Death in a Promised Land

by Scott Ellsworth

  9. Barrett, Oklahoma after Fifty Years, 215, 217; Tulsa Tribune, June 2, 1921, p. 10; Tulsa World, June 4, 1921, p. 1.

  10. Tulsa World, June 6, 1921, p. 2.

  11. Tulsa Tribune, June 3, 1921, p. 1; Barrett, Oklahoma after Fifty Years, 215, 217.

  12. Minutes of Directors’ Meetings, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, June 3, 1921, p. 148; Tulsa Tribune, June 3, p. 1, June 6, p. 3, and June 9, 1921, p. 11.

  13. Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, 20, 35–36. The term “Home Guards” presents something of a problem for the student of the riot. In its proper usage, it refers to the civilian citizen defense organization organized in Tulsa—and else-where—in 1917 in response to the American entry in World War I, and not to the local National Guard units. Some evidence indicates that many of these “Home Guards” were “special deputies” during the riot. Interview with W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa. On the formation of the Tulsa “Home Guards,” see Tulsa Democrat, November 2, p. 1, and November 3, 1917, p. 1; Tulsa Times, October 31,1917, p. 1; and Tulsa World, November 3, 1917, p. 3. On the Inter-Racial Committee, see Harlow’s Weekly, December 10,1920, p. 15; Tulsa Star, November 27, 1920, pp. 1, 8; and January 1, 1921, p. 2; and Tulsa Tribune, June 23, 1921, p. 5.

  14. During the period under martial law, the legally sanctioned forces of “law and order” in Tulsa included the National Guard, the local police and sheriff’s forces, some three hundred uniformed veterans under the local American Legion post commander, and—for a short period—those men who were given special police commissions on the night of the riot. Douglas, The History of Tulsa, I, 623–24, 627; Tulsa Tribune, June 2, p. 1, June 6, p. 1, and June 17, 1921, p. 2; Tulsa World, June 3, p. 1, June 4, pp. 1, 2, 15, June 6, p. 1, and June 9, 1921, p. 11.

  15. Tulsa Tribune, June 2,1971 [sic], p. A7; Tulsa World, June 2, p. 1, June3, p. 8, June4, p. 4, June 6, p. 7, June 7, p. 7, and June 9, 1921, p. 9.

  16. Bell to Rooney, July 2, 1921, in Robertson Papers, Oklahoma State Archives; Douglas, The History of Tulsa, I, 627; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 59n, 62, 66; Tulsa World, June 3, 1921, p. 9; Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, June 5, 1921, p. 4.

  17. Oklahoma Sun, August 3,1921, p. 3; Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, 14–20, 24–27; Tulsa World, June 2, p. 7, June 10, pp. 7, 20, and June 24, 1921, p. 3.

  18. Tulsa Tribune, June 2, p. 1, June 4,1921, pp. 1, 6; Tulsa World, June 2, p. 7, June 3, p. 1, June 4, p. 1, June 7, pp. 1, 7, June 9, p. 8, and June 30, 1921, p. 14; Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, 20; Douglas, The History of Tulsa, I, 623.

  19. Interviews with Seymour Williams, June 2, 1978, Tulsa, W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa, and V. H. Hodge, June 12, 1978, Tulsa; Tulsa World, June 6, pp. 9, 10, June 7, pp. 1, 2, June 8, pp. 2, 7, 15, and December 24,1921, p. 9; Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, 20.

  20. Tulsa World, June 9, p. 1, June 12, p. 4, and June 15, 1921, P. 12; Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, June 3, 1921, p. 16; Administrative Files, Series F—“Tulsa, Oklahoma Riot Fund,” Box C-162, NAACP Papers, Library of Congress.

  21. Minutes of Directors’ Meetings, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, June 15, 1921, p. 154.

  22. Ibid., June 2, 1921, pp. 146–47.

  23. “The Tulsa Race Riots,” Independent, CV (June 18, 1921], 647.

  24. Tulsa World, June 4, p. 3, June 5, p. 1, and June 16,1921, p. 3; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” p. 69.

