Tulsa Burning (14 page)

Author's Note

Nobe Chase and the other characters in this book are fictitious. There is no Wekiwa, Oklahoma, outside of Tulsa. I wish I
could say that the race riot also grew out of my imagination. However, the terrible event really occurred.

In 1921, Tulsa was in many ways two cities. African-Americans lived in Tulsa, but they were not welcome in stores and businesses
owned by whites. A section of Tulsa called Greenwood was a prosperous African-American business district. It was often referred
to as the "Black Wall Street of America." Greenwood was a thirty-five-square-block area containing, besides homes, every kind
of business. There was also a public library, a hospital, two schools, and twenty-three churches.

On May 31, 1921, a young African-American man was accused of assaulting a white woman who operated the elevator in a downtown
building. The young man was arrested. Inflamed by irresponsible newspaper reporting, a huge crowd of white men gathered at
the courthouse where the young man was held. They talked of lynching. A much smaller group of African-American men also gathered
to protect the young man.

Angry words led to gunfire, and the race war started. The trouble moved to the Greenwood area, where the burning of the thirty-five-square-block
area began. Martial law finally stopped the riot. However, more than 1,000 African-American homes and dozens of their businesses
were only ashes. All twenty-three of the churches were destroyed. The number of deaths, most of them of African-American,
is estimated to be between 27 and 250. No one knows for sure.

The citizens of Greenwood were strong enough to rebuild their community, and in ten years it was as prosperous as ever. Greenwood
thrived until desegregation made it possible for African-Americans to live and do business in a broader area. In town today
stands a lovely building known as the Greenwood Educational and Cultural Center.

Growing up in Oklahoma, I had no idea such a terrible thing happened in the city only sixty miles from my home. For a long
time knowledge of the event was suppressed, and no one talked about it. Only in the last few years has the event been chronicled
in Oklahoma history books. Recently there have been articles in national magazines, and several books have been published
on the subject. I wanted to add a book for young people to that list. It is the young who must learn from mistakes made by
earlier generations. It is the young who must fight against prejudice and cruelty in the future.