Over a century ago, one of America’s greatest success stories came to a crushing end.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was more than 35 city blocks of thriving shops, hotels, theaters and more. And all of them were Black-owned.
The district was founded by Black men and women – many of whom were descendants of slaves – and it became known as Black Wall Street.
Greenwood was home to doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs. For years, it was a beacon for African-Americans looking to escape the discrimination and violence of the Jim Crow South and live a peaceful and safe life.
But even in Greenwood, not everyone was safe. Racial tensions and violence with the neighboring White residents in Tulsa boiled over. And, on May 31, 1921, a race massacre ensued, killing hundreds of Greenwood’s residents and leaving the district in ashes.
Black Wall Street had been burned to the ground.
In this video, we are going to visit one of the most success African American towns in a period where segregation and racial discrimination hindered black process. We will go back to the Black Wall Street of Greenwood, Tulsa.
At the turn of the 20th century, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, became one of the first communities in the country thriving with Black entrepreneurial businesses. The prosperous town, founded by many descendants of slaves, earned a reputation as the Black Wall Street of America and became a harbor for African Americans in a highly segregated city under Jim Crow laws.
The foundations of the Greenwood District and Black Wall Street were built in the 1830s, when African-Americans first migrated to Oklahoma.
Many Black people had arrived as slaves to the Native American members of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole tribes – who were forced to relocate from the Southeastern US to Oklahoma Territory as a result of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act.
Following the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which called for the abolition of slavery, African-Americans were granted citizenship and allotted plots of land where they could begin their new lives as free men and women.
This land allocation led to a boom in all-Black towns, including Greenwood. Between 1865 and 1920, the number of all-black towns and settlements grew to more than 50. Today, only 13 all-black towns exist.
To help these towns grow and attract new residents, some people took on the role of “boosters,” encouraging the migration of other African-Americans seeking to escape the racial violence of the South. Oklahoma Territory, they would say, was a utopia for opportunity and freedom for Black people.
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