Tulsa Announces Reparations for the 1921 ‘Black Wall Street' Massacre

Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post
Women and children wait in line for malaria medication at a health center in Nametil, Mozambique, in 2023.
The city of Tulsa, home to one of the most horrifying racial-terror massacres in U.S. history and the people who tried to cover it up, has announced a $105 million reparations package that will put dollars and actions toward redress.
'For 104 years, the Tulsa Race Massacre has been a stain on our city's history,' Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said in a speech Sunday announcing the reparations package, which will pump millions into the restoration of families and communities that had their trajectories derailed by the 1921 attack.
'We have worked to recognize and remember, but now it's time to restore,' Nichols said.
It was something that families of survivors and victims have been waiting generations to hear.
'This marks a historic moment where the city of Tulsa is not just acknowledging past harm, but taking real steps toward repair,' said Kristi Williams, a justice activist in Tulsa and a descendant of survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
It took decades of research by historians and journalists – and reports and investigations by state and federal commissions – to uncover the violence that claimed more than 300 Black lives, torched at least 1,100 Black homes, led to survivors being put into displacement camps and decimated the prosperous enclave of Greenwood, known as 'Black Wall Street.'
More than a riot, 'the massacre was the result not of uncontrolled mob violence, but of a coordinated, military-style attack on Greenwood,' according to a news release that accompanied a Justice Department report issued in January.
'The Tulsa Race Massacre stands out as a civil rights crime unique in its magnitude, barbarity, racist hostility and its utter annihilation of a thriving Black community,' Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in the news release.
Reparations for historical injustices have been studied and talked about for years as Americans reckon with the cruelties of the past and how they reverberate in society today. Legislators in D.C., Maryland and California have considered ways to right the societal inequities that resulted, but with little success.
In 1994, Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles (D) signed a $2.1 million compensation bill for the Rosewood massacre of 1923. Nine survivors received $150,000 each. A state university scholarship fund was established for the families of Rosewood survivors and their descendants.
In 2021, Evanston, Illinois, became one of the first U.S. cities to pay reparations to Black residents.
It's complicated to put a monetary value on cruelty and the opportunities it devoured. But the Tulsa case provides clear examples of families and businesses that were impacted, as well as voices that can outline their visions of justice.
The reparations will be powered by the charitable Greenwood Trust and built with private capital. The target is to spend $24 million in investments for affordable housing and homeownership; $60 million for historic preservation; and $21 million in scholarships, small business grants and to continue identifying the victims of the massacre buried in mass graves, according to Nichols's plan.
'The Department of Justice's report, while laying out the undeniable facts of the massacre, does seem to suggest that justice – in the context of the massacre – will always be acquainted with an asterisk,' Nichols said.
The plan addresses that lingering question of justice, some of the families said.
'We're grateful for the community that shaped these recommendations, and we're ready for the work ahead,' Williams said. 'One of the strongest demands we heard from the community was housing. That's why we recommended $24 million for home repairs and down payments because repair without investment is just rhetoric. The mayor's support shows that Tulsa is ready to do more than talk.'
The plan tries to replace the post-catastrophe mechanisms, such as lawsuits and insurance claims, that usually kick in to help victims recover.
None of the thousands of White Tulsans who took part were ever arrested; no insurance claims covering the torched businesses were paid out; the suspected attackers are all dead; and the statute of limitations has expired, Nichols said.
