1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. This episode deals with 3 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: the events of the Tulsa massacre of and while we 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,240 Speaker 1: don't get very graphic, it is a heavy episode, especially 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: for our black listeners who maybe don't feel up for 6 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:24,079 Speaker 1: hearing about it today. Listener discretion is advised, and take 7 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: care of yourself, okay. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a group of 8 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: scientists and historians is on the verge of unearthing a 9 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,239 Speaker 1: chunk of the city's past that has been long buried, 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: and one that some people may prefer to keep that way. 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: It's the worst incident of anti black violence in American history. 12 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:49,520 Speaker 1: Beginning on May thirty one, thousands of armed white Tulson's 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: invaded the black section of that booming oil town, terrorizing 14 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: its residents, looting their homes and businesses, and burning to 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: the ground some thirty five square blocks of the city. 16 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,640 Speaker 1: Before the rampage was over, more than ten thousand black 17 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: people were left houseless, and more than six thousand were 18 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: interned in camps where they'd stay in some cases for months. 19 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: Back in June of twenty for the article this episode 20 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: is based on how stuff Works spoke with Scott Ellsworth, 21 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: a native Toulson and a professor of American history at 22 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: the University of Michigan. Ellsworth is the author of two 23 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:27,040 Speaker 1: book Death in a Promised Land, one of the first 24 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: books to take a comprehensive historical look at the Tulsa 25 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: Race massacre. Ellsworth said, to this day, we don't know 26 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: how many died. Reasonable estimates range from I would say 27 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: forty to as high as three hundred. In October of 28 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: twenty scientists found a mass grave with about eleven coffins 29 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: during four days of digging at the city owned Oakland Cemetery. 30 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: A full excavation began on June one, around the events 31 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: a hundredth anniversary, the Tulsa Race massacre of one did not, 32 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: in a word often used to describe such events, erupt. Rather, 33 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:09,959 Speaker 1: the city reached what now seems an inevitable breaking point. 34 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 1: In early Pulsa was a wash with cash from the 35 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: oil boom. The good times reached into the north section 36 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: of the city, Greenwood, in which over ten thousand black 37 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: residents thrived. That area, sometimes called the Black Wall, Street, 38 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: contained a hundred nine businesses, including hotels, a feed store, 39 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,359 Speaker 1: a roller rink cleaners, mom and pop stores, and restaurants, 40 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: plus offices for doctors, dentists, and lawyers. The area had 41 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: at least five churches, to a library, a movie theater, 42 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: and a hospital. Like the rest of the city at 43 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: the time, Greenwood had its problems. Alcohol, even under prohibition, 44 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: was readily available. Illegal drugs were easy to find two 45 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: as we're gambling and prostitution. The city as a whole, 46 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: not just Greenwood, struggled with crime and punishment. Less than 47 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: a year before, an angry white mob had lynched a 48 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: black man accused of robbing and assaulting a white woman. 49 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: Across the United States, racial violence against black people was commonplace. Segregation, 50 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:16,959 Speaker 1: though technically against the law, was still a fact of life, 51 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: and the fact that at least tens of thousands of 52 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: black Americans had served alongside white servicemen in World War 53 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: One didn't help, and in some cases was part of 54 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: rising tensions. Some white servicemen returning from the war resented 55 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: that their jobs had been taken over by black people 56 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: while they were gone, and some white people resented that 57 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: many returning black servicemen were demanding more equitable pay and 58 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: job opportunities. Ellsworth wrote in a two thousand one report 59 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: commissioned by these state of Oklahoma, when the massacre was 60 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: still commonly referred to as a riot. Quote. During the 61 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 1: weeks and months leading up to the riot, there were 62 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: more than a few white Toulsons who not only feared 63 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: that the color line was in danger of being slowly erased, 64 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: but believed that this was already happening. Into that explosive situation, 65 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: a black teenaged boy working as a shoeshiner had a 66 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: brief run in with a white teenaged girl operating an elevator. 67 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: The two may have been friends, there were rumors that 68 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: they were more, but a white clerk claimed that the 69 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: boy had grabbed her and the fuse was lit. The 70 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: boy was taken into custody. A group of more than 71 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: two thousand angry white people gathered on the courthouse steps, 72 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,160 Speaker 1: some intent on lynching him, possibly promoted by an inflammatory 73 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: editorial in a white newspaper. A small group of armed 74 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: black war veterans and others squared off with them there, 75 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: and soon shots were fired. White people all over the 76 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: city began their march on the Greenwood area to tamp 77 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: down what many white people saw as an uprising. The 78 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: terror went on for eighteen hours into June one. The 79 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: atrocities too numerous to list. Families were murdered while praying 80 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: while fleeing, and the Tulsa Police, despite their sworn duty 81 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: to serve and protect, didn't assist. In fact, Tulsa police 82 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: officers helped set some fires, and an all white unit 83 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 1: of the National Guard joined the white invaders. Other public 84 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: officials provided guns and AMMO to the white men. The 85 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 1: KKK got involved, a semi functioning machine gun was used 86 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 1: on Black Pulson's airplanes dropped turpentine balls, destroying more buildings. 