1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:03,600 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's me Josham for this week's select I've 2 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:08,320 Speaker 1: chosen our January twenty twenty episode on the Tulsa massacre. 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: It's such a vile event that it left us stain 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: that spread out of Tulsa and even out of Oklahoma 5 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: to become a blemish on the history of the entire US. 6 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: And it's a lesson and how important it is to 7 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: talk about the past, even the worst of the past, 8 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: to move forward to heal. It's also a lesson on 9 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: how you just can't bury the past no matter how 10 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: hard you try. I hope you get a lot out 11 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: of this episode. 12 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:42,839 Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 13 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's 14 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: Charles w Chuck Bryan over there, there's Jerry over here. 15 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: We have all come together in the year twenty twenty 16 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: to wear a silver jumpsuits as always I know, right, 17 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: and talk about a buried, overlooked blemish in the history 18 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 1: of the United States. 19 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 2: Are we not going to recount no anything about this 20 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 2: past year, no talk about this being the first recording 21 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 2: of the new year. Nope, all right, we've had a 22 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,640 Speaker 2: break here I'm going to push forward. We've been off 23 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 2: for a couple of weeks, which was pretty glorious to 24 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 2: not have to just over text my brain. But it 25 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 2: was also nice to get back in here into the 26 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 2: stank of this room. 27 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: This room, I don't think this room stinks. 28 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 3: Well right now. 29 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 2: It smells like you're caramel vanilla Freppa lape. 30 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: This is just black coffee. This happens to be flavor blake. 31 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 3: It's really I mean, it smells great. 32 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: It's I think a green mountain or something. Caramel vanilla coffee. 33 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 3: Pod man. It is super fragrant. Yeah, it's nice in 34 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,040 Speaker 3: a great way. It makes me. It smells like an 35 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 3: ice cream Sunday. 36 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: It's pleasant. 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 3: It is very. 38 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: Pleasant, but it's not doing the job. Like I'm still 39 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: I'm a little tired, a little groggy. 40 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 3: You know, I had a four shot latte earlier. Oh yeah, 41 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 3: and so I'm kind of gotcha. 42 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:18,520 Speaker 1: Maybe that's what I mean. 43 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 2: I'm zippy and go downstairs to I know you don't 44 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 2: like to pay for coffee, but yeah, go downstairs to 45 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 2: Spiller Park. 46 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 3: Okay, Hugh Atchison's place. 47 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: A four shot latte? 48 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,679 Speaker 3: Yes, Okay, that that has me going. 49 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: Well, I give it about a half hour before Chuck 50 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: crashes everybody. 51 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, seriously, anyway, I'm glad to be back. 52 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad you're back to You know, we've been 53 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: here the whole time. This is where you spent Christmas 54 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: and New Year's Yes, both in this room and Thanksgiving. 55 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 3: And I guess you, me and Momo slept over there 56 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 3: in the corner. 57 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: They come to visit sometimes they say, please, please come on, 58 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: please stop working. I say, I can't. 59 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,079 Speaker 3: They slide the food tray through the slot. 60 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 2: You know where I got this idea, And I know 61 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,240 Speaker 2: you haven't watched it, but the Watchmen. 62 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,519 Speaker 1: I came across mentioned of that. I was like, why 63 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: is everybody talking about the Watchmen with the Tulsa race riot? 64 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 2: Or more appropriately, why is everyone all of a sudden 65 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 2: talking about the Tulsa massacre? 66 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 1: Yeah? 67 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, because the Watchmen really put it on the map 68 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 2: in a big way. 69 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: Yeah. That's great. 70 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 2: Utilize it quite well in the storyline, and I have 71 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 2: a recommendation for everyone, even though it is a marketing piece. 72 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 2: There's a thing in the Atlantic called the Massacre of 73 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 2: Black Wall Street, paid for by HBO, but it tells 74 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 2: the story in a comic book. 75 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: Form in the Atlantic. H Oh cool, very cool. 76 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 2: And I didn't notice it was a marketing piece until afterward. 77 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 2: But well, it's still. 78 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: Good sure, as long as the content's good. 79 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's cool and very well done. 80 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:58,119 Speaker 1: So this is like, it's great that the Watchmen has 81 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: brought attention to this, yeah, because it wasn't until about 82 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: two thousand and one, maybe the late nineties, really that 83 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: people started talking about this. 84 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 3: I know. 85 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: And this event that we're going to talk about happened 86 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty one, and almost the week after, basically 87 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: the week after, everyone said, don't talk about this, Yeah, 88 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,479 Speaker 1: just forget it ever happened. We're's moving forward and we're 89 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: going to bury the past, literally buried people, the evidence, 90 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: all this stuff. It was buried, and people just acted 91 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,279 Speaker 1: like nothing happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma for like eighty years. 92 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: And when you hear what we're about to talk about, 93 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:42,280 Speaker 1: it's astounding that the community, both black and white, agreed 94 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: to just basically pretend this never happened, at least publicly 95 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: or civically. 96 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's hard to find some information still on 97 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 2: some of the key events and definitely some of the 98 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:56,279 Speaker 2: key players. 99 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: Because a lot of them died of old age without 100 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: ever having been interviewed. 101 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,479 Speaker 2: Yeah, no follow ups, Like, I mean, we'll get to it, 102 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 2: but a couple of the most key players. 103 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,479 Speaker 3: It's like, this is kind of all we know, right. 104 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: I looked them up too, and it's like, what do 105 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: you mean you have no idea? Yeah, even who this 106 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: guy was let alone? You know, what became of him? 107 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 1: Or what do you mean? Like just no one kept track. 108 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: But that's how complete and total this cover up was. 109 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: It was a cover up. Yeah, so let's talk about 110 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: it first. Let's talk about Greenwood, which I was not 111 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: familiar with. But Greenwood was an affluent i guess almost 112 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: suburb adjacent to Tulsa, just north of Tulsa. And what 113 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: was odd about the fact that it was affluent is 114 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: that it was an all black community in you know, 115 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: the turn of the last century, and yet it was 116 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,400 Speaker 1: one of the most affluent communities in the entire United States. 117 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 3: Yeah. 118 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 2: I mean, now it's just part of Tulsa, like a neighborhood. 119 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,000 Speaker 2: But back then just sort of like my neighborhood would 120 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,239 Speaker 2: have been a suburb of Atlanta in the nineteen twenties, 121 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,040 Speaker 2: even though I'm you know, five miles from downtown. 122 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: Right exactly. 