'Every promise made by elected officials to help rebuild Greenwood at the time was broken,' he said.
The survivors haven't let the city forget.
'For generations, Greenwood descendants and advocates of Black and North Tulsans have kept the flame of justice lit,' said Greg Robinson II, a member of the 'Beyond Apology' task force for reparations.
Nichols, Tulsa's first Black mayor, made it a priority.
'The Greenwood community has waited over a century for meaningful repair,' Tulsa City Council member Vanessa Hall-Harper said. 'Our call for $24 million in housing reparations is a direct response to the generational theft of Black wealth that began in 1921 and continued through redlining, urban renewal, and neglect. This moment reflects what is possible when leadership listens to the people, and I am proud that we have a mayor who has done just that.'
The attack was sparked in an elevator on May 30, 1921, when a shoeshiner named Dick Rowland stepped into an open wire-caged elevator operated by a 17-year-old White girl named Sarah Page.
Witnesses said that Page screamed when the door opened and that Rowland fled. The Tulsa Tribune had a headline the next day that said, 'Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator,' and Rowland was arrested.
Decades later, most historians believe Rowland may have stepped on Page's foot or bumped into her. The charges were dropped, and Page later wrote a letter exonerating him. But simmering racial hatred and the incendiary headline sent a White mob to the Tulsa Courthouse where Rowland was being held.
That was a common pattern across America. Newspapers regularly reported on hundreds of lynchings that happened after a Black man was arrested – usually on flimsy charges – and a mob overtook the jail, dragged the prisoner out and executed him.
But the murderous search for vengeance in Tulsa went beyond a single person.
Black World War I veterans who heard the calls to lynch Rowland went to the courthouse to protect him. They clashed with the mob, and a shot was fired.
In less than 24 hours, as many as 10,000 White Tulsa residents, many of whom had recently drilled as part of an organized, militaristic 'Home Guard,' arrived and systematically destroyed the 35 blocks of Greenwood, according to the federal investigation.
Witnesses reported that planes dropped turpentine bombs on the burning city.
Greenwood had been a uniquely prosperous Black community, with 'a nationally renowned entrepreneurial center – a city within a city where places like the Dreamland Theatre, the Stradford Hotel, grocery stores and doctor's offices flourished,' Nichols said. 'At the same time, churches provided the foundation of faith needed to thrive in a segregated society.'
All of it was decimated.
'Personal belongings and household goods had been removed from many homes and piled in the streets,' the Tulsa Daily World said on June 2, 1921. 'On the steps of the few houses that remained sat feeble and gray Negro men and women and occasionally a small child. The look in their eyes was one of dejection and supplication. Judging from their attitude, it was not of material consequence to them whether they lived or died. Harmless themselves, they apparently could not conceive the brutality and fiendishness of men who would deliberately set fire to the homes of their friends and neighbors and just as deliberately shoot them down in their tracks.'
The massacre was covered up.
Former Oklahoma state representative Don Ross said he had never heard about it until he was about 15 and one of his teachers, a survivor, described it in class.
'More annoyed than bored, I leaped from my chair and spoke: 'Greenwood was never burned. Ain't no 300 people dead. We're too old for fairy tales',' Ross wrote in the state's 2001 report on the massacre. His teacher set him straight.
Tulsa finally apologized for its role in the massacre in 2021.
Two of the last known survivors, Viola Ford Fletcher and Lessie Benningfield Randle, sued for reparations. The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed their case last year.
The announcement of the reparations plan restored hope that the city has a commitment to move past the horror.
'June 1, 2025 was the culmination of that commitment,' Williams said. 'Tulsa has finally committed to moving beyond apology to justice.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Mainichi