  25. In the end, however, it appears that the Executive Welfare Committee did turn over some $26,000 which it had accumulated to the Red Cross. The Tulsa World also raised some $5,600 for relief work. Tulsa World, June 3, pp. 1, 8, June 4, pp. 3, 9, 13, June 9, p. 9, June 13, p. 4, June 15, p. 4, June 16, p. 3, and June 1, 1921, p. 8; Douglas, The History of Tulsa, I, 623; Walter White to J. A. O. Preus, October 25, 1921, Civil Case 1062, Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection, Oklahoma State Archives; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 68–69; Tulsa Tribune, June 11, 1921, p. 2.

  26. Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, June 14,1921, pp. 24–26; Minutes of Directors’ Meetings, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, June 15, 1921, pp. 154–56; Tulsa World, June 15, pp. 1, 7, and June 16, 1921, pp. 1, 2; Tulsa Tribune, June 14, pp. 1, 2, and June 15, 1921, pp. 1, 11.

  27. Tulsa Tribune, June 3, p. 1, June 19, p. 1, and June 29,1921, p. 5; Tulsa World, June 3, p. 1, June 6, p. 2, June 24, p. 2, June 29, p. 16, July 8, p. 9, and July 29,1921, p. 3; Douglas, The History of Tulsa, I, 624.

  28. Fire Ordinance No. 2156 affected white property owners in the burned district as well. Tulsa World, June 8, p. 2, June 10, p. 17, and July 10, 1921, p. 17; Tulsa Tribune, June 7, 1921, p. 1; White to Preus, October 25, 1921, in Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection, Oklahoma State Archives.

  29. Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, June 14, 1921, p. 25; Tulsa World, June 15, 1921, pp. 1, 7.

  30. Minutes of Directors’ Meetings, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, July 1, p. 162, July 15, p. 171, July 18, pp. 173–74, July 19, p. 175, and, July 22, 1921, no pagination.

  31. Minutes of Directors’ Meetings, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, August 19, 1921, p. 204.

  32. Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, June 28, p. 63, and August 26, 1921, pp. 231–33. During the August 26 meeting, the City Commission passed Fire Ordinance 2182, which was said to be “especially repealing ordinance no. 2156,” ibid., p. 233. The author was unable, however, to detect any really significant difference between the two as they affected black Tulsa, as published in the Tulsa World: June 10, 11, 12, August 30, 31, and September 1, 1921. Tulsa City Directory, 1921 (Tulsa: Polk-Hoffhine Directory Co., 1921).

  33. Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, 20; Tulsa World, June 23, 1921, p. 16; Tulsa Tribune, June 9, p. 3, and June 19, 1921, p. 1.

  34. Tulsa World, August 15, p. 1, August 26, p. 3, and September 2, 1921, p. 1; Tulsa Tribune, March 19,1959, p. 41; interview with Mrs. Mozella Jones, June 20,1978, Tulsa.

  35. Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, June 14, 1921, pp. 23–26.

  36. The Reconstruction Committee appointed some nine sub-committees to “help” black Tulsans, including an “industrial and railroads” sub-committee; what these groups did, if anything, could not be determined. Tulsa World, June 17, p. 7, June 18, p. 14, June 23, p. 16, and June 25,1921, p. 16; Tulsa Tribune, June 27,1921, p. 5; Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, June 29, pp. 68–69, June 30, pp. 70–71, July 8, p. 97, July 15, p. 115, August 30, p. 235, September 27, p. 297, December 2, p. 486, December 30, 1921, p. 567, and January 27, 1922, pp. 79–80.

  37. Interviews with Seymour Williams, June 2, 1978, Tulsa, W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa, Robert Fairchild, June 8, 1978, Tulsa, and V. H. Hodge, June 12, 1978, Tulsa; Henry Whitlow, “The History of the Greenwood Era in Tulsa,” a paper presented to the Tulsa County Historical Society, March 29,1973, p. 5. See also Tulsa World, June 15, 1921, p. 15; and Tulsa Tribune, June 2, 1921, p. 5.

