Death in a Promised Land (27 page)

Black history and the history of race relations in Oklahoma have not received the attention they warrant. By far the most useful general work is Kay M. Teall (ed.),
Black History in Oklahoma: A Resource Book
(Oklahoma City: Oklahoma City Public Schools, 1971). Teall’s volume is an enticing compilation of source material on black Oklahoma history from the 1500s to the 1970s. Other items which proved to be of assistance were: Arthur Tolson,
The Black Oklahomans: A History, 1541–1972
(New Orleans: Edwards Printing Company, 1972), a general survey; Edwin S. Redkey
Black Exodus: Black Nationalism and Back-to-Africa Movements, 1890–1910
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969), which discusses Chief Alfred Sam; and, Norman L. Crockett,
The Black Towns
(Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1979), and William Bittle and Gilbert L. Geis, “Racial Self-Fulfillment and the Rise of an All-Negro Community in Oklahoma,” in August Meier and Elliott Rudwick (eds.),
The Making of Black America,
II (New York: Atheneum, 1969).

OKLAHOMA RADICALISM AND THE IWW INCIDENT

The history of political radicalism in the Sooner State has fared better. Two recent works are: James M. Green,
Grass-Roots Socialism: Radical Movements in the Southwest, 1885–1943
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978); and, Garin Burbank,
When Farmers Voted Red: The Gospel of Socialism in the Oklahoma Countryside, 1910–1914
(Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1976). Green’s book is by far the stronger of the two, and is filled with a tremendous amount of valuable information. David A. Shannon,
The Socialist Party of America: A History
(Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1955), and James A. Weinstein,
The Decline of Socialism in America, 1912–1921
(New York: Monthly Review Press, 1967), were helpful in fathoming the history of the socialist movement in Oklahoma, as were the Oklahoma state files of the Socialist Party of America Papers at Duke University. The most useful general history of the IWW was Melvyn Dubofsky,
We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World
(Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1969).

The primary sources for the IWW incident in Tulsa were three (white) Tulsa newspapers—the
Times,
the
World,
and the
Democrat
—plus, National Civil Liberties Bureau,
The “Knights of Liberty” Mob and the I.W.W. Prisoners at Tulsa, Okla., November 9, 1917
(New York: National Civil Liberties Bureau, 1918), a pamphlet containing the results of their investigation. Information about the incident is also to be found in: William T. Lampe,
Tulsa County and the World War
(Tulsa: Tulsa County Historical Society, 1918), which eulogizes the Knights of Liberty; H. C. Peterson and Gilbert Fite,
Opponents of War, 1917–1918
(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1957), an excellent history of both the antiwar movement and radical suppression in America; and Joyce L. Kornbluh (ed.),
Rebel Voices: An I.W.W. Anthology
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1964). Kornbluh’s excellent volume also contains some information on the Oil Field Workers Union, as does Federal Writers’ Project of Oklahoma,
Labor History of Oklahoma
(Oklahoma City: A. M. Van Horn, 1939). No extant issues of black Tulsa newspapers contained any information relating to this incident.

LEONARD AND BELTON INCIDENTS

My information on the events surrounding the fatal shooting of O. W. Leonard is based almost entirely on accounts in three white Tulsa newspapers: the
Times,
the
World,
and the
Democrat
. Unfortunately, once again, no copies of what was then the city’s black newspaper, the
Star,
seemed to have survived with information on the incident. With the exception of W. D. Williams, who provided some inferential information, none of my oral informants could provide me with any information on the incident.

The account of the lynching of Roy Belton was derived from a similar data base. Although the event is mentioned in Walter White, “The Eruption of Tulsa”
Nation,
CXII (June, 1921), my primary sources were the accounts of the
World
and the
Tribune
. A small amount of information, mainly important for its editorial content, was found in a rare issue of the
Star
. A collection of brief newspaper clippings about the incident is located in the NAACP Papers at the Library of Congress.

THE RACE RIOT

Although this book has differed significantly in both its sources of information and its interpretation, it has nonetheless benefited from prior studies of the riot. Additionally, the two earliest studies proved to be particularly helpful as the sources of material no longer in existence.

It is truly unfortunate that so little could be discovered about Mary E. Jones Parrish, for her
Events of the Tulsa Disaster
(N.p., n.p., n.d.), the first book about the riot, is in many ways a truly remarkable document. My oral informants felt that she had come to Tulsa, where she worked as a teacher, only shortly before the riot, and departed soon afterwards.
Events of the Tulsa Disaster
is a difficult book to classify. It is both a finely detailed personal memoir of her experiences during the riot as well as compilation of statements of other riot victims about the event. She also included some statistical information regarding riot losses. Yet, regardless how one types this work, it is an important source for the history of the riot.

Loren L. Gill’s “The Tulsa Race Riot” (M.A. thesis, University of Tulsa, 1946) was the first “historical” study of the riot. It not only charts the events of the violence and its aftermath, but attempts to place the riot within the broader contexts of both Tulsa and American history. Gill was a dogged researcher, and his thesis remains as a crucial source on the contents of the May 31,1921, issue of the Tulsa
Tribune
. Gill also performed oral interviews with a number of since-deceased Tulsans about the riot and its aftermath and, since the notes to these interviews have been lost, his thesis remains the only source of their contents. While well-researched, “The Tulsa Race Riot” suffers in its interpretive abilities due in no small part to a patronizing attitude toward blacks. (It bears notation, however, that shortly before his untimely death in the early 1970s, Gill informed his thesis adviser that his feelings about the riot had changed considerably over the years.) His interpretation of the aftermath of the riot suffers from portraying the actions of the city’s white elite in a better light than they deserve (which may have been due, in part, to lack of access to certain materials), and, like the other studies, he did not recognize the importance of the IWW and Leonard incidents in the creation of a local atmosphere which would allow the riot to occur.