123 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 2: But in nineteen twenty one, it was, like you said, 124 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:10,120 Speaker 2: super affluent. They had a lot of I think there 125 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 2: were ten thousand black residents there. It's called the Black 126 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:16,280 Speaker 2: Wall Street, like I mentioned, Yeah, and six hundred businesses. 127 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 2: There were fifteen African American millionaires living in this district. 128 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, fifteen black millionaires in nineteen twenty one in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 129 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, and it wasn't I mean, like the whole area 130 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: was very well to do. There was like indoor plumbing, 131 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: the public schools there were like top not. Yeah, and 132 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: in many cases Greenwood had a lot to boast about that. 133 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:45,799 Speaker 1: Like the white areas in Tulsa just over the railroad tracks, 134 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: literally on the other side of the track, Yeah, didn't 135 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: have like like this is far better off than some 136 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,600 Speaker 1: parts of white Tulsa. 137 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, including one of the top African American surgeons, if 138 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 2: not the top in the country, endorsed by the doctor 139 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:04,799 Speaker 2: Mayo himself. 140 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:05,279 Speaker 1: The Mayo brothers. 141 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 3: Yeah. 142 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 2: This guy's doctor A C. Jackson, and he was one 143 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 2: of the people murdered in this massacre. 144 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 3: Yeah. 145 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say there was a spoiler, 146 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: but I guess we've already kind of mentioned there's a 147 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: massacre coming, right, Yeah, so just to take a step 148 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: back even further, so it's pretty impressive to think of, like, 149 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: this is the Jim Crow era United States. Yes, this 150 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: is we're talking about. You know, this massacre took place 151 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty one, that's you know, fifty years after 152 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War. In many ways, the 153 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: Jim Crow era was just as bad as the Antebellum 154 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: slavery era. But so the idea to us today looking 155 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: back at this time of well, there's a black community 156 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: in Oklahoma that was one of the most affluent areas 157 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: in the country. It's kind of mind boggling. But if 158 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: you dig even deeper into how it was formed, it 159 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: almost you developed like a sense of pride in this 160 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: that these these people came together under these conditions and 161 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: not only survived, but like thrived and create a carved 162 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: out a place for themselves where like being black was 163 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: celebrated and where you could be proud and you took 164 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: pride in your home, in your children, and your children's 165 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:24,440 Speaker 1: education and the healthcare that they were getting, in the 166 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: bus service, and the quality of the theater that you 167 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: went to. The confection area, the soda fountain, like that's 168 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: where you went to go like proposed marriage. Like. There 169 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: was this incredibly developed community. And one of the ways 170 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,719 Speaker 1: that it was that it was able to flourish and 171 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: was able to kind of grow like this is because 172 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: the first thing that Oklahoma did when it became a state. 173 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 1: Remember it was originally a territory for forced relocation of 174 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: Native Americans and their African slaves to this area. When 175 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: it became a state, when white side came in and said, no, 176 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: we want this instead, we're going to take this territory 177 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 1: we gave you away and turn into stay. The first 178 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:12,199 Speaker 1: piece of legislation they passed was that black people have 179 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: to stay in their own area. They can't marry outside 180 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:18,599 Speaker 1: their race, they can't frequent white owned businesses, they have 181 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: to stay over here. And so the people of Greenwood said, 182 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: fine with us. We're going to pass a covenant that 183 00:09:24,400 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: says you have to be a black person to own 184 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: land here, or to even rent a place here, to 185 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: own a business here. It's a covenant restricted community, and 186 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: we're going to take a tremendous amount of pride and 187 00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: in circulating our currency, our hard earned money that we're 188 00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: making by working for these white businesses that we're not 189 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: allowed to patronize. We're going to go make our own 190 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,959 Speaker 1: businesses over here, and we're going to support them with 191 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: our community, not only because we can't spend our money elsewhere, 192 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: but because we have a lot of pride in the 193 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: businesses that we've built over here. And so in this way, 194 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: Greenwood flourished because of and in spite of these Jim 195 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: Crow era laws that black people had to deal with 196 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: in Oklahoma at the time. 197 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,599 Speaker 2: Yeah, and this was Dave Ruz helped put us to 198 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,080 Speaker 2: put this together, and some of the research he got 199 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 2: was from the book The Burning Colon, Massacre, Destruction and 200 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 2: the Tulsa Race Ride of nineteen twenty one by Tim 201 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:26,720 Speaker 2: Madigan and various Stuteley points out that this was this 202 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 2: happened in Oklahoma, of course, but this kind of thing 203 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 2: was happening all over the country, not just in the 204 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 2: South or the whatever you call Oklahoma. 205 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,119 Speaker 3: I guess it's the West Midwest, Yeah, but not Midwest. 206 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:40,439 Speaker 1: I don't know. I think you just call it Oklahoma. 207 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 2: It's interesting some people there identify with the South, but 208 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 2: if you're from Georgia, Oklahoma it's not the South might 209 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,559 Speaker 2: as well be you know, Montana. 210 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,560 Speaker 1: I think of Oklahoma as like Native America. Yeah, and 211 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 1: then what it says on the license. 212 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 2: Plate, maybe it says middle of the country with a 213 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:01,679 Speaker 2: with a little apostrophe. 214 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: And there's a picture of the Mountain DO logo on. 215 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 3: But this was happening everywhere. There were In nineteen nineteen, 216 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:08,080 Speaker 3: there were two dozen. 217 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 2: Race riots in places like Chicago, Washington, d C. 218 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:13,240 Speaker 3: Saint Louis. 219 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 2: In between the end of the Civil War and World 220 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,599 Speaker 2: War Two, there were more than four thousand lynchings in 221 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 2: the United States, right, which is, you know, it's important 222 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:27,080 Speaker 2: to point that out because what and we'll get into 223 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 2: the story here, but a lynching is what was the 224 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,760 Speaker 2: aim of the white people of Oklahoma on this night. 225 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,440 Speaker 1: Right, But I have seen also one of the reasons 226 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: I went to so much lengths to explain Greenwood, Yeah, 227 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: in part was to because to show what was lost here, 228 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: but also to show there are a lot of people 229 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: who consider this massacre to have been carried out or 230 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,960 Speaker 1: fueled in part by envy, right, because the people of 231 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,240 Speaker 1: Greenmaw were so much better off in some instances than 232 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: the white people who were carrying out this massacre. 233 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 2: All right, maybe we should take a break, No, and 234 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:08,480 Speaker 2: then we'll come back. Man, we got to start twenty 235 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 2: twenty with an argument over a break. 