  38. Tulsa World, June 4, p. 18, June 6, p. 9, June 12, pp. A4, A12, June 16, p. 9, June 24, p. 1, and June 27, 1921, pp. 1, 10; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 74–75.

  39. Interview with W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa; Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, September 6, p. 248, September 9, p. 251, September 13, p. 261, September 15, pp. 275–76, September 27, p. 301, and October 7, 1921, p. 338; Tulsa World, June 10, p. 3, June 16, p. 9, June 24, pp. 1, 3, July 8, p. 9, July 15, p. 3, July 20, p. 18, July 26, p. 3, August 6, p. 16, and August 12, 1921, p. 2; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 73–77.

  40. White to Preus, October 25, 1921, in Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection, Oklahoma State Archives.

  41. Tulsa World, June 24, 1921, p. 9; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 83–85.

  42. Interviews with W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa, and Robert Fairchild, June 8, 1978, Tulsa; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 83–85.

  43. Tulsa World, June 2, 1921, p. 4.

  44. Tulsa Tribune, June 2, p. 11, June 3, p. 20, June 4, p. 7, June 5, p. B10, June 6, p. 12, and June 7, 1921, p.
16; “The Tulsa Race Riots,” Independent, CV (June 18, 1921), 647; Minutes of Directors’ Meetings, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, July 2, 1921, pp. 146–47.

  45. Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, July 8, p. 97, July 12, p. 110, August 2, p. 160, August 5, p. 165, August 9, p. 168, August 12, p. 173, August 26, p. 223, September 30, p. 310, October 11, p. 351, October 14, p. 360, October 21, p. 375, December 2, p. 486, December 6, p. 501, December 16, p. 527, December 30, 1921, p. 567, and January 24, 1922, p. 70; interviews with W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa, and Robert Fairchild, June 8, 1978, Tulsa, Tulsa World, June 2, 1921, p. 1; Tulsa Tribune, June 3, p. 8, June 8, p. 2, June 9, pp. 1, 4, June 10, p. 9; June 11, p. 2, and June 14, 1921, p. 8; “Race Riot Quickens Public Conscience,” Harlow’s Weekly, XX (June 10, 1921), 47; “Mob Fury and Race Hatred as a National Danger,” Literary Digest, LXIX (June 18, 1921), 7–9.

  46. Tulsa World, July 21, p. 2, and December 24, 1921, p. 9; Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, 19–20; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 80–83.

  47. Interview with W. D. Williams, June 7,1978, Tulsa; Whitlow, “The History of the Greenwood Era in Tulsa,” p. 5.

  48. J. B. A. Robertson to S. P. Freeling, June 3, 1921, Civil Case 1062, Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection, Oklahoma State Archives; Tulsa World, June 3, pp. 1, 2, 8, June 5, p. A13, June 9, p. 16, June 10, p. 1, and June 24, 1921, p. 1; Tulsa Tribune, June 2, p. 1, June 3, p. 1, June 5, p. 1, June 7, p. 1, and June 8, 1921, p. 1.

  49. Tulsa World, June 8, pp. 8, 18, June 9, p. 16, June 10, pp. 1, 8, June 11, p. 3, June 14, p. 13, June 16, p. 16, June 17, p. 1, June 19, p. 2, June 24, p. 1, and June 25,1921, p. 1; Records for District Court Cases Nos. 2227, 2236, 2238–59, 2263, and 2265–66, in the Office of the Court Clerk, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa.

  50. Tulsa World, June 26,1921, pp. 1, 8. Six months before the race riot, an editorial in the Tulsa Star dealt with the “issue” of “social equality.” In part, the Star stated: “We are not demanding ’social equality’—that’s something that regulates itself between individuals—but we are demanding all that any citizen of our country has a right to demand—Equality without discrimination” (November 27, 1920, p. 8).

  51. Tulsa World, June 26,1921, p. 8.

  52. Ibid.

  53. Ibid. This report was also published in the Tulsa Tribune, June 25,1921, p. 1. Unfortunately, neither the original copy of the report, nor any materials associated with the grand jury could be located.