Subsequent studies of the riot have been less energetically researched than Loren Gill’s thesis. Lee E. Williams and Lee E. Williams II,
Anatomy of Four Race Riots: Racial Conflict in Knoxville, Elaine (Arkansas), Tulsa and Chicago, 1919–1921
(Hattiesburg: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1972), contains a balanced chapter on the riot based primarily on national magazine articles. R. Halliburton, Jr.,
The Tulsa Race War of 1921
(San Francisco: R and E Research Associates, 1975), is primarily a collection of documents about the riot. Halliburton’s narrative text, which closely follows his “The Tulsa Race War of 1921,”
Journal of Black Studies,
XX (March, 1972), suffers primarily from its brevity. Halliburton is to be credited, however, for being the first to utilize certain previously ignored sources of information about the riot. Of the popular magazine articles about the riot, the most helpful was Ed Wheeler, “Profile of a Race Riot,”
Oklahoma Impact Magazine,
IV (June-July, 1971).

The Tulsa race riot was “national news” and was the subject of a fair number of articles in national periodicals. “The Tulsa Race Riots,”
Independent,
CV (June 18, 1921); “Blood and Oil,”
Survey,
XLVI (June 11, 1921); “The Lesson of Tulsa,”
Outlook,
CXXVIII (June 15, 1921); and “The Tulsa Riots,”
Crisis,
XXII (July 1921), all contain useful information, but the most useful is Walter White, “The Eruption of Tulsa,”
Nation,
CXII (June 29, 1921). White, who at that time served on the national staff of the NAACP, traveled to Tulsa incognito to investigate the devastation. Amy Comstock, “‘Over There,’ Another View of the Tulsa Riots,”
Survey,
XLVI (July 2, 1921), is an attempt to relieve white Tulsans for any responsibility in the event, written by the secretary to Richard Lloyd Jones, editor of the
Tribune
.

Charles F. Barrett,
Oklahoma after Fifty Years: A History of the Sooner State and Its People
(Hopkinsville, Ky: Historical Record Association, 1941), vacillates between being a personal memoir and a history of the state. Barrett was the adjutant general of Oklahoma at the time of the riot, commanding the National Guard troops which came to the city. His section on the riot contains a good amount of useful information. A reminiscence of value is Ross T. Warner,
Oklahoma Boy
(N.p., n.p., n.d.).

Newspaper accounts were essential in reconstructing the events of the riot. Not surprisingly, the material found in the
Tribune
and the
World
was found to be the most helpful. The offices of the
Star
and the
Sun
were burned by white rioters, and the nearest extant issues of each do not contain any information especially helpful in charting the course of the violence. Of the out-of-town newspapers consulted, those found to be of the most assistance were: the New York
Times;
the San Francisco
Chronicle;
the Oklahoma City
Daily Oklahoman;
and the Oklahoma City
Black Dispatch
.

In the face of this situation—the dearth of local black sources— the testimony of many of my oral informants proved to be particularly valuable. Not only did they balance the accounts in the
Tribune
and the
World,
but they also provided information on personal experiences during the violence simply not available anywhere else.

The collections of the Oklahoma State Archives also proved to be invaluable in charting the course of the violence. The Governor James B. A. Robertson Papers contain a number of important documents, including the telegrams sent him by the authorities in Tulsa. The Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection also contains a number of key items, including statements by Tulsans affected by the riot.

THE AFTERMATH

The events comprising the aftermath of the riot were also reconstructed from an amalgam of sources. Testimony from my oral informants, plus accounts in the
Tribune
and the
World,
covered the entire range of post-riot activities. One extant issue of the
Sun
also contained useful material.

In documenting the activities of the city’s white elite, the key sources were the Records of Commission Proceedings (1921–1922), City of Tulsa, and, especially, the Minutes of Directors’ Meetings (1921), Tulsa Chamber of Commerce. Other notably useful items on this topic, and on the bona fide relief activities, included: Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” which contains information culled from his interviews; Parrish,
Events of the Tulsa Disaster,
for her information on the Red Cross and various black groups; and, White, “The Eruption of Tulsa,” for its knowledgeable perspective on what was actually transpiring during the “reconstruction.”

Barrett,
Oklahoma after Fifty Years,
the Robertson Papers at the Oklahoma State Archives, and Douglas,
The History of Tulsa,
I, were helpful in fathoming the involvement of the National Guard. The records of the District Court Clerk, located in the Tulsa County Courthouse were central to an understanding of the legal aspects of the aftermath, as were materials in the Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection at the Oklahoma State Archives.

USE OF CITY DIRECTORIES

Tulsa City Directories,
from 1909 to 1922, were used in a number of ways in the research of this book, from trying to gain a sense who the IWW prisoners were to gauging the destruction of black Tulsa during the riot. They were an important source for the map, “Central Tulsa, 1917–1921,” and were virtually the only source for Appendices I and II. The research processes used with the directories were elementary, though often time-consuming. They bear explanation for their applicability to other research in urban social history, particularly in those subjects where manuscript census data is either not available or not particularly helpful.

Those familiar with city directories know that they share a number of things in common with a modern telephone directory, but that they contain more information. The most complete directories that I employed contained four sections: a general information section; an alphabetical index; an index of businesses; and a street index. The first section, the general information section, is a listing of public officials, public buildings, important commercial buildings, religious institutions, and fraternal orders. This section provided information on a number of subjects, including: how large the Tulsa police force was at any given year; how many police officers were black (in Tulsa city directories for this period, any person or institution designated as black was followed by a “(c)”—for “colored”); the location of important buildings; and the number, age, and congregation size of the city’s black churches (Appendix I was taken completely from this section).