236 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do it. 237 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 3: All right, let's take a break. 238 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 2: We'll come back and talk a little bit about the 239 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 2: beginnings of what would end up being the Tulsa massacre. 240 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,480 Speaker 2: All right, So we should talk about the key player here, 241 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:49,200 Speaker 2: or players, And in this case it is Diamond. 242 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: Dick Rowland, one of the greatest names I've ever heard 243 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 1: in my life. 244 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 3: It's pretty good. 245 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 2: He was a shoeshine boy in Tulsa, and by all accounts, 246 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 2: he was smart. He was a handsome young guy, and 247 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 2: he was sort of a man about town. 248 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:06,560 Speaker 3: He was popular with the. 249 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: Ladies, had the world on a string. 250 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty much. 251 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 2: And there was a girl named Sarah Page who ran 252 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 2: an elevator at the Drexel Building, a building that I 253 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 2: have walked past with my own two feet Oh wow. 254 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:21,199 Speaker 3: Right, And she was white. 255 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 2: She was white, and you know, Dick thought she was cute, 256 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 2: and he would go down there and basically kind of 257 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 2: make up excuses to ride her elevator. 258 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: Okay, I saw something different than that, Oh yeah, I 259 00:13:33,400 --> 00:13:37,160 Speaker 1: saw that he was on the elevator because he was 260 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: he could use the segregated bathroom on the top floor 261 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: of the Drexel building only, so he had to ride 262 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: up the elevator up and down, okay, to get to 263 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: the bathroom, the closest bathroom for him to be able 264 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: to use. That's what I saw. 265 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 3: So you're saying he didn't fancy Sarah Paget, Oh No, 266 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 3: I don't know. 267 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: But I also saw a different explanation for why he 268 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:57,959 Speaker 1: would have been on the elevator as often as he 269 00:13:58,000 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: supposedly was. 270 00:13:58,960 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 3: All Right, maybe it was both. 271 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe he went to the bathroom a little more 272 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: often than he had to because they did, think Sarah Pegq. 273 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,199 Speaker 1: Who knows. I'm not saying they necessarily contradict each other. 274 00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 1: I'm just saying I've seen other explanations as well. I 275 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: got you that sounded very lowyally for some reason, didn't it. 276 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 2: Man, Maybe this is the new YU in twenty twenty 277 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 2: Matt Locke, Josh Clark Esquire. 278 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, a spree. 279 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: That's different than Esquire. 280 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 2: So at any rate, we should probably also point out that, 281 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 2: and you know, mixed race couples still get sideways looks 282 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 2: in some parts of America today, but certainly in nineteen 283 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 2: twenty one in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the idea of a black 284 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:41,440 Speaker 2: man fancying a white woman. 285 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: He was even looking at a white woman. 286 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was not only untoward, but like a threat 287 00:14:48,400 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 2: worthy of a lynching. 288 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: Right. 289 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 2: It was still that time in America where if you 290 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 2: made any advances, that was sort of the biggest fear 291 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 2: for some white men was black men coming in and 292 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 2: takingquote unquote their women. 293 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, which is character I are popularized thanks to Birth 294 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: of a Nation, which depicts the clan, you know, coming 295 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: to the aid of white women who were about to 296 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: be raped by maniacal black men who just could couldn't 297 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: help themselves. They were just so in love with white 298 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: women that they just had to rape. That was just 299 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: what black guys did. That was the view of black 300 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: guys at the time, right, that that's just how it was. 301 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: So to white people, like you kept an eye out 302 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: for that, Like when you saw a black man and 303 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: there's a white woman over there, you wanted to make 304 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,080 Speaker 1: sure that he wasn't going to you know, rapeer. Yeah, 305 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:39,680 Speaker 1: that was the mentality that people were walking around with 306 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: back then. 307 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:42,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, that movie was actually partially shot in my old 308 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 2: neighborhood in LA. 309 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: You have a lot to do with this episode. 310 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:48,560 Speaker 2: Well, it's just weird to think about birth of a nation, 311 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 2: you know, being shot in Los Feeless, which is this 312 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 2: very like kind of hip community and on the east 313 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 2: side of Hollywood. 314 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: Sure. 315 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 2: But anyway, on May thirtieth, nineteen twenty one, Dick Roland 316 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 2: went into that elevator to either flirt or use the 317 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 2: restroom or both. And what I saw was that the 318 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,720 Speaker 2: It was well known that the third floor landing did 319 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 2: not land flush with the threshold, and supposedly this is why, 320 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 2: as the story goes, Dick Roland tripped when he was 321 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 2: getting onto the elevator. So maybe if that bathroom was 322 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 2: on the third floor, that could make sense. 323 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: I heard top floor. I don't know how many floors 324 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: of the dot I don't remember. Actually, was it more than three? 325 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't remember. Actually, I just I 326 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 1: don't think they'd call a building the something building if 327 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: it only has three floors, you know what I mean, 328 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: You're probably right, that's like an eight plus floor like Moniker. 329 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 2: I think you're probably right. But at any rate, he 330 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 2: gets on the elevator. As the story goes, stumbles getting 331 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,640 Speaker 2: on and kind of falls forward and grabs her arm, 332 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 2: which was kind of the first thing that he could 333 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 2: get a hold of from falling. As the story goes, 334 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 2: she started beating him over the head with her purse 335 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 2: because I guess it's an old Looney Tunes cartoon and 336 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 2: she didn't have a rolling pins And the elevator opened. 337 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,520 Speaker 2: On the ground floor, people see this sort of scuffle 338 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 2: going on, or what appears to be a scuffle. She 339 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:23,959 Speaker 2: allegedly cries out that she had been assaulted, and people 340 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 2: on the first floor called the police as Dick flees 341 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 2: on foot. 342 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: Right takes off. 343 00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:33,479 Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, no one knows exactly how this 344 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:34,160 Speaker 2: all went down. 345 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,639 Speaker 1: No one even knows exactly who Diamond Dick Roland. 346 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 2: Was or Sarah Page. Yeah, for that matter, always are. Yeah, 347 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 2: all we found out what was that she was an orphan. 348 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:46,560 Speaker 2: She could have been a young at sixteen. I've seen 349 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 2: reports of seventeen and was working to pay her way 350 00:17:49,240 --> 00:17:50,199 Speaker 2: through business college. 351 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:55,439 Speaker 1: And that's what the Tulsa Tribune reported like the day after. 352 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, and I saw that elsewhere, But I also saw 353 00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 2: like literally nothing else about her. 354 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:01,119 Speaker 3: Yeah, I couldn't find anything. 