1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a group 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: of scientists and historians is on the verge of unearthing 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,000 Speaker 1: a chunk of the city's past that has long been buried, 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,160 Speaker 1: and one that some people may prefer to keep that way. 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:23,640 Speaker 1: It's a potential mass grave from the worst single incident 7 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: of interracial violence in American history. Beginning May thirty one, 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: thousands of armed white Toulson's invaded the black section of 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: the booming oil town, terrorizing its residents, looting their homes 10 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: and businesses, and burning to the ground some thirty five 11 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: square blocks of the city. Before the rampage was over, 12 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: more than ten thousand Black people were left homeless, and 13 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: more than six thousand were interned in camps, where they'd stay, 14 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: in some cases for months. We spoke with Scott Ellsworth, 15 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: a native Tulson and a professor of African American history 16 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: at the University of Michigan. Ellsworth is the author of 17 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: the nine and eighty two book Death in a Promised Land, 18 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: one of the first books to take a comprehensive and 19 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: historical look at the Tulsa race massacre, previously mystically called 20 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: the Tulsa Race Riot of ninety one. He said, to 21 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: this day, we don't know how many died. Reasonable estimates 22 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: range from I would say forty too as high as 23 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 1: three hundred. When the unmarked but suspected mass grave in 24 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 1: a Tulsa cemetery is excavated in July, it may provide 25 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: a few answers to exactly what happened over those two days. 26 00:01:30,440 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: In it will be for many a literal reopening of 27 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: a wound that's festered within the city for nearly a century. 28 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 1: The Tulsa Race Massacre of nine one did not, in 29 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:45,959 Speaker 1: a word often used to describe such events, erupt. The 30 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: city simply reached what now seems an inevitable breaking point. 31 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: In early Tulsa was a wash with cash from the 32 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: oil boom. The good fortune reached into the north section 33 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: of the city, mostly populated by Black Americans. That area, 34 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: later to be known as the Black Wall Street, contained 35 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: a hundred ninety one businesses, including hotels, a feed store, 36 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: a roller, ink cleaners, mom and pop stores, and restaurants, 37 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: plus offices for doctors, dentists, and lawyers. The area had 38 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: at least five churches too, a library, a movie theater, 39 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: and a hospital. Like the rest of the city at 40 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: that time, the black area also known as Greenwood had 41 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: its problems. Alcohol, even under prohibition, was readily available. Illegal 42 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: drugs were easy to find too, as we're gambling and prostitution. 43 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: The whole city, not just Greenwood, struggled with crime and 44 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: with lawless punishment. Less than a year before, a white 45 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: teenager accused of murder was taken from his jail cell 46 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: and lynched by a white mob. The police did little 47 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: to protect him, and racial violence against black people was commonplace, 48 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: even though thousands of black Americans had just returned from 49 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: fighting in World War One. Jim Crow laws and pervasive 50 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: racist attitudes meant that a quality remained nothing more than 51 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: a dream for black Americans, and many white Americans wanted 52 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: to keep it that way. Ellsworth wrote in a two 53 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: thousand one report commissioned by the state of Oklahoma on 54 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: the then called riot that quote. During the weeks and 55 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: months leading up to the riot, there were more than 56 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: a few white Toulson's who not only feared the color 57 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: line was in danger of being slowly erased, but believed 58 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: that this was already happening. So into that explosive milieu, 59 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: a black teenaged boy working as a shoeshiner had a 60 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 1: brief run in with a white teenaged girl operating an elevator, 61 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: and the fuse was lit. The boy was taken into custody. 62 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: A group of more than two thousand angry white people, 63 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: some intent on lynching him, possibly prompted by an inflammatory 64 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: editorial in a white run newspaper, gathered on the courthouse steps. 65 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: Some armed black war veterans and others squared off with 66 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: them there, and soon shots were fired. White people from 67 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: all over the city began their march on the Greenwood 68 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: area to tamp down what many white people saw as 69 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: an uprising. There are stories of black citizens being murdered 70 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: in their homes, interrupted in their evening prayers. The terror 71 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 1: went on for eighteen hours into June one. Despite their 72 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: sworn duty to serve and protect, neither Tulsa Police nor 73 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: any other government agency assisted the black population. Instead, Tulsa 74 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: police officers helped set some fires, and an all white 75 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: unit of the National Guard joined the invaders. Other public 76 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,680 Speaker 1: officials provided guns and AMMO to white men. The KKK 77 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: got involved. A semi functioning machine gun was used on 78 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 1: Black Tulson's, and some reports indicate that airplanes dropped homemade 79 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:42,000 Speaker 1: fire starters. Despite being largely outnumbered, Black Toulson's fought to 80 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: protect their homes and businesses, and most of all, Greenwood, 81 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 1: but in the end, scores of black people and some 82 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 1: white people were killed and Greenwood was left in ruins. 83 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 1: The exact numbers of injured and dead, even after what's 84 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: to be uncovered in three suspected mass graves, may never 85 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: be known. It's still unclear exactly what happened between the 86 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: black shoeshine boy Dick Rowland and the white elevator girl 87 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: Sarah Page to spark the massacre, though one thing is known. 88 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: She refused to bring charges. Roland was vindicated. For years, 89 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: Tulsa refused to acknowledge in any meaningful way what had 90 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:25,039 Speaker 1: happened in ninety one. Nobody has ever been charged or 91 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: prosecuted for the crimes that occurred during those eighteen or 92 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: so hours. Even those who grew up there, Ellsworth included, 93 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: were not taught that part of the city's history. The 94 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: Tulsa race massacre became a terrible and closely held secret 95 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: that began to change with Ellsworth's death in a Promised 96 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: Land and some earlier work. Then in nine when members 97 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:49,360 Speaker 1: of the national media descended on Oklahoma City after the 98 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: bombing of the federal building, they were informed of this 99 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,239 Speaker 1: other more terrible episode of domestic terrorism in the state's history. 100 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: More news accounts and more books of the massacre followed, 101 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 1: and in twenty nineteen, the HBO comic book superhero series Watchman, 102 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: inspired in part by Tulsa, enlightened many more to the story. 103 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,160 Speaker 1: But Tulsa's failed efforts to come to grips with its 104 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: deadly past has left scars. Ellsworth said, the city was 105 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: robbed of its honesty. You have entire generations growing up 106 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: in Tulsa who have never heard of this. You have 107 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: people growing up with a false reality, a false vision 108 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: of the land they were on. I mean, imagine if today, 109 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: right now, that you had young people growing up in 110 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 1: Manhattan who had never heard of nine eleven, that there 111 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: were no books to talk about nine eleven. That it's 112 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,159 Speaker 1: as if it didn't exist. The Race massacre was a 113 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: gigantic myth in the history of Tulsa. It was deliberately 114 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: buried for a long time. With the unearthing of one 115 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:49,280 Speaker 1: of at least three suspected mass graves in Tulsa. Next 116 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,560 Speaker 1: month will mark another step in the long road to 117 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: understanding and perhaps one day, recovery. Ellsworth said, I know 118 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:59,039 Speaker 1: that this has been a process that has been going 119 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:01,840 Speaker 1: on for a while now. It's caused people to kind 120 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: of re evaluate how they look at the past, how 121 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: they look at their town, and what's going on. I 122 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: think that's been a liberating process for some people. It's 123 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: been a very difficult one for others. Today's episode was 124 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Clang. For 125 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other topics, visit how 126 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: Stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. 127 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart 128 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 129 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: favorite shows.