The Regal Theater and Your Cab Company both operated successful enterprises in the Greenwood District around the 1950s. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
Pictured here around 1960 is Latimer’s Bar-B-Q, located on Pine Street and Greenwood Avenue. The Latimer name became synonymous with top-notch barbeque and, more particularly, barbeque sauce. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
The Greenwood District was also home to this unidentified pool hall. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
The Williams Dreamland Theater, pictured here during the 1940s and owned by John and Loula Williams, was rebuilt after its destruction in the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
The seating within the Dreamland Theater is shown in this 1940s photograph. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
Bowser’s Prescription Shop, located on Greenwood Avenue, is shown in this 1950s photograph. Entrepreneurship flourished in the Greenwood District, with professional service providers like Bowser’s playing a crucial role. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
This c. 1940 photograph showcases the area of town that was known as “Deep Greenwood,” the intersection of Archer Street and Greenwood Avenue and the 100 block of Greenwood Avenue. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
Four
RENAISSANCE
Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.
—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
The Greenwood District has not, and likely will not, reclaim the mantle of black entrepreneurial mecca. Yet, despite its inability to capture that initial magic, it is in the midst of a renaissance. The 21st-century Greenwood District is a critical component of a larger arts, entertainment, education, and cultural complex that includes the adjacent Brady District.
Several key developments highlight the rebirth of the Greenwood District. Prominent among them are the formation of the Greenwood Cultural Center and the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in the 1980s. These institutions offered Tulsans both conceptual and physical space within which to celebrate the legacy of this historic community.
National attention also helped propel interest in the Greenwood District. After decades of near silence, the ghosts of Greenwood District past emerged as American newspapers began to examine the riot. From The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal, from The Los Angeles Times to The San Francisco Examiner, major newspapers covered the riot, the worst such event in American history. Numerous riot-based documentaries and other treatments soon followed, including The Night Tulsa Burned and Burn: The Evolution of an American City.
Perhaps the single greatest contributor to this expanded exposure was the 11-member Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, whose deliberations garnered world-wide media attention. The commission’s final report in February 2001, named Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, chronicled the facts surrounding the riot and made five reparations recommendations: cash payments to survivors, cash payments to heirs of survivors who demonstrated property loss, establishment of an educational scholarship fund for survivors’ descendants, business development incentives for the Greenwood District, and a memorial/museum.
The Oklahoma legislature created several new initiatives in response to the commission’s report. John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, funded by the State of Oklahoma, City of Tulsa, and private contributions, is one success story tied directly to the commission’s work and the follow-through of the Oklahoma legislature.
The riot, for all its importance and implications, is only part of the remarkable story of the Greenwood District. An understanding of who the Greenwood District founders were and what they built before and rebuilt after the riot places that cataclysmic event in context.
On May 31, 2011, the 90th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, a group gathered at John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park for a candlelight vigil and walk through the Greenwood District. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
A group of Tulsa Historical Society volunteers gathered at John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park in June 2011. The centerpiece of the park, Reconciliation Towers, appears behind the group. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Sculptor Ed Dwight’s Reconciliation Tower is the focal point of John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park in Tulsa. This photograph looks southwest toward downtown Tulsa. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Pictured here is sculptor Ed Dwight’s piece Hostility, part of three statues depicting hostility, humiliation, and hope in connection with the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. Dwight, the first African American astronaut and a prominent artist, sculpted the 16-foot granite structure with three larger-than-life bronze sculptures representing actual photographs from the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. The sculptures stand in Hope Plaza in John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park. (Both, courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Humiliation is part of Ed Dwight’s three statues depicting hostility, humiliation, and hope. It depicts a black man with his hands raised in surrender. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Hope shows the white director of the American Red Cross holding an African American baby. The formal opening and dedication of John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park took place on October 27, 2010. The mission of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation is to transform society’s divisions into social harmony through the serious study and work of reconciliation. Consistent with its mission, the center sponsors various forums that promote dialogue and discussion. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