  54. Victor E. Harlow, “Let Action Conform to Words,” Harlow’s Weekly, July 1, 1921, p. 1.

  55. Records for District Court Cases Nos. 2227, 2236, 2238–2259, 2263, and 2265–2266, in the Office of the Court Clerk, Tulsa County Courthouse, Tulsa. Some black Tulsans, including hotel proprietor J. B. Stratford, fled the state, most likely to avoid possible arrest. Tulsa Tribune, June 16, p. 1, and June 20,1921, p. 5; Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 95–97; James E. Markham to S. P. Freeling, October 31,1921, and, S. P. Freeling to James E. Markham, November 2,1921, in Civil Case 1062, Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection, Oklahoma State Archives.

  56. Records for District Court Cases Nos. 2227, 2236, 2238–2259, 2263, and 2265–2266, Office of the Court Clerk, Tulsa County Courthouse.

  57. Gill, citing interviews he performed, believed that the Gustafson case might have been politically influenced by the dispute over the future water supply for Tulsa which was then in progress, and which, of course, involved the current city administration. He stated that “many were of the opinion that the purpose of the trial was to embarrass the city administration.” Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot,” 100.

  The Tulsa Tribune reported on June 18, 1921 that one “Garfield Thompson,” black, had been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon during the riot, and was to serve thirty days in the county jail (p. 10). The author could not locate a person by that name among those indicted in the cases initiated by the grand jury (one Oscar Thompson, however, was located), and if such a person was convicted and sentenced, it may have been outside of the District Court. Tulsa World, June 11, 1921, p. 3.

  One other case which concerned the riot was initiated in May, 1923, that of William Redfearn, Plaintiff, v. the City of Tulsa, et al, which named the principal 1921 city and county government officials, plus three insurance companies, as defendants. The case was brought for loss and damages totaling $85,618.85, plus interest at 10 percent per annum. It was dismissed on February 11,1937, for failure to prosecute.

  The initiation of the Redfearn case in 1923 was by no means, however, the last time the race riot was heard of in Tulsa’s courtrooms. Dr. John Hope Franklin, son of attorney B. C. Franklin (who played a key role in the defeat of the city’s fire ordinance in 1921), informed the author that as a young man in Tulsa he would often go with his father to the courthouse. More than once on these occasions, Dr. Franklin stated, did he hear of litigations involving persons who had died “on or around” May 31 or June 1, 1921.

  58. Records for Court Case No. 2239, Office of the Court Clerk, Tulsa County Courthouse.

  Chapter 5: The Segregation of Memory

  1. In the early 1920s, Klansmen in Tulsa included the city’s postmaster and, for a short time, the publisher of the Tulsa Tribune. There is also evidence to suggest that many white police officers belonged to the Klan. Charles C. Alexander, The Ku Klux Klan in the Southwest (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1965), 265; Kenneth T. Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the City (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), 239; interview with I. S. Pittman, July 28, 1978, Tulsa.

  2. San Francisco Chronicle, June 4, 1921, p. 3; interviews with Seymour Williams, June 2, 1978, Tulsa, W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa, Robert Fairchild, June 8, 1978, Tulsa, and V. H. Hodge, June 12, 1978, Tulsa.

  3. Alexander, The Ku Klux Klan in the Southwest, 98, 108, and 216. Arrell M. Gibson stated that the nationwide recession of 1921 “developed into a full-blown depression in Oklahoma,” Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries (Norman: Harlow Publishing Company, 1965), 358. Oklahoma’s economy at that time was geared toward petroleum, cotton, and wheat, and each of these commodities took serious price falls from 1920 to 1921. In 1920, the average wholesale price of wheat was about $2.50 per bushel; in 1921, $1.33. A pound of raw cotton on the wholesale market averaged about $.34 in 1920; one year later, the average was only slightly above $.15 per pound. In 1920 and 1921, the average wholesale prices for a barrel of crude oil nationwide were, respectively, $3.07 and $1.73. The drop in price of crude oil in Oklahoma was even more dramatic. The price per barrel of 36-degrees Mid-Continent crude was around $3.50 in December 1920; eight months later, it was about $1.00 per barrel. These price falls led to some production stoppages, unemployment, and migration of the unemployed to the state’s cities, including Tulsa. Harlow’s Weekly, December 17,1920, p. 6, and September 16, 1921, pp. 8, 13; Ralph Cassady, Jr., Price Making and Price Behavior in the Petroleum Industry (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954), 136; United States Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1975), II, 208; Record of Commission Proceedings, City of Tulsa, August 26, 1921, p. 220; and January 20,1922, p. 55.

