What Was Black Wall Street ? The home to thriving businesses of successful African-Americans located in the neighborhood Greenwood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Also known as a "Mini Beverly Hills", Black Wall Street was composed of 21 churches and restaurants, 30 grocery stores, plus a hospital, a bank, a post-office, libraries, schools, law offices, with 2 movie theaters, and many pawn shops , brothels, jewelry stores and even a bus system. It was encompassed of 600 businesses and 36 blocks housing about 15,000 African-Americans including Black Attorney's and Doctor's. Also , at this point in time, while Oklahoma owned only 2 local airports, 6 owners of planes were indeed ; African-Americans !
Local Adversity : You see, this took place over 89 years ago (1920's) , when segregation was full in effect. So when African-Americans were creating successful infrastructure's, MAJORITY races would obviously feel : offended , defeated , and most of all threatened. White's certainly did NOT enjoy the fact that black's were making something of themselves so they retaliated. They bombarded. They Antagonized.
BACK THEN : Oklahoma was supposively an Indian /Black state. They even had a black Governor named McDade ; who Klu Klux Klan said if he assumed office, they would kill him within 48 hours. As you can see , the KKK was the ignition to the fire of the upcoming catastrope.
A Time To Remember : June 1 , 1921 marked a devastating time in history ; The Bombing of Black Wall Street . This all began because of an alleged assault against a white woman [ Sarah Page ) by an African-American, Dick Rowland. -- Sound Familiar ? , Hint* Hint* Emmett Till's Untold Story . . -- A local white newspaper company the Tulsa Tribune eventually got word of the incident and published the story in the paper on May 31, 1921. Shortly after the story surfaced, word got out that a white lynch mob was going to take matters into their own hands -- And Kill Dick Rowland . . . The black community would not accept defeat, so they armed themselves against the whites to join forces. One thing led to another and guns began to fire. Whites began to flood into the Greenwood district and destroy any building and home standing , exempting no one of the terror and violence ; men, women, and even children were killed by whomever they got in the way of. To restrict retaliation, white men held the residents at gun point to resume the fires until every single building was gone. After about 12 hours , the once thriving community of Greenwood was completely destroyed leaving a total of 1.5 million dollars of property damage. American Red Cross listed 8,624 persons in need of assistance , 1,000 buildings/businesses destroyed, and the delivery of stillborn infants. The night's carnage left some 3,000 African-Americans dead. A lot were buried in mass graves all around the city, some even thrown in coal mines and the river.
Post-Massacre : This cost the community EVERYTHING; no restitution , nor a dime of insurance claims was given. Nonetheless, they rebuilt. Today, their legacy continues in many important Durham, North Carolinian institutions. The entrepreneurial spirit of the Black Wall Street Pioneers is inspiring a whole new generation of business owners on Parrish Street.
This massacre was a.k.a. The Black Holocaust ; though many chose to forget, our heritage did not. When learning something new, it's your choice to pass it on ; I dedicate this blog to Mrs.Armstrong , Thank You for passing this down to my generation ♥ .
-- work cited : http://mrpace7.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/black-wall-street-little-africa/ ; http://www.daveyd.com/blackwallpolitic.html ; http://www.blackwallstreet.freeservers.com/The%20Story.htm ; http://www.blackwallstreet.freeservers.com/ .
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