Notes

1) Some of the new homes were so palatial that they were regularly featured on picture postcards, chamber of commerce pamphlets, and other publications describing life in Tulsa.
2) As 1920 turned into 1921, the city would soon face a crossroads that would change it forever.
3) Some whites referred to it as “Little Africa” or worse
4) In the early months of 1921, it was the home of nearly ten thousand African American men, women, and children.
5) The Greenwood business district could boast of a number of impressive businesses.
6) Most impressively, there were fifteen African American physicians in Tulsa at the time of the riot, including Dr. A.C. Jackson, who had been described as the “most able Negro surgeon in America”.
7) Grit, hard work, and determination were the main reasons for this success.
8) Boxed in by the city’s residential segregation ordinance (a law separating the homes and work areas of blacks and whites), African Americans were generally barred from shopping at white-owned stores downtown — or ran the risk of insult, or worse, if they tried.
9) On May 31, when a black man was falsely accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, the Tulsa Race Riots become an unimaginable piece of Oklahoma history. As people got off of work news of the alleged attack became more widely spread across town.
10) In the city’s African American neighborhoods tension continued to grow over the increasingly ugly situation down at the courthouse.
11) both school and church groups broke up their evening activities early, while parents and grandparents tried to reassure themselves that the trouble would quickly blow over.
12) a black man and a white man began to argue over a pistol at the courthouse. Shots rang out and more than 20 men lay dead on the courthouse lawn.
13) May 31 and June 1. It appears that the first fires set by whites in black neighborhoods began at about 1:00 a.m. on the 1st. African American homes and businesses along the street separating the white area from the black were the earliest targets.
14) By 4:00 a.m., more than two-dozen black-owned businesses had been torched.
15) declare that the race riot was a “Negro uprising,” a term used throughout their various post-riot reports.
16) whites began to gather at hastily arranged meeting places, to discuss what to do next. Gunfire soon erupted along the western boundary of the black community.
17) white rioters descended upon the African American district, a deadly pattern soon emerged.
18) forcing the occupants out into the street, where they were led away at gun point to one of a growing number of internment centers
19) Anyone who resisted was shot. Finally, the white rioters then set the homes and other buildings on fire
20) Attempts by black Tulsans to defend their homes and property were undercut by the actions of both the Tulsa police and the local National Guard units
21) State Troops from other Oklahoma cities and towns arrived in Tulsa throughout June 1, and with their help, the streets were eventually cleared. All businesses were ordered to close by 6:00 p.m.
22) One hour later, only members of the military or civil authorities, doctors, or relief workers were allowed on the streets. It was later claimed that by 8:00 p.m. on the evening of June 1, order had been restored.
23) Gone were hundreds of homes, and more than a half-dozen African American churches. Nearly ten thousand Tulsans, practically the entire black community, was now homeless.