7 hours ago

• The Mainichi

Many Americans are witnessing immigration arrests for the first time and reacting

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Adam Greenfield was home nursing a cold when his girlfriend raced in to tell him Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles were pulling up in their trendy San Diego neighborhood. The author and podcast producer grabbed his iPhone and bolted out the door barefoot, joining a handful of neighbors recording masked agents raiding a popular Italian restaurant nearby, as they yelled at the officers to leave. An hour later, the crowd had grown to nearly 75 people, with many in front of the agents' vehicles. "I couldn't stay silent," Greenfield said. "It was literally outside of my front door." More Americans are witnessing people being hauled off as they shop, exercise at the gym, dine out and otherwise go about their daily lives as President Donald Trump's administration aggressively works to increase immigration arrests. As the raids touch the lives of people who aren't immigrants themselves, many Americans who rarely, if ever, participated in civil disobedience are rushing out to record the actions on their phones and launch impromptu protests. Arrests are being made outside gyms, busy restaurants Greenfield said on the evening of the May 30 raid, the crowd included grandparents, retired military members, hippies, and restaurant patrons arriving for date night. Authorities threw flash bangs to force the crowd back and then drove off with four detained workers, he said. "To do this, at 5 o'clock, right at the dinner rush, right on a busy intersection with multiple restaurants, they were trying to make a statement," Greenfield said. "But I don't know if their intended point is getting across the way they want it to. I think it is sparking more backlash." Previously, many arrests happened late at night or in the pre-dawn hours by agents waiting outside people's homes as they left for work or outside their work sites when they finished their day. When ICE raided another popular restaurant in San Diego in 2008, agents did it in the early morning without incident. White House border czar Tom Homan has said agents are being forced to make more arrests in communities because of sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with ICE in certain cities and states. ICE enforces immigration laws nationwide but seeks state and local help in alerting federal authorities of immigrants wanted for deportation and holding that person until federal officers take custody. Vice President JD Vance, during a visit to Los Angeles on Friday, said those policies have given agents "a bit of a morale problem because they've had the local government in this community tell them that they're not allowed to do their job." "When that Border Patrol agent goes out to do their job, they said within 15 minutes they have protesters, sometimes violent protesters who are in their face obstructing them," he said. 'It was like a scene out of a movie' Melyssa Rivas had just arrived at her office in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California one morning last week when she heard the frightened screams of young women. She went outside to find the women confronting nearly a dozen masked federal agents who had surrounded a man kneeling on the pavement. "It was like a scene out of a movie," Rivas said. "They all had their faces covered and were standing over this man who was clearly traumatized. And there are these young girls screaming at the top of their lungs." As Rivas began recording the interaction, a growing group of neighbors shouted at the agents to leave the man alone. They eventually drove off in vehicles, without detaining him, video shows. Rivas spoke to the man afterward, who told her the agents had arrived at the car wash where he worked that morning, then pursued him as he fled on his bicycle. It was one of several recent workplace raids in the majority-Latino city. The same day, federal agents were seen at a Home Depot, a construction site and an LA Fitness gym. It wasn't immediately clear how many people had been detained. "Everyone is just rattled," said Alex Frayde, an employee at LA Fitness who said he saw the agents outside the gym and stood at the entrance, ready to turn them away as another employee warned customers about the sighting. In the end, the agents never came in. Communities protest around ICE buildings Arrests at immigration courts and other ICE buildings have also prompted emotional scenes as masked agents have turned up to detain people going to routine appointments and hearings. In the city of Spokane in eastern Washington state, hundreds of people rushed to protest outside an ICE building June 11 after former city councilor Ben Stuckart posted on Facebook. Stuckart wrote that he was a legal guardian of a Venezuelan asylum seeker who went to check in at the ICE building, only to be detained. His Venezuelan roommate was also detained. Both men had permission to live and work in the U.S. temporarily under humanitarian parole, Stuckart told The Associated Press. "I am going to sit in front of the bus," Stuckart wrote, referring to the van that was set to transport the two men to an ICE detention center in Tacoma. "The Latino community needs the rest of our community now. Not tonight, not Saturday, but right now!!!!" The city of roughly 230,000 is the seat of Spokane County, where just over half of voters cast ballots for Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Stuckart was touched to see his mother's caregiver among the demonstrators. "She was just like, 'I'm here because I love your mom, and I love you, and if you or your friends need help, then I want to help,'" he said through tears. By evening, the Spokane Police Department sent over 180 officers, with some using pepper balls, to disperse protesters. Over 30 people were arrested, including Stuckart who blocked the transport van with others. He was later released. Aysha Mercer, a stay-at-home mother of three, said she is "not political in any way, shape or form." But many children in her Spokane neighborhood -- who play in her yard and jump on her trampoline -- come from immigrant families, and the thought of them being affected by deportations was "unacceptable," she said. She said she wasn't able to go to Stuckart's protest. But she marched for the first time in her life on June 14, joining millions in "No Kings" protests across the country. "I don't think I've ever felt as strongly as I do right this here second," she said.

