Black people who were in downtown had been pushed back into Greenwood. 572 00:36:52,732 --> 00:36:55,663 They were having skirmishes across rail road tracks with white groups. 573 00:36:58,767 --> 00:37:03,180 The way that the massacre has been portrayed often times in the media 574 00:37:03,215 --> 00:37:06,629 has been that Blacks were fleeing for their lives. 575 00:37:07,629 --> 00:37:10,387 And it... omits the part 576 00:37:10,422 --> 00:37:13,905 where African-American men armed themselves. 577 00:37:13,939 --> 00:37:17,043 And positioned themselves in some strategic locations. 578 00:37:21,318 --> 00:37:24,180 [Ross] A gentlemen by the name of "Peg Leg" Taylor, 579 00:37:24,215 --> 00:37:27,801 who stood upon what we know today as Standpipe Hill, 580 00:37:27,836 --> 00:37:31,180 he was a veteran of World War I. 581 00:37:31,215 --> 00:37:33,594 But he brought back as one of his souvenirs, 582 00:37:33,629 --> 00:37:35,629 a Gatling gun. 583 00:37:38,077 --> 00:37:40,939 And there he was positioned upon Standpipe Hill. 584 00:37:40,974 --> 00:37:44,284 And as the mobsters came into the Greenwood area, 585 00:37:44,318 --> 00:37:47,353 he would fire upon them, taking them out. 586 00:37:47,387 --> 00:37:48,560 One by one. 587 00:37:53,905 --> 00:37:56,456 [Jennings] My grandfather and great-grandfather were holed up 588 00:37:56,491 --> 00:38:00,422 in a room with guns for basically 24 hours. 589 00:38:00,456 --> 00:38:04,801 My grandfather would be reloading my great-grandfather's guns, 590 00:38:04,836 --> 00:38:07,491 and they were there the entire time. 591 00:38:07,525 --> 00:38:12,008 My great-grandfather ended up sending my great-grandmother to her mother's house. 592 00:38:12,043 --> 00:38:13,905 And at that point, they had no idea 593 00:38:13,939 --> 00:38:15,353 what was gonna happen to any of them. 594 00:38:19,974 --> 00:38:22,974 Along with these intermittent skirmishes happening, 595 00:38:23,008 --> 00:38:24,836 Black groups were trying to defend the community. 596 00:38:26,663 --> 00:38:29,318 The early morning hours of June 1st, 597 00:38:29,353 --> 00:38:32,491 the Blacks actually ran the mob off. 598 00:38:36,043 --> 00:38:39,077 People actually thought that it might settle. 599 00:38:39,111 --> 00:38:40,663 And that things would be okay. 600 00:38:44,698 --> 00:38:47,008 [Williams] The mob went and organized 601 00:38:47,663 --> 00:38:49,043 and galvanized, 602 00:38:50,008 --> 00:38:52,629 with the government's participation, 603 00:38:52,663 --> 00:38:59,111 they met the Sheriff's offices to carry out this mission 604 00:38:59,146 --> 00:39:02,146 to obliterate the entire district. 605 00:39:06,422 --> 00:39:10,180 [Luckerson] No one knows exactly the context of why what happens next happened, 606 00:39:10,215 --> 00:39:13,732 but around 5:00 am, an industrial whistle was sounded 607 00:39:13,767 --> 00:39:16,008 -[whistle blows] -and a mob stormed Greenwood. 608 00:39:17,387 --> 00:39:18,732 They came across the rail road tracks, 609 00:39:19,732 --> 00:39:21,387 came down Greenwood Avenue, 610 00:39:21,422 --> 00:39:25,249 and they began entering buildings and systematically burning them. 611 00:39:31,215 --> 00:39:34,180 White people would take all the furniture, clothing, 612 00:39:34,215 --> 00:39:35,422 put it in the middle of the room, 613 00:39:35,456 --> 00:39:37,284 douse it in kerosene and set it on fire. 614 00:39:37,318 --> 00:39:39,387 And they'd be going around in small groups doing this, 615 00:39:40,111 --> 00:39:41,836 building by building, 616 00:39:41,870 --> 00:39:43,560 throughout Greenwood and down Greenwood Avenue. 617 00:39:59,870 --> 00:40:03,249 The Tulsa Police deputized 618 00:40:03,284 --> 00:40:07,077 250 to 500 white men 619 00:40:07,111 --> 00:40:10,215 to arrest and if need be, kill 620 00:40:10,249 --> 00:40:13,560 Black people who they believe were in rebellion 621 00:40:13,594 --> 00:40:15,663 against Tulsans. 622 00:40:16,836 --> 00:40:18,836 This was not a riot... 623 00:40:20,008 --> 00:40:21,043 This was a massacre. 624 00:40:21,767 --> 00:40:22,594 [ominous music playing] 625 00:40:30,284 --> 00:40:32,146 [narrator] Next week. Part Two... 626 00:40:32,180 --> 00:40:34,353 The Legacy of Black Wall Street. 627 00:40:34,387 --> 00:40:37,043 [Bradley] Black Wall Street was hundreds and thousands 628 00:40:37,077 --> 00:40:39,905 of the very best business owners and professionals 629 00:40:39,939 --> 00:40:42,249 who made the most of the least. 630 00:40:42,284 --> 00:40:44,043 Creating their best lives 631 00:40:44,077 --> 00:40:45,801 and they were punished for it. 632 00:40:45,836 --> 00:40:48,422 [Hill] It was the deadliest, 633 00:40:48,456 --> 00:40:50,249 most destructive 634 00:40:50,284 --> 00:40:53,387 attack on a Black community in American history. 635 00:40:53,422 --> 00:40:55,008 [Davis] For a very long time, 636 00:40:55,043 --> 00:40:58,560 Black people remained silent about this, 637 00:40:58,594 --> 00:41:01,318 because they didn't want the next generation 638 00:41:01,353 --> 00:41:04,146 to have to undergo the same violence. 639 00:41:04,594 --> 00:41:06,491 [Hill] By 1942, 640 00:41:06,525 --> 00:41:09,077 the number of businesses had grown. 641 00:41:09,111 --> 00:41:10,732 It was a larger community. 642 00:41:10,767 --> 00:41:12,491 It was a much more affluent community. 643 00:41:12,525 --> 00:41:15,491 than it had ever been in 1921. 644 00:41:15,525 --> 00:41:20,077 But they still faced discrimination and rigid segregation. 645 00:41:20,111 --> 00:41:24,146 A Black entrepreneur requires a level of defiance. 646 00:41:24,180 --> 00:41:26,594 There is also an anxiety. 647 00:41:26,629 --> 00:41:29,698 Because, if you took it out the first time, 648 00:41:29,732 --> 00:41:31,111 and you took it out again, 649 00:41:31,146 --> 00:41:34,663 what is that next thing that's coming to destroy this again.