355 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: And then Dick Roland. They think that he might have 356 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: possibly been named Jimmy Jones, right, I saw that too, 357 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:11,160 Speaker 1: and who was raised by his grandparents whose last name 358 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: was Roland, so he took their name. And there is 359 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: a guy who would have matched his birth date named 360 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: Jimmy Jones that they found buried in Tulsa, but he 361 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,199 Speaker 1: died like two months before these events took place, so 362 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: it couldn't have possibly been him. 363 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 3: Yeah, there were a few years apart too, I think, Right, 364 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 3: how was it? Yeah, okay, but it's unbelievable that so 365 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:31,120 Speaker 3: much of this is lost to history. 366 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:35,359 Speaker 1: Yeah, these two people who set off this one of 367 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,840 Speaker 1: the most despicable events that it's ever taken place in 368 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,600 Speaker 1: this country's history just vanish almost after this point. It's 369 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: just you guys played your role. Now everyone else is 370 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:45,400 Speaker 1: going to step in. 371 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 2: So Dick goes home his mom, I guess. He tells 372 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 2: his mom what happened, and she obviously was pretty scared 373 00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 2: right away because she knew probably what this meant. But 374 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:01,520 Speaker 2: for that night, at least, nothing really happened. The next day, 375 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 2: he goes out to meet up with some friends and 376 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 2: the Tulsa police pull up and take him in. 377 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 3: Basically on an assault charge. 378 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:13,199 Speaker 1: Right, which is I don't know why they didn't go 379 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 1: pick him up at home or whatever, but they I 380 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: also read somewhere that they had arrested him on the spot. 381 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: But what you're you're recounting matches what I've seen most right, right, Yeah, 382 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: But that's that's history, especially suppressed history. 383 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 3: Right. 384 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,360 Speaker 1: One person writes, and then somebody else reports, and then 385 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:31,680 Speaker 1: enough people report it, and then that's. 386 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:33,040 Speaker 3: Fact exactly, that's the story. 387 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:38,159 Speaker 1: But so either way he came into police custody, we 388 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: know that is the way it is. And then this 389 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:45,120 Speaker 1: is like a white sheriff named William Sullivan. 390 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 3: I think, right, William McCullough. 391 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: McCullough I was very close. 392 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, And when you're starting to read the story, you 393 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 2: hear about this, you know, white mustache sheriff and immediately think, 394 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,159 Speaker 2: oh boy, this guy's in trouble. 395 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 1: Well, this guy had replaced the last guy that it 396 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 1: was trouble, right, who had allowed a white mob to 397 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: take an arrested black man out of his custody and 398 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:09,160 Speaker 1: lynch him. 399 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 3: Oh it says here it was a white person. Is 400 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:11,880 Speaker 3: that not true? 401 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: I think that's wrong. Oh, okay, either way, he let 402 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: somebody be lynched by an angry mob. 403 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, which I thought for sure Sheriff McCullough was going 404 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 2: to do. But apparently McCullough was intent on kind of 405 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 2: going by the book. 406 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: He followed the Hectate school of sheriffing. Do you know 407 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: what that from to kill a mockingbird? 408 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 3: Oh? 409 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 2: Right, right, which was, hey, let's let the law play out, 410 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 2: let's give him a stay in court. There will be 411 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:37,960 Speaker 2: no lynchings on my watch. 412 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:45,520 Speaker 1: Right, So he took Diamond Dick up to a room 413 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,200 Speaker 1: on an upper floor. The only way to get there 414 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: was this one staircase, so he basically strategically hit him out, 415 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,760 Speaker 1: went down to this white crowd and said, there's not 416 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: going to be any lynching today, Like Chuck said, The 417 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 1: thing is, we've left out a really important point here. 418 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,400 Speaker 3: Yeah, like why was there a white crowd to begin with? Right? Yeah. 419 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,160 Speaker 1: There is a newspaper that was called the Tulsa Tribune 420 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: that ran an article about Sarah Page being assaulted. This 421 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,359 Speaker 1: is a news article and the headline for said news 422 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:22,199 Speaker 1: article was nab negro for attacking girl and elevator. Not 423 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 1: people might nab negro for attacking girl in elevator. Police 424 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: worried white mob. Might it's nab like go do this? Yes, 425 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,120 Speaker 1: that was the headline for the article. The editorial took 426 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 1: it even a step further. And this is the day 427 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: after this event took place. 428 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, the editorial was to Lynch Negro tonight. 429 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 2: And I gotta say, whoever's writing these headlines, it's inflammatory, 430 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 2: of course, but they also don't make much sense. 431 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they're of poor construction. 432 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 2: They're very poor construction. And I went to try and 433 00:21:56,119 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 2: find the microfilm of this, and I think the first 434 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 2: one is available, but blurry. 435 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 3: The second one. 436 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 2: The only copy of that paper they have is a 437 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 2: front page with an article cut out that scanned in 438 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 2: and everyone's like, it must have this must have been 439 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 2: that editorial, But I literally couldn't find any you know, 440 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,120 Speaker 2: because I was kind of curious to read just how 441 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:25,000 Speaker 2: poor of a writer this person was and get you know, 442 00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 2: probably what would not have been accurate details. 443 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,119 Speaker 1: No, no, so no, they I mean they basically reported 444 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:36,160 Speaker 1: in the first one, in the actual article that her 445 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:40,720 Speaker 1: clothes had been torn at. They really characterized it. 446 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:43,640 Speaker 3: Like he attacked her, like a sexual assault, right exactly. 447 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:46,959 Speaker 1: And then the second one is just basically like an 448 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: all out editorial calling for Dick Rowland's lynching. Yeah, this 449 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,680 Speaker 1: is in the paper. So the local newspaper has inflamed 450 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: the white citizenry into basically calling them to action, to 451 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:01,479 Speaker 1: go do something about this. And they all show up 452 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:07,680 Speaker 1: at the courthouse to demand that Sheriff McCullough hand over 453 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:09,719 Speaker 1: Dick Roland to them so they can go lynch him. 454 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 1: And he says, yeah, no, back off, no. But so 455 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,360 Speaker 1: before but I think he tells him like, no, I'm 456 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 1: not I'm not doing that like you said. But before 457 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: the crowd disperses, a second group comes and it's actually 458 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: a group of World War One veterans from Greenwood who 459 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: had found out that this white mob was going to 460 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,239 Speaker 1: lynch Dick Roland. And they were like, no, no, they're not. 461 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 1: We're going to go see to it that doesn't happen. 462 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, there were hundreds of w W One veterans, 463 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:45,879 Speaker 2: Black veterans in Greenwood. They were people who fought for 464 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 2: this country. And it's sort of that familiar despicable story, 465 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:54,160 Speaker 2: shed blood on European soil, come back home to America 466 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,440 Speaker 2: and you're still a second class citizen. They had petition 467 00:23:57,600 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 2: to and this is just sort of a sidebar. The 468 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 2: petition to walk in the Memorial Day Parade for many 469 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 2: years and were always refused. And May thirtieth was Memorial Day, 470 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 2: and that that same year they had once again said 471 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,000 Speaker 2: can we participate in the Memorial Day Parade as veterans? 