Yomiuri Shimbun

13 hours ago

• Yomiuri Shimbun

From ‘Evacuate Tehran' to ‘Two Weeks': Behind Trump's Shift on Iran

Four days after President Donald Trump abruptly left a summit of global leaders in Canada, calling on civilians to 'evacuate Tehran' and stoking global talk of war, the president on Friday said he still wanted more time to decide. Trump said he was waiting to see 'whether or not people come to their senses.' He also would not commit to calling for a ceasefire as negotiations continue. Speaking to reporters as he headed to his New Jersey golf club for a fundraiser for his super PAC, the president reiterated the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program but said he was 'not going to talk about' what a hypothetical U.S. response would look like. Indeed, besides a brief gaggle after exiting Air Force One, Trump spent much of the day Friday trying to shift public attention to anything but Iran. He and his White House team posted on social media about the need to pass his One Big Beautiful Bill. Trump called for a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election, posted repeatedly about the charges that the Justice Department under President Joe Biden had brought against him and wrote that he expected a federal settlement with Harvard University soon. In recent days, a relentless battle for Trump's ear has swirled around the president. As he often does, Trump has picked up the phone for – and received advice from – prominent voices pushing opposing views, according to people with knowledge of his conversations who, like others in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's process. The advice – some solicited, others not – from prominent donors, right-wing media figures and elected officials played on Trump's own conflicting impulses on Iran. On the one side, Trump resolutely has stuck to his long-held belief that Iran must be stopped from developing a nuclear weapon. On the other, he has tried to avoid war – an approach that is a major element of his political movement. On Thursday, Trump responded as he often has when faced with difficult options: He bought himself time, declaring that he would wait up to two weeks to make a decision. So far, those cautioning the president to avoid authorizing a strike – and holding out for diplomatic negotiations – appear to be breaking through. On Thursday, Trump had lunch with Stephen K. Bannon, his former adviser who remains a leading voice among the hard-line MAGA wing of the Republican Party. Bannon arrived at the White House after skipping the 11 a.m. hour of his two-hour morning show, 'War Room.' He opened the first hour by decrying the faux 'urgency' that pro-Israel hawks were pressing upon Trump. Bannon and Jack Posobiec, a right-wing influencer who joined 'War Room' on Thursday morning, likened those speaking to Trump and advocating for a U.S. attack on Iran to used car salesmen, who make an 'upsell' by telling buyers that they only have limited time to decide. Bannon has been excoriating Rupert Murdoch and the hosts on his Fox network, accusing them of fomenting war talk. Shortly after Trump's lunch with Bannon drew to a close, press secretary Karoline Leavitt stepped onto the podium in the White House press briefing room to read a statement she said was 'directly from the president.' The message was that Trump was going to let negotiations play out longer. 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' Trump instructed Leavitt to read. The statement had already been in the works before the lunch with Bannon, according to a person with knowledge of the day's events. But Trump's meeting with Bannon at the White House was notable, at a time when the former adviser has been particularly outspoken as a leader of the MAGA movement's anti-intervention faction. A day earlier, Charlie Kirk, the influential right-wing commentator and another skeptic about an attack, had also visited Trump at the White House, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting, which has not been previously reported or publicly acknowledged by Kirk. The 31-year-old activist has emphasized to his millions of followers that he trusts Trump's instincts, while insisting that getting involved in fighting against Iran could lead to a war that is much more drawn out than the U.S. intends. Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that 'President Trump has never wavered in his stance that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon and repeated that promise to the American people during and after his successful campaign. The President is a great foreign policy mind who listens to many perspectives, but ultimately makes the decisions he feels are best for the country.' The drumbeat of MAGA opposition to the U.S. joining Israel in its conflict with Iran stands in contrast to the chorus of hawkish Republicans urging Trump to strike and even seek regime change. That opposition has been complemented over the past two days by European efforts to negotiate with Iran. A Friday meeting in Geneva of the top diplomats of Iran, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union ended with no breakthrough, with the Europeans pressing Iran to agree to limits on its nuclear program and the Iranian delegation saying it would not negotiate until Israel stops its strikes. They agreed to keep talking. Referring to the meeting in Geneva, a White House official told The Washington Post on Friday that the president 'supports diplomatic efforts from our allies that could bring Iran closer to taking his deal.' Trump had a more downbeat assessment. When asked how effective the European talks were, he told reporters on the New Jersey tarmac that 'Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us.' 'Europe is not going to be able to help on this one,' he said. Trump also said for the second time this week that his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was 'wrong' in her assessment in the spring that there was no evidence Iran was building a nuclear weapon. His position on Friday, however, still revealed interest in letting the diplomatic process play out, whether it's with Europe or the United States, and Trump reiterated that U.S. officials have 'been speaking with Iran.' Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, did not travel to Geneva for the talks, Leavitt told The Post, but has remained in 'correspondence' with Iranian officials. That willingness to continue talks stood in contrast to the sense of urgency Trump had telegraphed at the start of the week. On Monday night, as the president prepared to leave the Group of Seven summit in Canada to return to the White House earlier than planned, pro-intervention voices were pushing the president to seize the moment. They advised him to not only take out Iran's nuclear facilities but also its government. Trump, meanwhile, posted on social media instructing people to 'evacuate Tehran,' and he told reporters on Air Force One that he wanted to see a 'real end' to the problem. That night, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show and called for Trump to 'be all in' to help Israel take on Iran, asking, 'Wouldn't the world be better off if the Ayatollahs went away and were replaced by something better? Wouldn't Iran be better off?' A day earlier on the same network, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said it would be in the U.S.'s interest to 'see regime change' in Iran. Trump arrived back in Washington near 5 a.m. Tuesday. Later in the day, he met with advisers and reviewed options for an attack. That evening, he told aides that he was okay with the potential attack plans he had reviewed but that he was holding off on giving final approval to see if Iran would budge. By Wednesday, Trump expressed annoyance as he was asked by reporters about his thinking on Iran, mocking one such question by suggesting he should tell reporters when he would be bombing Iran so they could be there to watch. He offered glimpses into his thinking throughout the day, however, telling The Post he had issued the 'ultimate ultimatum' to Iran, but conceding that he had not yet made up his mind whether to strike. On Wednesday afternoon, he held another meeting with advisers in the White House Situation Room. By Thursday, however, the focus had shifted to attempts at negotiations with Iran. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington to coordinate ahead of Lammy's participation in Friday's talks in Geneva. And in a call Thursday evening between Rubio and France's minister for Europe and foreign affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, the two men discussed the Europeans' planned approach and agreed to follow up after the Friday meeting to continue coordinating on negotiations, according to a French diplomat. As he stood on the tarmac of Morristown Municipal Airport on Friday, Trump told reporters he wasn't sure how long he would allow the negotiations to continue with Iran. 'We're going to see what that period of time is, but I'm giving them a period of time,' Trump said. 'And I would say two weeks would be the maximum.'

