Racial Terrorism in Oklahoma
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
The 1920s also saw the Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the most horrific racial terror attacks to take place on American soil. On May 30, 1921, a young Black man named Dick Rowland was accused of assaulting a white woman, Sarah Page, in an elevator in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The following day, the Tulsa Tribune newspaper printed an inflammatory editorial calling for Rowland to be lynched. That evening, conflict erupted in front of the Tulsa Courthouse between armed African Americans seeking to protect Rowland and white protesters. In the early hours of June 1, white rioters looted and burned the thriving African American community in the Greenwood district of Tulsa. Hundreds of residents were murdered; 1,250 homes were destroyed; and businesses, theaters, hospitals, hotels, newspapers, restaurants, and grocery stores were razed to the ground. The financial toll was equally devastating: the $1.8 million in property loss was nearly impossible to overcome.
At roughly the same time, Oklahoma witnessed an oil rush on the Osage Reservation. The Osage oil fields were among the largest in the world. Almost overnight, members of Osage Nation went from being among the poorest to the richest people in the United States. In 1921, the U.S. government forced the Osage to have white guardians control their wealth, which led to fraud, theft, and murder. At least 27 members of the Osage Nation were killed between 1921 and 1925 through elaborate poisonings, house explosions, and shootings by whites seeking their fortunes in what became known as the “Osage Reign of Terror.”
Take Notes
Based on what you have read about civil rights and civil liberties, to what extent do the 1920s deserve to be known as the “Roaring ’20s”? List two to three pieces of evidence to support your position.