472 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 2: They say, no, we're only going to honor the white veterans. 473 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:17,840 Speaker 3: No. 474 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,680 Speaker 1: I think they wanted to be integrated in the parade 475 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,399 Speaker 1: with the white veterans, just as World War One veterans 476 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: marching together. And they said, no, whites only, you can 477 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,160 Speaker 1: march by yourself. Oh really, And when they did march, 478 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,000 Speaker 1: they were taunted and jeered at, oh gotcha by the 479 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 1: people who are watching the parade. 480 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,680 Speaker 2: So these are the people that got guns and came 481 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 2: down there and said not on our watch. 482 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:39,720 Speaker 3: We're not going to let this happen. 483 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 2: And it kind of plays out as a film, you know, 484 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 2: from the sounds of it is like these cars pull 485 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,640 Speaker 2: in and part the crowd, and these black veterans get 486 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:51,919 Speaker 2: out with their guns and they're like, no, you're not 487 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 2: taking this kid, this is not going to happen. 488 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 3: Right. 489 00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:01,480 Speaker 1: So apparently Sheriff McCullough was able to to convince the 490 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: Greenwood World War One veterans who showed up that he 491 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 1: wasn't going to hand over dick roll and that he's 492 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: going to protect a role, and then they should probably 493 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,840 Speaker 1: just go he's gonna get rid of this white crowd too, 494 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,600 Speaker 1: But don't worry. I'm I'm not like the old sheriff. 495 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:16,960 Speaker 3: Yeah. 496 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 2: And there's about seventy five armed men. Yeah, and I 497 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 2: drive it home, like, how many people. 498 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,120 Speaker 1: I read that there were? I saw a thousands somewhere 499 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,560 Speaker 1: of white people of white people at the courthouse, like 500 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:30,719 Speaker 1: it was just this calling for a lynching. 501 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:32,919 Speaker 3: Yeah it was. They were heavily outmanned. 502 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, but seventy five, the seventy five black veterans showed 503 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 1: up in the midst of this. Let's even say it's 504 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: just a thousand, let's even say it's like five hundred 505 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: people calling for a lynching. Yeah, and you're seventy five 506 00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: black men showing up armed saying like no, it's not happening. 507 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: Just pretty courageous stuff, right. 508 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 3: Yeah. 509 00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:54,719 Speaker 1: So before they can leave or as they're leaving, it's 510 00:25:54,760 --> 00:26:02,200 Speaker 1: actually not clear what this event name gets its name from. 511 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: Happens what you would call a race riot. 512 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it looked like It might have been 513 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 2: on the way to being a scene that the sheriff 514 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 2: managed successfully. They might have been on the way out 515 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,080 Speaker 2: that white crowd might have dispersed if not for this 516 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 2: one incident. 517 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: And even if we did know, you know, just beat 518 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: by beat, the history of this, you still wouldn't be 519 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: able to say what would have happened. Yeah, exactly, that 520 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:31,159 Speaker 1: is a possible outcome. There was a there was an 521 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 1: older white man who demanded that one of these black 522 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 1: veterans give him his gun, and the black veterans said, no, 523 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: I'm not going to do that, and the old white 524 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,600 Speaker 1: man went to go grab it, and the gun went off, 525 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 1: and both sides just started shooting at one another. 526 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what triggered it. It was chaos. There was 527 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 3: a hail of bullets. 528 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 2: People on both sides just started, you know, dropping dead 529 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:01,480 Speaker 2: from the bullets flying, and it became a full on 530 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,520 Speaker 2: war scene basically for the next couple of days. 531 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 3: Right. 532 00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:09,359 Speaker 1: Okay, So at that point, the black veterans are like, 533 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:11,000 Speaker 1: we really should get out of here. 534 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 3: Yeah. They leave toward Greenwood. 535 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: Toward Greenwood, which is their home. They're going back to 536 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: their homes, and along the way, some of them, like 537 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: kind of drop back and like stake out positions and 538 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:30,680 Speaker 1: start sniping at the white rioters who are coming after them. 539 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: And at that point they go further back into Greenwood. 540 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,240 Speaker 1: And by this time it's like the early morning hours 541 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,160 Speaker 1: of I believe June first, right. 542 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 3: I don't think it was the early morning at that point. 543 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: It was like midnight. I mean like midnight one something 544 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:47,960 Speaker 1: like that. 545 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's during the night time. 546 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,360 Speaker 2: And this is when the white people started breaking into 547 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 2: the hardware stores and looting businesses to get weapons. 548 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:55,400 Speaker 3: Yeah. 549 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 1: Because here's the thing. So that's Sheriff McCullough, who you're 550 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 1: kind of like, oh, okay, as far as this whole 551 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:03,680 Speaker 1: story goes, that's not so bad. Like he at least 552 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: tried now. The moment this race riot happened and the 553 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: black veterans took off back for Greenwood, he started deputizing 554 00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: white rioters, handing out guns and ammunition and basically saying, 555 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: go get them, Go get those guys. Yeah, And rather 556 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: than saying like this is not your job, this my responsibility. 557 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:27,399 Speaker 1: I'll go home. I'm going to go handle this, he 558 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: enlisted the help of these people who were involved in 559 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,840 Speaker 1: this riot on the white side and at that point 560 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:36,600 Speaker 1: any semblance of what you would call a race riot 561 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:44,720 Speaker 1: ended and what became a revenge massacre just started. So 562 00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: people call this the Tulsa race riot, and I think 563 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: maybe a tenth of it qualifies as a race riot, 564 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,480 Speaker 1: and the rest it just should be called the Tulsa massacre. 565 00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:57,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, So what happens is, like you said, some of 566 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 2: these veterans get staked out in strategic positions on rooftops 567 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:08,560 Speaker 2: and behind houses, behind cars. The White Army, for lack 568 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 2: of a better word, is advancing into Greenwood. They start 569 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 2: setting fires at these strategic locations to flesh out these snipers, 570 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 2: and then they just start burning everything, basically setting fire 571 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 2: to every house in every business to burn down Greenwood. 572 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:27,440 Speaker 1: Well, I think also about for about the five or 573 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 1: about four or five hours from the time where they 574 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 1: managed to flush the snipers out until about five in 575 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: the morning, they were quietly taking up positions inside Greenwood, 576 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,640 Speaker 1: and then a whistle blew at about five am and 577 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: all of them just came out from their positions and 578 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: then they just went berserk. It was a charge, a 579 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: full on military coordinated assault on Greenwood. And so this 580 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,760 Speaker 1: assault involved driving people out of their homes at gunpoint 581 00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: any resistance that people were shot on site. There were 582 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:03,680 Speaker 1: people who were shot who weren't offering resistance. There was 583 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,720 Speaker 1: a story about an elderly couple who were kneeling in 584 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,920 Speaker 1: their house praying and they were both executed by these 585 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: white mobsters. Yeah, in their home. 586 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:13,720 Speaker 3: People were burned alive. 