The Helmerich Advanced Technology Research Center is located on the campus of Oklahoma State University–Tulsa, which sits in the heart of the Greenwood District. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
This 2012 photograph shows a walkway on the campus of Oklahoma State University–Tulsa, a major presence in the modern Greenwood District. Oklahoma State University–Tulsa, opened on January 1, 1999, is the newest institution in the Stillwater-based Oklahoma State University system. The campus had previously been home to an educational consortium known as the University Center at Tulsa (UCAT). (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
Shown here is a monument to legendary Booker T. Washington High School principal Ellis Walker Woods, who led the school for more than three decades and died in 1948. The original brick Booker T. Washington High School, founded in 1913, sat on the site occupied today by Oklahoma State University–Tulsa. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
Vernon AME Church on Greenwood Avenue is one of two major churches (the other being Mount Zion Baptist Church) in the Greenwood District directly affected by the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
At Greenwood Cultural Center is a memorial marker dedicated to the “Black Wall Street” businesses that once dotted the community’s landscape. Ground-breaking for the Greenwood Cultural Center (GCC) took place in August 1985. Built at a cost of almost $3 million, GCC was built in three phases: the restoration and opening of the Mabel B. Little Heritage House in September of 1986; the construction of the Goodwin-Chappelle Gallery, which opened on April 4, 1989; and the building of facilities to house the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame and the Opal Dargan Renaissance Hall, completed in 1996. GCC serves as a tribute to Greenwood District history and as a beacon of hope for the future. The venue features an African American art gallery and a large banquet hall. GCC housed the Oklahoma Jazz Hall o
f Fame until 2007, and its educational and cultural events help preserve African American heritage and promote positive images of the community. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
The Mabel B. Little House is part of the Greenwood Cultural Center. The house honors Mabel B. Little, a Greenwood District pioneer and activist who arrived on the scene in 1913. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
The overpass for Interstate 244 bisects what was once the heart of the Greenwood District. Not just in Tulsa, but nationwide, expressways spawned by the urban renewal movement had unintended consequences: displaced and severed communities, environmental degradation, and land use compromises, just to name a few. Urban art is visible just beneath the overpass. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
This 2012 photograph shows Greenwood Avenue, looking north. Once upon a time, commentators drew favorable comparisons of this thoroughfare to Beale Street in Memphis and State Street in Chicago. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
Under construction, GreenArch, a $9.5 million, four-story, 86,268-square-foot property, will offer mixed-use, affordable living spaces. The property will feature loft-style studio apartments and more than 9,000 square feet of commercial and retail space with live/work residential units. Onsite parking will be provided on the southwest corner of Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street. GreenArch will complement the Greenwood District and its neighbor to the northwest, ONEOK Field. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
Pictured here is Williams Building No. 1, a pre-riot structure. The lower portion of the building contains original brickwork. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
ONEOK Field is the home of the minor league baseball team the Tulsa Drillers. This baseball park has become a prominent part of the Greenwood District and, arguably, an engine of economic revitalization. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
These are aerial views of the current Booker T. Washington High School, located at 1514 East Zion Street in Tulsa. The high school is now a magnet school that offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB). The IB, primarily for students aged 16–19, provides an internationally accepted and recognized qualification for entry into higher education. (Both, courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
This is another modern photograph of the acclaimed Booker T. Washington High School. Booker T. Washington offers top-flight secondary education for those students fortunate enough to gain admittance. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
Tulsa dignitaries participated in ground-breaking ceremony for John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park on November 17, 2008. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
The Tower of Reconciliation at John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park is a 25-foot-tall memorial that sits at the center of the park. It depicts the history of the African American struggle from Africa to America: the migration of slaves with Native Americans on the Trail of Tears; the slave labor experience in the territories; the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry, victors in the Battle of Honey Springs; Oklahoma statehood in 1907; the immigration of free blacks into Oklahoma and the changes wrought by statehood in 1907; the all-black towns in Oklahoma; and the rich history of the Greenwood District. The Tower of Reconciliation honors Buck C. Franklin, prominent attorney and father of Dr. John Hope Franklin, the park’s namesake, and other early African American leaders in Tulsa. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
Pictured in 2012 is John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, with downtown Tulsa skyscrapers to the south. The park is named in honor of celebrated American historian Dr. John Hope Franklin, whose 1947 classic From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans, remains the preeminent text on African American history. (Courtesy of I. Marc Carlson, librarian of Special Collections and University Archives, the University of Tulsa.)
