Editor’s Note: Yes, yes, I know. Teddy Roosevelt not Teddy Kennedy. Thanks to my sister for being the first to point it out. LOL. On May 31 and June1, 1921, white citizens of Tulsa, OK began the systematic destruction of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK. The precipitating event was a sexual assault on a 17 year old white girl and the deaths of ten white men.
One of the reasons that I subscribe and that I respect you is that you don’t usually pander. “The precipitating event was a sexual assault on a 17 year old white girl...” We both know that there was never a trial. So, we both know, at best, there was an “alleged” sexual assault on a white girl. By the way, those ten white men who died, were they outside the jail looking to lynch the black man being held on the assault charge? Any black men die? Is this what you’re now going to be, now that you have your new radio show?
Have you ever heard of Lexington and Concord, the Shot Heard 'Round the World, and Bunker Hill? Have you ever heard of Fort Sumter, Gettysburg and Appamatox?
The battle of Tulsa, and its accompanying massacre, should be right up there with all those other well-known events of American history.
But that prospect is a long row to hoe, and it has had until recently a snowball's chance in hell of being tossed out in our great American dialogue and historical canon.
It's about time someone dragged this sparsely-taught event out of the white-privileged shadows of forgetfulness, and placed it in the mantle of classic American History.
MAIA. Make America Informed Again.
The Tulsa race pogrom of 1921 ought to become a cautionary tale in our history books along with the Dred Scott decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, the murder of Emmett Till, Little Rock school integration, Rosa Parks, Dr. King, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor etc etc . . .
American honkies need to be educated about the privileged status in which our great majority has been sheltered for, lo, these, two centuries and many, many years.
Note to editor: the first African-American in either house of Congress was Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Senator from Mississippi in 1869. The second was Jefferson F. Long of Georgia in 1870. Both were Republicans. Notably, the third African-American to serve in the U.S. Congress was Andrew Young of Georgia - a Democrat in 1972.
I would encourage each of you to take the time to read at least some of the report on the Tulsa Race Massacre that was published in 2001. https://www.okhistory.org/research/forms/freport.pdf Start on page 37 if you're in a hurry. I grew up in Tulsa in the 1970's's and I did learn about the Race Riot in school, but having read in more detail in recent weeks, I'm stunned at the brutality of what took place and that no one was ever brought to justice. An entire community was burned down leaving nearly 10,000 people homeless. Erick, I think you miss the mark when you give your reasons for this tragedy not being taught in history classes--at least in Oklahoma history. From the beginning, it was downplayed, as you can see if you take the time to read the report.
I'm surprised more African Americans aren't Life Members of the NRA or 2nd Amendment Foundation. This is what happens when an insane mob gets worked up and attacks disarmed people who cannot defend themselves.
From what I have read it was not a rape or an attempted rape. When the man in question was trying to get on the elevator, the elevator floor and the floor in which he was standing were not even. He tripped and in the process put out his hands in order to protect himself from the fall. He ended up touching the woman operating the elevator, but she was not the one who reported it as as supposed rape. It was someone nearby who saw it and interpreted it as an attempted rape.
I think you meant the first Black person elected after Reformation. There were plenty of Black Republican House Members elected after the Civil War during Reformation. When the Democrats created the KKK. During and after reformation used law to disarm Black people and used law to disenfranchise the Black vote. 1200+ White Republicans were lynched by the KKK along with 2700+ Blacks. Read "Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White" by David Barton, it does a great job covering the good and the bad of our history. It lays the awful behavior of the Democrats bare.
Glenn Beck talked about the events years ago. He said that the black elevator operator accidentally stepped on the foot of a white teenager who was suffering from corns. She screamed from the pain and hit him with her purse.
I read about a riot in California concerning the Chinese. It was started when a policeman was shot.
With everything else that was going on worldwide in 1921...Adolph Hitler's rise to power, the creation of the Communist Party in China and Belgium, formation of the Fascists in Italy by Mussolini, the famine in Russia, the Irish War of Independence, first motion pictures (Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik), Babe Ruth breaking records, the "Black Sox", first radio broadcasts of sports...a "race riot" that started with an attempted lynching of a black teen (whom law enforcement protected, BTW), probably was low on the list of "major events" for the history books.
Awesome job laying out the sordid event, and the real reason it’s virtually unknown. Once again, doing the journalists’ jobs for them, looking at the layers of intertwined issues and levels of gray. Too much like work, apparently. Or maybe, truth telling is no longer their work. Supporting the progressive narrative is journalists’ new job description.
I always thought that Memorial Day began as Armistice day for WWI.