587 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, houses and people doused with kerosene and burned alive. 588 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 2: There was another story of a blind beggar who was 589 00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 2: tied to a car and dragged through the streets. 590 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:26,480 Speaker 3: I mean, it was just bedlam. 591 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 2: And Watchmen actually gets pretty graphic in how they depict this, 592 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 2: even though it's an alternate history show, just like the 593 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:37,640 Speaker 2: movie in the graphic novel where they I think they 594 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 2: did pretty decent justice. They didn't follow the origin story 595 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 2: of how it started, but it just placed heavily into 596 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 2: the plotline, right, Yeah. 597 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, should we take another break? Sure? All right, let's 598 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 3: take another break and we'll tell you what happened from here. 599 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,239 Speaker 1: Okay, So we actually took a commercial break in the 600 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: midst of a massacre. So the the thing is like 601 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: people are being driven out of their houses and shot 602 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 1: in some cases, but more often than not, they're being 603 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: like just flushed out. But no house, no building, no business, 604 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: no nothing was spared. They're in the intent of these 605 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: these white terrorists. There's really no other name for him. 606 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: Was to burn down Greenwood. 607 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 3: Yeah, and we kept at bay. 608 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,160 Speaker 1: Yeah. They said, do not come in here, like the 609 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:51,920 Speaker 1: rioters will kill you. Yeah, do you just stay away. 610 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 1: They burned Greenwood to the ground. Thirty five blocks, thirty 611 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: five blocks. Do you know how many blocks that is? 612 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:01,200 Speaker 3: That's a lot of blocks. 613 00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 1: Think about how many blocks is thirty five blocks, and 614 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 1: then add like ten, because I guarantee your conception is 615 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 1: less than actually thirty five blocks. That is a lot 616 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 1: of blocks of buildings burned to the ground. People killed 617 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: in their front yards, including doctor Andrew C. Jackson, the 618 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,200 Speaker 1: famous surgeon, shot like a dog in his own front 619 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,000 Speaker 1: yard in the chest. There's a picture of him. 620 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:27,600 Speaker 2: Twelve hundred homes, churches, schools, hospital, library. I think I 621 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,880 Speaker 2: mentioned there were six hundred businesses total. They were all torched, 622 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:32,240 Speaker 2: just torch. 623 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:35,120 Speaker 1: There were six people who owned airplanes. They were that 624 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 1: wealthy in Greenwood. 625 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:37,040 Speaker 3: Yeah. 626 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: Their airplanes were stolen by the rioters and used to 627 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: drop bombs, dynamite, nitroglycerin, fire, and then there was also 628 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: accusations the National Guard was helping coordinate this too. 629 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, the National Guard was called in and when they 630 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,560 Speaker 2: got there, by all accounts, they did not try to 631 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 2: help quell the riot. They more acted as helping to arrest. 632 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 3: Blackma that's just historical facts. 633 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, they were bringing in I mean, they were 634 00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 2: killing people for sure, but they were also arresting black men. 635 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 2: The women and children fled. I think six thousand people 636 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:16,560 Speaker 2: were arrested, and the women and children fled toward the woods, 637 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,360 Speaker 2: basically like leaving behind everything they owned. 638 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 1: Who are homeless. There was ten thousand people who lived 639 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 1: in Greenwood at the time, and after this one night, 640 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 1: this orgy of like violence, there were like nine thousand 641 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: left homeless and hundreds dead. 642 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, And apparently back to the National Guard, they said 643 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,280 Speaker 2: that they brought in planes just to spot fires and 644 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 2: coordinate ground security. But there are reports from people there 645 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,840 Speaker 2: that said that they were actually shooting at people on 646 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 2: the ground. 647 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: Say that that's a rumor. Yeah, even setting that aside, 648 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: the National Guard didn't come in and quell anything. They 649 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,840 Speaker 1: just started arresting and detaining the victims of this massacre. 650 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: That was the role that they played in this situation. 651 00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:04,480 Speaker 3: That's right. 652 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:09,839 Speaker 2: So the whole thing culminates with I mean, in the end, 653 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 2: it's really hard to get the amount of people killed. 654 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:15,560 Speaker 2: I think the official report says thirty five black people. 655 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 2: It's certainly way more than that. I've seen all the 656 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 2: way up to three hundred. 657 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:23,720 Speaker 1: That's what I saw, is almost across the boards. Three hundred. 658 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, that again might be one of those things that 659 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 2: everyone just sort of settled on a number. But it 660 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,719 Speaker 2: was not thirty five people, to be sure. 661 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:36,279 Speaker 1: No, definitely not. And so like as the sun comes 662 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:40,399 Speaker 1: up the day after I think June first, Green would 663 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 1: burn to the ground, there's people hiding in the woods. 664 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:47,960 Speaker 1: Thousands and thousands of former affluent residents of this black 665 00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: community homeless, are now homeless. Well, no, they're not homeless 666 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:54,040 Speaker 1: because the National Guards very kindly put them into tention 667 00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:55,959 Speaker 1: centers at the fairgrounds. 668 00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 3: That doesn't qualify as a home right. 669 00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,560 Speaker 1: That's my point, yeah, is that it's not a home right. 670 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: They're kept detained at the fair grounds for months. I 671 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,200 Speaker 1: saw that in some cases most of them had to 672 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,640 Speaker 1: endure the winter. This happened in May. Yeah, these people 673 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: were still a lot of them kept in detention camps 674 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:17,080 Speaker 1: at the fair grounds through the winter. 675 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, Tulsa winters and summers are both tough. 676 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: They were kept in detention camps because white rioters burn 677 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:24,360 Speaker 1: their town to the ground. 678 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:27,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, and this was in June, so right in the math. 679 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 1: Right, so yeah, it was June. I guess it was 680 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,839 Speaker 1: the end of May. So the way that you got 681 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: out of these detention centers was your white employer came 682 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: and vouched for you and said, this person works for me. 683 00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:40,520 Speaker 1: I need them back. Yeah, please let them go. That's 684 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:41,359 Speaker 1: how you got out. 685 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 3: Yeah. 686 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 2: So in the aftermath, no one was arrested, There were 687 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 2: no prosecutions. 688 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: No, no, I'm sorry, Chuck. There was a grand jury 689 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 1: that was sat convened. They indicated twenty people. All of 690 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:54,720 Speaker 1: them were black. Well none, we're white. 