  4. “Federal Vice Report on Vice Conditions in Tulsa,” by Agent T. G. F., April 22–26, 1921, Civil Case 1062, Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection, Oklahoma State Archives.

  5. Ibid; Tulsa Star, November 20, 1920, p. 8; Amy Comstock, “‘Over There,’ Another View of the Tulsa Riots,” Survey, XLVI (July 2, 1921), 406; interview with W. D. Williams, June 7, 1978, Tulsa. See also James M. Mitchell, “Politics in a Boom Town: Tulsa From 1906 to 1930” (M.A. thesis, University of Tulsa, 1950), 31–33, 85–86, and “Local Findings on Record of Jno. A. Gustafson,” Civil Case 1062, Oklahoma State Attorney Generals Collection, Oklahoma State Archives.

  6. The harassment of black citizens by white police officers was not confined to black Tulsa; A. J. Smitherman reported that white officers threatened him downtown. Tulsa Star, S
eptember 4, p. 2, October 23, p. 1, November 20, 1920, p. 8, January 1, pp. 1, 8, and January 15, 1921, p. 2.

  7. Kuznets and Thomas, Population Redistribution and Economic Growth, I, 576; United States Bureau of the Census, Negroes in the United States, 1920–1932 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1935), 793.

  8. See Chapter 2.

  9. Tulsa Tribune, May 31,1921, in Loren L. Gill, “The Tulsa Race Riot” (M.A. thesis, University of Tulsa, 1946), p. 22 (italics added).

  10. Alexander, The Ku Klux Klan in the Southwest, 66,142–58, 228; David M. Chalmers, Hooded Americanism: The History of the Ku Klux Klan (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1965), 52–55; “K.K.K. Again,” New Statesman, XXXII (1923), 135; Bruce Bliven, “From the Oklahoma Front,” New Republic (October 17,1923), 202.

  11. Mary E. Jones Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster (n.p., n.p., n.d.), 21–23.

  12. Application for Charter of Tulsa, Oklahoma Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, November 27, 1922; NAACP Director of Branches to Ernest Richards, Esq., September 11, 1926; NAACP Director of Branches to W. H. Williamson, June 25,1930; all in Tulsa Branch Files, Box G-175, NAACP Papers, Library of Congress.

  No further information was located regarding the Tulsa chapter of the African Blood Brotherhood. Although the national organization at first hedged the question as to whether its members were involved in the riot (probably because its New York office had not been contacted yet by Tulsa ABB members), it later openly associated itself with the steadfast self-defense shown by black Tulsans in the spring of 1921. The organization’s initial statement, made by Cyril Briggs in New York City on June 5, 1921, read in part: “An article in the (New York] Times of June 4 implies responsibility on the part of the African Blood Brotherhood for the unfortunate bloody occurances [sic] in Tulsa, Okla. This organization has no other answer to make save admit that the African Blood Brotherhood is interested in having negroes organized for self-defense against wanton attack by whites,” quoted in the New York Times, June 5, 1921, p. 21. The November, 1921, edition of the ABB’s magazine, the Crusader, however, stated: “As We Have Done by You—Do You by Us! Remember Tulsa! Remember the Bright, Untarnished Record of the ABB! What Other Organization Can Match That Brave Record?”, quoted in Theodore G. Vincent, Black Power and the Garvey Movement (San Francisco: Ramparts Press, 1972), 75.