This Black Wall Street memorial plaque honors the Goodwin Building, The Oklahoma Eagle (123 North Greenwood Avenue), and E.L. Goodwin, publisher of The Oklahoma Eagle. The Oklahoma Eagle is a long-standing African American community newspaper in Tulsa that is still associated with the Goodwin family. (Courtesy of the Greenwood Cultural Center.)
Dr. John Hope Franklin greeted Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor at the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park ground-breaking ceremony on November 17, 2008. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
On October 27, 2010, a crowd assembled for the formal opening and dedication of John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, operated by the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation. The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation focuses on several broad initiatives: Education—increasing public knowledge and understanding, Scholarship—creating new knowledge through scholarly work, Community Outreach—opening conversations to bring communities together, and Archives—laying a foundation for scholarship by gathering materials for research. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Above, the Tulsa community gathered for the October 27, 2010, formal opening and dedication of John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park. Below, Tulsa dignitaries took part in a ribbon cutting at the formal opening and dedication. (Both, courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Festivities were in full swing at the formal opening and dedication of John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Dr. John Hope Franklin visited with former Tulsa mayor M. Susan Savage at the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park ground-breaking ceremony on November 17, 2008. Dr. Franklin served as advisor to the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, a legislatively impaneled body charged with finding facts and making recommendations in connection with the riot. The commission met from 1997 to 2001 and issued its final report on February 28, 2001. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Julius Pegues, chairman of the board of directors of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, introduced Dr. John Hope Franklin at the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park ground-breaking ceremony on November 17, 2008. (Courtesy of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.)
Mabel B. Little, seen here in 1988, was a Greenwood District matriarch. She died on January 13, 2001, at the age of 104. Little, the granddaughter of emancipated slaves, arrived in Tulsa in 1913 from the all-black Oklahoma town of Boley. Initially, she worked at the Brady Hotel for $20 a month. One year later, she met and married Presley Little. In 1917, Little opened the first beauty shop in her more than 50-year career as a beautician. In 1921, she and her husband built a new shop, home, and rental house. Two weeks and four days after completion, the properties were destroyed in the riot. Little and her husband adopted a total of 12 children. (Courtesy of the Tulsa World.)
Pictured here in June 1986 is the Mabel B. Little Heritage Museum. The museum is part of the Greenwood Cultural Center, which began construction in late August 1985 at 300 North Greenwood Avenue. (Courtesy of the Tulsa World.)
Mabel B. Little, seen here in 1990, chronicled her life experiences in a book called Fire on Mt. Zion: My Life and History as a Black Woman in America. In her book, Little reflected on growing up in a segregated society and living through the catastrophic 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. (Courtesy of the Tulsa World.)
This April 12, 2000, photograph captures Tulsa Race Riot survivor Veniece Sims looking pensive. Sims, who was prevented from attending her own high school prom on account of the riot, attended the 2000 Booker
T. Washington High School prom. (Courtesy of the Tulsa World.)
Riot survivor Otis G. Clark, 99 in this image, listens during a press conference at the Greenwood Cultural Center. Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry announced its intention to provide riot survivors with symbolic reparations payments. A world-traveling evangelist and one-time butler to Hollywood stars, Clark was believed to be the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. He died on May 21, 2012, at the age of 109. A minister for more than 85 years, Clark spent his last few years as a bishop with Life Enrichment Ministries, an organization he co-founded with his daughter, Gwyn Williams. (Courtesy of the Tulsa World.)
From left to right in the front row, survivors Robert D. Holloway II, 87; Otis G. Clark, 102; and Thelma Thurman Knight, 89, were applauded by Rep. Maxine Waters (wearing sunglasses) and Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree (far right, wearing glasses). The survivors were in Washington, D.C., in 2005, for the filing of an appellate brief with the US Supreme Court. (Courtesy of the Tulsa World.)
Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District Page 5