691 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:56,279 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's I meant on the white side. 692 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: Okay. 693 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,280 Speaker 2: There were in today's dollars between fifty and a hivehundred 694 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 2: million dollars worth of damage everywhere I look, said. The 695 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,560 Speaker 2: only organization that really helped, and they really helped was 696 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 2: the American Red Cross, super Brave and did a whole lot. 697 00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:15,319 Speaker 2: And I also saw where you know, it wasn't the 698 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 2: entire city of Tulsa, Apparently there were some white communities 699 00:36:19,160 --> 00:36:21,359 Speaker 2: that reached out in the aftermask, of course, to help 700 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:25,120 Speaker 2: with the recovery efforts to take people in. So we 701 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:29,000 Speaker 2: don't want to paint the entire town as doing the 702 00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 2: wrong thing. Apparently some people did step up. 703 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: Sure, I mean, just nothing is that literally black and white? Yeah, 704 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: you know, like there's always shades of gray in that situation, 705 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:38,440 Speaker 1: in any situation. 706 00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:44,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, but Greenwood came back. They it's probably not a surprise, 707 00:36:44,880 --> 00:36:49,480 Speaker 2: but the insurance companies had it classified very quickly as 708 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,560 Speaker 2: a riot instead of just a violent massacre because that 709 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 2: means they wouldn't have to compensate people for their homes 710 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:57,360 Speaker 2: being businesses being burned to the ground. 711 00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,560 Speaker 1: Right, because if they were rioting, then they were culpable 712 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,239 Speaker 1: for the damage. And that insurance company went, yeah, so 713 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:08,720 Speaker 1: also despicable. The county commission said, no, we're not accepting 714 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: any outside donations, will take care of our own, and 715 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,880 Speaker 1: then didn't didn't follow through on that at all. So 716 00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,239 Speaker 1: there were no funds paid to the Greenwood people. 717 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,360 Speaker 3: And people were trying to right as. 718 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:25,800 Speaker 1: Reparations or to even help them rebuild, and the county commission, 719 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 1: I guess proposed at one point that they would handle 720 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,920 Speaker 1: us by buying the land for like a fraction of 721 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: its market value and then auctioning it off to the 722 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: high spider. 723 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,320 Speaker 3: That was one proposal, an old scam. 724 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 1: And they also said, well, you know what, just to 725 00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,160 Speaker 1: make sure that this doesn't happen again, we're going to 726 00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:44,399 Speaker 1: establish a new building code for Greenwood. No building can 727 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 1: be rebuilt unless it's built with fireproof bricks. And then 728 00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:51,600 Speaker 1: they went to the fireproof brick producers and said, do 729 00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:55,719 Speaker 1: not sell any materials to the black people of Greenwood. 730 00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:01,080 Speaker 1: So despite this, they managed to rebuild in about five years. Astoundingly, 731 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: the people whose houses in town was burned to the 732 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: ground came back and rebuilt. And from just about everything 733 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:11,759 Speaker 1: I read, Greenwood was actually better, more prosperous, and more 734 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:16,399 Speaker 1: affluent from the second time around. Then it was even 735 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: the first, and it was pretty affluent the first time. 736 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:22,680 Speaker 1: And Chuck, we said, like hundreds of people were killed, right, yes, 737 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:27,240 Speaker 1: so get this. Funerals were forbidden, like you weren't allowed 738 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: to have a funeral. That's how covered up this thing became. 739 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,719 Speaker 1: And one of the reasons we will never know how 740 00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: many people were killed is because the people who were 741 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,120 Speaker 1: killed were taken off and dumped in the river, or 742 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 1: stashed in coal mines or buried in mass unmarked graves. 743 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,440 Speaker 2: Well, they think they found two of those, like a 744 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,960 Speaker 2: month ago. Yeah, they were archaeologists in Tulsa and this 745 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 2: was from Time magazine from Jasmine Aguilera. They have identified 746 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 2: two sites that they thought were that they think now 747 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:05,000 Speaker 2: are mass graves. And they've been looking since I think 748 00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,960 Speaker 2: two thousand and one because they knew people, you know, 749 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,840 Speaker 2: there were reports of mass graves, and so archaeologists have 750 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 2: been looking. In twenty eighteen, they started like a legit 751 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 2: investigation and they think that they have found one, at 752 00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:22,720 Speaker 2: least one, maybe two of these sites. 753 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:26,080 Speaker 3: But even which is in a cemetery ironically, yeah. 754 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,120 Speaker 1: I saw that. But even this whole thing is like 755 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:31,000 Speaker 1: fairly new. It wasn't like until the late nineties that 756 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 1: people even started talking about this. 757 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, nineteen ninety seven was when the state of 758 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,319 Speaker 2: Oklahoma introduced a bill. And this was after just not 759 00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,880 Speaker 2: talking about it. No, in the black community, they would 760 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,760 Speaker 2: talk about it in stories and whispers. The white community 761 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:49,799 Speaker 2: just buried it and the state of Oklahoma just didn't 762 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:50,400 Speaker 2: acknowledge it. 763 00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:52,400 Speaker 1: Yeah. The last thing I saw about it was. The 764 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:56,279 Speaker 1: Tulsa Tribune ran another editorial on like June fourth, a 765 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 1: few days after, basically saying. 766 00:39:57,800 --> 00:39:59,279 Speaker 3: Like lynching failed, thank you. 767 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,960 Speaker 1: No, they said thank you to the police and all 768 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,920 Speaker 1: the white citizens who cleaned up Tulsa by getting rid 769 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:10,040 Speaker 1: of Greenwood. It's actually way worse than what I just depicted, 770 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:13,920 Speaker 1: but I couldn't possibly bring myself to read it verbatim. 771 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,439 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just vile. Yeah, what it says, it's really bad. 772 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:20,239 Speaker 2: But in ninety seven, this is when they introduced a 773 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:25,560 Speaker 2: bill for reparations and creation of the Tulsa Race Riot Commission. 774 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 2: And that report was released in two thousand and one, 775 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:32,160 Speaker 2: and it did hold police and public officials to blame, 776 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,239 Speaker 2: but it didn't do anything. Basically, there were no reparations. 777 00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:40,959 Speaker 2: As for Dick Roland, the case was the actual case, 778 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,400 Speaker 2: remember the case of the assault that was dismissed in September. 779 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,520 Speaker 2: Apparently Sarah Page didn't want to press forward with charges 780 00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:52,360 Speaker 2: and she's lost the time. He supposedly immediately moved to 781 00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,440 Speaker 2: Kansas City maybe and no one else really knows anything 782 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:56,080 Speaker 2: else about him. 783 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,600 Speaker 1: Huh. That's just so surprising. 784 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and if not for the watchmen, coming out. 785 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:05,920 Speaker 2: This might still be a fairly buried story outside of Oklahoma. 786 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:07,840 Speaker 2: Yeah right, it's really brought a lot of attention to it. 787 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,719 Speaker 1: Yeah, and good for them for doing that. Yeah. So 788 00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,440 Speaker 1: one of the things that I saw about Greenwood itself 789 00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:17,719 Speaker 1: was that it kept prospering and flourishing for decades after this, 790 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:22,120 Speaker 1: until about the sixties. And one of the reasons I 791 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,839 Speaker 1: saw that explained why not just Greenwood, but a lot 792 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 1: of black areas started to decline in the sixties was 793 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 1: a byproduct of integration. Was that you could, as a 794 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:36,279 Speaker 1: black person in America, spend your black dollar at a 795 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,960 Speaker 1: white owned business now, right, And like they didn't teach 796 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:42,279 Speaker 1: us that in public school, like that, this was a 797 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:47,120 Speaker 1: byproduct of it. But as a result, these black owned 798 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:50,440 Speaker 1: businesses started to decline more and more and more, and 799 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,040 Speaker 1: so Greenwood wasn't as prosperous as it was before. But 800 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 1: the death blow, the death blow is that remember in 801 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:59,880 Speaker 1: our Interstates episode where in a lot of the poorer areas, 802 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:03,759 Speaker 1: lot of the areas of color, that that's where they 803 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,440 Speaker 1: built the highways. I saw that they built I two 804 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:08,719 Speaker 1: for four right through Greenwood. 