Yomiuri Shimbun

17 hours ago

• Yomiuri Shimbun

US Evacuates 79 Staff and Family from Embassy in Israel as More Americans Ask How to Leave

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. evacuated 79 staff and families from the U.S. Embassy in Israel on Friday as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies and growing numbers of private American citizens seek information on how to leave Israel and Iran. An internal State Department memo says the military flight, the second known to have occurred this week, left Tel Aviv for Sofia, Bulgaria, where some or all of the passengers were to get a connecting charter flight to Washington. The document, which was obtained by The Associated Press, also said that more than 6,400 U.S. citizens in Israel had filled out an online form on Friday alone asking for information about when and if the U.S. government would organize evacuation flights. An additional 3,265 people, some of whom may also have competed the form, called an emergency number seeking assistance. The document estimated that between 300 and 500 people per day could need evacuation assistance should the U.S. decide to offer flights or ships to get Americans out, as the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said is being considered. There are some 700,000 Americans in Israel, many of them dual nationals, according to estimates, although the exact number at any given time is unclear because U.S. citizens are not required to notify the embassy if they are there or when they might leave. Earlier Friday, before the memo was distributed, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that more than 25,000 Americans had reached out for information on leaving Israel, the West Bank and Iran. She told reporters that those people had sought 'information and support' and were 'seeking guidance' on departing. She would not give a breakdown of where the queries had come from and would not comment on embassy evacuations. In Iran, the document said that at least 84 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, or Green Card holders, had crossed into neighboring Azerbaijan by land since the conflict began and that an additional 774 had been granted permission to enter as of Friday. Nearly 200 American citizens and Green Card holders are awaiting permission to travel overland from Iran to neighboring Turkmenistan, it said.