Awesome article Erick. Keep up the good work!
I’m still wondering bout all you nameless and faceless, pictureless. Hhhhhmm.
Can we just move on and those who don’t want to live in the USA just move to England, Ireland, Mexico or Canada? Can we? Huh, can we?
One of the reasons that I subscribe and that I respect you is that you don’t usually pander. “The precipitating event was a sexual assault on a 17 year old white girl...” We both know that there was never a trial. So, we both know, at best, there was an “alleged” sexual assault on a white girl. By the way, those ten white men who died, were they outside the jail looking to lynch the black man being held on the assault charge? Any black men die? Is this what you’re now going to be, now that you have your new radio show?
Have you ever heard of Lexington and Concord, the Shot Heard 'Round the World, and Bunker Hill? Have you ever heard of Fort Sumter, Gettysburg and Appamatox?
The battle of Tulsa, and its accompanying massacre, should be right up there with all those other well-known events of American history.
But that prospect is a long row to hoe, and it has had until recently a snowball's chance in hell of being tossed out in our great American dialogue and historical canon.
It's about time someone dragged this sparsely-taught event out of the white-privileged shadows of forgetfulness, and placed it in the mantle of classic American History.
MAIA. Make America Informed Again.
The Tulsa race pogrom of 1921 ought to become a cautionary tale in our history books along with the Dred Scott decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, the murder of Emmett Till, Little Rock school integration, Rosa Parks, Dr. King, George Floyd, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor etc etc . . .
American honkies need to be educated about the privileged status in which our great majority has been sheltered for, lo, these, two centuries and many, many years.
Note to editor: the first African-American in either house of Congress was Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Senator from Mississippi in 1869. The second was Jefferson F. Long of Georgia in 1870. Both were Republicans. Notably, the third African-American to serve in the U.S. Congress was Andrew Young of Georgia - a Democrat in 1972.
I would encourage each of you to take the time to read at least some of the report on the Tulsa Race Massacre that was published in 2001. https://www.okhistory.org/research/forms/freport.pdf Start on page 37 if you're in a hurry. I grew up in Tulsa in the 1970's's and I did learn about the Race Riot in school, but having read in more detail in recent weeks, I'm stunned at the brutality of what took place and that no one was ever brought to justice. An entire community was burned down leaving nearly 10,000 people homeless. Erick, I think you miss the mark when you give your reasons for this tragedy not being taught in history classes--at least in Oklahoma history. From the beginning, it was downplayed, as you can see if you take the time to read the report.
I'm surprised more African Americans aren't Life Members of the NRA or 2nd Amendment Foundation. This is what happens when an insane mob gets worked up and attacks disarmed people who cannot defend themselves.
From what I have read it was not a rape or an attempted rape. When the man in question was trying to get on the elevator, the elevator floor and the floor in which he was standing were not even. He tripped and in the process put out his hands in order to protect himself from the fall. He ended up touching the woman operating the elevator, but she was not the one who reported it as as supposed rape. It was someone nearby who saw it and interpreted it as an attempted rape.
I think you meant the first Black person elected after Reformation. There were plenty of Black Republican House Members elected after the Civil War during Reformation. When the Democrats created the KKK. During and after reformation used law to disarm Black people and used law to disenfranchise the Black vote. 1200+ White Republicans were lynched by the KKK along with 2700+ Blacks. Read "Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White" by David Barton, it does a great job covering the good and the bad of our history. It lays the awful behavior of the Democrats bare.
Glenn Beck talked about the events years ago. He said that the black elevator operator accidentally stepped on the foot of a white teenager who was suffering from corns. She screamed from the pain and hit him with her purse.
I read about a riot in California concerning the Chinese. It was started when a policeman was shot.
Was that a joke or did you really mean Teddy Roosevelt?
Very well done. Interesting that every wrong is now a systematic problem, further evidence of systematic racism.
With everything else that was going on worldwide in 1921...Adolph Hitler's rise to power, the creation of the Communist Party in China and Belgium, formation of the Fascists in Italy by Mussolini, the famine in Russia, the Irish War of Independence, first motion pictures (Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik), Babe Ruth breaking records, the "Black Sox", first radio broadcasts of sports...a "race riot" that started with an attempted lynching of a black teen (whom law enforcement protected, BTW), probably was low on the list of "major events" for the history books.
Awesome job laying out the sordid event, and the real reason it’s virtually unknown. Once again, doing the journalists’ jobs for them, looking at the layers of intertwined issues and levels of gray. Too much like work, apparently. Or maybe, truth telling is no longer their work. Supporting the progressive narrative is journalists’ new job description.