Tulsa, Oklahoma on fire during the Tulsa Massacre.

How World War I Inspired Black Americans to Fight for Dignity at Home

The war marked a sea change in how black men viewed their own citizenship.
Tulsa after race massacre

The Tulsa Race Massacre Went Way Beyond “Black Wall Street”

Most Black Tulsans in 1921 were working class. But these days, it seems like the fate of those few blocks in and around “Black Wall Street” is all that matters.
Greenwood in ruins after the Tulsa Race Massacre

The Women Who Preserved the Story of the Tulsa Race Massacre

Two pioneering Black writers have not received the recognition they deserve for chronicling one of the country’s gravest crimes.
A black man surveying destroyed property

B.C. Franklin and the Tulsa Massacre: A Triracial History

The life of Tulsa attorney B.C. Franklin is a testament to the triracial history of the West.
Newspapers

Skewed View of Tulsa Race Massacre Started on Day 1 With 'The Story That Set Tulsa Ablaze'

A Tulsa Tribune newspaper story of an alleged assault attempt helped instigate the Tulsa Race Massacre, leaving hundreds dead along Black Wall Street.
Refugees after Tulsa Race Massacre

How 24 Hours of Racist Violence Caused Decades of Harm

A century after a white mob attacked a thriving Black community in Tulsa, digitized census records are bringing the economic damage into clearer focus.
Destruction from the Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921.

Reflections on the Artifacts Left Behind From the Tulsa Race Massacre

Objects and documents, says the Smithsonian historian Paul Gardullo, offer a profound opportunity for reckoning with a past that still lingers.
Survivors of the massacre looking through ruble

Photographing the Tulsa Massacre of 1921

Karlos K. Hill investigates the disturbing photographic legacy of the Tulsa massacre and the resilience of Black Wall Street’s residents.

The Neighborhood Fighting Not to Be Forgotten

One hundred years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, community members still can’t get the federal government to recognize Greenwood’s significance.

Watching “Watchmen” as a Descendant of the Tulsa Race Massacre

Who should be allowed to profit from depictions of traumatic events in Black history?

The Destruction of Black Wall Street

Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood was a prosperous center of Black wealth. Until a white mob wiped it out.

‘They Was Killing Black People’: A Century-Old Race Massacre Still Haunts Tulsa

Even as Black Wall Street gentrifies, unresolved questions remain about one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history.

Black Wall Street: The African American Haven That Burned and Then Rose From the Ashes

The story of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood district isn’t well known, but it has never been told in a manner worthy of its importance.

Meet The Last Surviving Witness to the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

Olivia Hooker was 6 at the time of the riot, considered to be one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history.
partner

The Devastation of Black Wall Street

Racial violence destroyed an affluent African-American community, seen as a threat to white-dominated American capitalism.

Long-Lost Manuscript Has a Searing Eyewitness Account of Tulsa Race Massacre

A lawyer details the attack by hundreds of whites on the black neighborhood where hundreds died 95 years ago.
A man standing in the rubble that was his home before the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The front of the postcard contains a printed caption stating, "All That Was Left of His Home After the Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-1921."

Tulsa, 1921

On the 100th anniversary of the riot in that city, we commemorate the report written for this magazine by a remarkable journalist.
The city of Tulsa, with smoke billowing above the Black neighborhood of Greenwood

Burned from the Land: How 60 Years of Racial Violence Shaped America

The Tulsa race massacre of 1921 was one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history. It was also part of a larger pattern across the country.
Photographs from Tulsa shaped into a three-dimensional sculpture.

The Unrealized Promise of Oklahoma

How the push for statehood led a beacon of racial progress to oppression and violence.

The Republican President who Called for Racial Justice in America After Tulsa Massacre

Warren G. Harding’s comments about race and equality were remarkable for 1921.