805 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, Tulsa is an interesting place I spent a few 806 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:15,480 Speaker 2: weeks there a few years ago. Yeah, and it's, uh, 807 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 2: it's interesting because it's got this old oil money. Yeah, neighborhoods, 808 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:24,839 Speaker 2: some of the most amazing estates and houses I've ever seen. 809 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:30,440 Speaker 2: It's got some very poor communities, a lot of meth problems. 810 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's an interesting place. 811 00:42:32,960 --> 00:42:37,520 Speaker 1: Sounds like it. Yeah, Well that's a Tulsa for you. 812 00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:39,279 Speaker 2: And you know what, I spent a few weeks there 813 00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 2: in this neighborhood and I didn't know anything about it. 814 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 2: I didn't Maybe there is a memorial or something, but 815 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:46,759 Speaker 2: I didn't notice it. I'm not saying there isn't one, 816 00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:47,480 Speaker 2: but I didn't see it. 817 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:51,439 Speaker 1: So, you know, Desmond tou too Sure who helped bring 818 00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:55,960 Speaker 1: about just the changeover from apartheid to reconciliation. 819 00:42:56,160 --> 00:42:56,799 Speaker 3: I love his work. 820 00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:00,160 Speaker 1: He came, Yeah, a big fan. He came to to 821 00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:03,400 Speaker 1: Tulsa basically said, you guys are sitting on a powder 822 00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:07,400 Speaker 1: keg here, like when this not very long ago, I 823 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:09,960 Speaker 1: think we were in the nineties, maybe even in the 824 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 1: two thousands, just basically saying like you can't how could 825 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: you possibly heal when you still have bodies in on 826 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,200 Speaker 1: mark graves? Like no one's talking about this still. I 827 00:43:19,239 --> 00:43:21,920 Speaker 1: believe there is a park that they found, like a 828 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,560 Speaker 1: reconciliation park or something like that, but it sounds like 829 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 1: there's still a ways to go. Yeah, I won't it 830 00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,280 Speaker 1: be ironic that it was Watchman that basically is forcing 831 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 1: this issue to be discussed. 832 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:32,440 Speaker 3: Be pretty ironic. 833 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:36,319 Speaker 2: Yeah, the power of comic books right, well, not even TV, 834 00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:37,080 Speaker 2: I guess. 835 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:39,840 Speaker 1: Of graphic novels. Yes, So if you want to know 836 00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,960 Speaker 1: more about the Tulsa massacre also known as the Tulsa 837 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,719 Speaker 1: Race Riot of nineteen twenty one, there's a lot for 838 00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:49,600 Speaker 1: you to go read, thankfully, and you should just type 839 00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:52,200 Speaker 1: that into your favorite search bar. Since I said that, 840 00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:53,359 Speaker 1: it's time for listener mail. 841 00:43:56,239 --> 00:43:58,399 Speaker 2: Hey guys, this email is mostly for Chuck. I need 842 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:00,879 Speaker 2: to get something off my chest and clear some things 843 00:44:00,960 --> 00:44:03,759 Speaker 2: up about my involvement with your pronunciation of Carrie. 844 00:44:03,800 --> 00:44:05,719 Speaker 3: Oh eyes, Elvis, Elvis. 845 00:44:06,239 --> 00:44:07,960 Speaker 2: Sometime over the summer, I made a comment in the 846 00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,480 Speaker 2: corrections corner threat a movie crush on the Facebook page 847 00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:15,319 Speaker 2: where you were pronouncing Carrie l wise l wise, I 848 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:17,719 Speaker 2: posted I had read on I read at Ama, his 849 00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,759 Speaker 2: name sounds like Elvis, But what I meant to say 850 00:44:20,960 --> 00:44:22,960 Speaker 2: was it rhymes with Elvis. 851 00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:26,040 Speaker 1: Is that why you said Carrie Elvis? 852 00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:30,279 Speaker 3: Like, yeah, it's because of Eli. He says this. 853 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:32,760 Speaker 2: When I finally heard my name pop up in the podcast, 854 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:34,400 Speaker 2: I was thrilled and couldn't wait to hear your reaction. 855 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:38,399 Speaker 2: Not only did my comment get understandably misunderstood, but I've 856 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:40,520 Speaker 2: heard your reference to comment two or three times now 857 00:44:40,920 --> 00:44:44,360 Speaker 2: and continue to correct yourself, saying Elvis, most recently on 858 00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:48,920 Speaker 2: the Andre the Giant Live episode parenthetical. Josh said it right, 859 00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:52,520 Speaker 2: I try to issue another I tried to issue another 860 00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:55,360 Speaker 2: comment immediately afterward to clear the air, but it was 861 00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:59,719 Speaker 2: too late. You discontinued corrections corner I did. I was 862 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,040 Speaker 2: gonna do that on Movie Crush, and it just became 863 00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:04,640 Speaker 2: like you said this wrong and your inflection and I was. 864 00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 1: Like, you said Kubrick was great. He was very great. 865 00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:07,439 Speaker 3: Yeah. 866 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,279 Speaker 2: I was a minute, as like movie corrections, but you 867 00:45:10,280 --> 00:45:10,879 Speaker 2: know how it goes. 868 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:12,440 Speaker 3: So I just said, no more of this. 869 00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:16,240 Speaker 2: You don't understand how something like this, something as small, 870 00:45:16,239 --> 00:45:18,960 Speaker 2: has been tearing me apart inside every time I hear 871 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,239 Speaker 2: you reference it. There's one thing worse than giving someone 872 00:45:21,239 --> 00:45:24,400 Speaker 2: bad information, it's having them proliferate that information out in 873 00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:27,400 Speaker 2: the world, in this case to millions of well. 874 00:45:27,360 --> 00:45:29,280 Speaker 1: Not millions of people, trillions. 875 00:45:29,719 --> 00:45:31,799 Speaker 2: I just want to apologize officially for correcting you on 876 00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:34,279 Speaker 2: something so silly. And any way you want to say 877 00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:36,280 Speaker 2: the name is fine by me as long as it's 878 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:37,319 Speaker 2: what do you say? 879 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:38,439 Speaker 1: Elvis? 880 00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:38,920 Speaker 3: Ellis? 881 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:42,640 Speaker 1: I think Elvis. Thanks for the decadeh No, Now Eli's 882 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:43,160 Speaker 1: got in my. 883 00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:45,560 Speaker 3: Head too, Thanks for the decade of great content. I'll 884 00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:48,240 Speaker 3: see you both in January and Seattle for my third 885 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:50,400 Speaker 3: live show. Nice, all the best, Eli. 886 00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:53,160 Speaker 1: It's Eli's third live show birthday. 887 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:54,120 Speaker 3: And I think it's pronounced el I. 888 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:59,239 Speaker 1: Oh, it could be Ellie could be. Yeah, we're just 889 00:45:59,239 --> 00:45:59,799 Speaker 1: gonna go with you. 890 00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:01,600 Speaker 3: I think Ellie's c O l I E. 891 00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:05,960 Speaker 1: It could be. I think Ellie Golding is something different 892 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:06,759 Speaker 1: than that, isn't it. 893 00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:08,640 Speaker 3: I don't know who is that or does. 894 00:46:08,520 --> 00:46:09,600 Speaker 1: She pronounce her name Eli? 895 00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:10,799 Speaker 3: I don't know who that is. 896 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,120 Speaker 1: You do too, you've heard her pop songs before when 897 00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:16,600 Speaker 1: you're working out. Okay, if you want to get in 898 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:20,120 Speaker 1: touch with this like Eli did to let us know 899 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:23,000 Speaker 1: we're saying something wrong because of you, well you can 900 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:25,400 Speaker 1: get in touch with this by going on to stuff 901 00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:28,319 Speaker 1: youshould know dot com, and you can also send us 902 00:46:28,360 --> 00:46:32,040 Speaker 1: an email send it off to stuff podcast at iHeartRadio 903 00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:34,800 Speaker 1: dot com. 904 00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,560 Speaker 3: Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For 905 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:42,839 Speaker 3: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 906 00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:44,800 Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.