87 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:31,720 Speaker 1: Despite being largely outnumbered, Black Pulson's fought to protect their 88 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: homes and businesses and most all of Greenwood, but in 89 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: the end, scores of black people and some white people too, 90 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: were killed and Greenwood was left in ruins. The exact 91 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: numbers of injured and dead, even after what's to be 92 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: uncovered in three suspected mass graves, may never be known. 93 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: It's still unclear looking back exactly what happened between Dick Roland, 94 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: the black shoeshiner, and Sarah Age, the white elevator operator, 95 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:07,320 Speaker 1: to spark the massacre, but this is known. She refused 96 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: to bring charges. Roland survived the massacre and was vindicated. 97 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: For years, Tulsa refused to acknowledge in any meaningful way 98 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: what happened. In no one was ever charged or prosecuted 99 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: for the crimes that occurred during those eighteen or so hours. 100 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: Even those who grew up there, Ellsworth included, were not 101 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: taught that part of the city's history. The Tulsa Race 102 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: massacre became a terrible and closely held secret that began 103 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: to change with some earlier work and then Ellsworth's death 104 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: in a Promised Land in When members of the national 105 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: media descended on Oklahoma City after the bombing of the 106 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: Federal Building, they were informed of this other episode of 107 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 1: domestic terrorism in the state's history. More news accounts and 108 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: more books on the massacre followed, and in ty nineteen, 109 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: the HBO superhero series Watchman, inspired in part by the 110 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: events in Tulsa, enlightened many more to the story. Ellsworth 111 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: has a new book out that centers on Tulsa's decades 112 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: long cover up, titled The Groundbreaking An American City and 113 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: Its Search for Justice. It was released in May, and, 114 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: as alluded to before, in the process of all of this, 115 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: the terminology used to describe the event has changed for 116 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: many years. When it was mentioned, it was called the 117 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:36,640 Speaker 1: Tulsa race riot, a term that muddies and lessons what happened. 118 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: Carlos Hill, the chair of the African American Studies Department 119 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,679 Speaker 1: at the University of Oklahoma, told the publication The Tulsa 120 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: World in quote, what people in the community and historians 121 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: are trying to raise up is what happened in Tulsa 122 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: is a deliberate, coordinated, systematic assault on a community that 123 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: resulted in that community being completely destroyed. That is not 124 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: a race riot. This was a massacre. Referring to it 125 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: as a race riot is a euphemism. Tulsa's failure to 126 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: come to grips with its deadly past clearly has left 127 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: scars of its own. Ellsworth said, the city was robbed 128 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: of its honesty. You have entire generations growing up in 129 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: Tulsa who have never heard of this. You have people 130 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: growing up with a false reality, of false vision of 131 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: the land they were on. I mean, imagine if today, 132 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,200 Speaker 1: right now, that you had young people growing up in 133 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:32,079 Speaker 1: Manhattan who had never heard of nine eleven, that there 134 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 1: were no books to talk about nine eleven, that it's 135 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: as if it didn't exist. The Race Massacre was a 136 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: gigantic myth in the history of Tulsa. It was deliberately 137 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: buried for a long time. The full excavation will mark 138 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: another step in the long road to understanding and perhaps 139 00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: one day, recovery. Ellsworth said, I know that this has 140 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: been a process that has been going on for a 141 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: while now. It's caused people to kind of re evaluate 142 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: how they look the past, how they look at their 143 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:04,320 Speaker 1: town and what's going on. I think that's been a 144 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: liberating process for some people. It's been a very difficult 145 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: one for others. Today's episode is based on the article 146 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,559 Speaker 1: what was the Tulsa Race Massacre and Why does it 147 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: still Haunt the City? On House to Forks dot com, 148 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: written by John Donovan. To learn more about the events 149 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: surrounding the massacre, check out the episode that we did 150 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: on one of my other shows, American Shadows. The episode 151 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: is called Divided Brain Stuff is production of by Heart 152 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 1: Radio in partnership with House to Forks dot com and 153 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Client. Four more podcasts from my 154 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: Heart Radio visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 155 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,