Ron Padgett: Tulsa Race Riots, 1921 | Dark rocks (who eats pig's feet?) | Touching Jackie's shoulder

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Tulsa Race Riots 1921: photo by naerae, 22 May 2011

Ron Padgett: Tulsa Race Riots, 1921

Dick Rowland stepped on Sarah Page’s foot

and she lets out a scream.

Rowland, a 19-year-old bootblack,

flees the elevator. Sarah Page, a 17-year-old part-time

elevator operator in the Drexel Building

and divorcée attending business college,

tells those who rush to her aid that

he had assaulted her.

Later that afternoon two black police officers

arrest Rowland at his home and take him

first to the City Jail, then the County Jail.

That evening’s Tulsa Tribune carries a small story

of the alleged assault, and rumors of rape

spread through town. By 4 p.m.

Commissioner of Police J. M. Adkinson reports to Sheriff McCullough

that there’s talk of lynching Rowland.

Others confirm this report. Rumor of a lynching

reaches “Little Africa,” where Tulsa’s 15,000 Negroes live.

Blacks phone Sheriff McCullough to offer their services

to protect Rowland from a lynch mob.

(Less than a year before, in July of 1920,

Roy Belton, a white man accused of murdering a cab driver,

was taken from the Tulsa County Jail and lynched.

Witnesses stated that local police officers

had directed traffic at the lynching. The presence of a strong

and active Klan in Tulsa added to the fear of a lynching.)

By 9 p.m. about 400 white men have gathered outside the jail.

At 9:15 word reaches Little Africa

that the mob had stormed the jail.

About 25 armed blacks drive to the jail and find

this rumor to be untrue. They leave,

but soon return with about 50 more armed blacks.

Sheriff McCullough persuades them to leave

and a white man tries to disarm a black.

A shot is fired.

According to the sheriff, “All hell breaks loose,”

firing from both sides. Twelve fall dead,

2 black and 10 white.

Pitched and running gun battles rage

around the County Jail at Sixth and Boulder

and spread from there. Whites break into

pawnshops, hardware and sporting goods stores

to loot for guns, ammunition and what-have-you.

The fighting continues, groups of men surging through the streets,

excited, angry and terrified, unreal.

By midnight the blacks are forced to fall back

to Little Africa. One-half block (North Cincinnati

between Archer and the Frisco Railroad)

composed of Negro pool halls, whorehouses, and restaurants

bursts into flame. The blacks fall further back,

as far as North Greenwood, the main business street of Little Africa.

The fighting abates somewhat during the early morning hours

of Wednesday, June 1st, but sporadic shots are heard

throughout the night. The Final edition of the Tulsa World proclaims,

“Two Whites Dead in Race Riot.” An Extra edition appears with

“New Battles Now In Progress.” About 5 a.m.

10,000 white men (and Mexicans) assault Little Africa—

the total white population of Tulsa is 57,000, 7,000

of whom were in uniform for World War I—using small arms,

rifles, shotguns, machine guns, and 6 airplanes

for reconnaissance. The World brings out a Second Extra!

“Many More Whites Are Shot.” By this time

many blacks have fled town or are in hiding

with their white employers. The white army

rolls through “Niggertown,” killing the black men they see,

looting houses and businesses and dousing them with kerosene.

One eyewitness said, “Cars began to drive slowly

along our street. Cars driven by the sort of men

who wear their caps backward, the visors down their necks.”

The Fire Department and National Guard are powerless

against the mob. The fires rage all morning:

800 stores and homes burned to the ground,

the business district of Little Africa completely destroyed.

Later that morning the last black stronghold,

the 40-day-old Mount Zion Baptist Church,

is overrun and burned to the ground.

At noon martial law is declared. “State Troops

In Charge,” declares the World in its Third Extra.

National Guard reinforcements arrive

from Oklahoma City, Muskogee, Bartlesville, and Wagoner.

The Guard barricades Little Africa, disarms

blacks and whites, and herds blacks into compounds;

by evening there are 6,000 of them

in Convention Hall, McNulty ballpark at 11th and Elgin,

and out at the County Fair Grounds. Dr. A. C. Jackson,

a highly respected black physician

who had defended his home and family with a rifle,

surrenders to the Guard and is conducted to an internment camp;

on the way he is shot and killed by a sniper.

The Frisco Railroad removes its porters from trains

to Tulsa, while passenger trains leaving town

are jammed with blacks. Others leave by car or on foot,

some stay in hiding up in the Osage Hills.

Civic groups come to the aid of the homeless:

Red Cross, Humane Society, the YMCA, and YWCA,

with food, clothing, medical attention, and information.

The Tulsa Tribune comes out with a strong editorial

condemning the lawless element, white and black,

but articles convey an undertow of public opinion:

“Martial Law Halts Race War” “Nine Whites and 68 Blacks

Slain in Race War” “Trains Held Up; Negroes Ordered Off”

“White Woman Shot 6 Times By Sniper” “Barney Cleaver,

Negro Officer, Remains On Duty” “Civic Workers Care

For Negroes Held In Concentration Camps” “Girl Attacked

By Negro Not At Home Today” “Fire Fighters Are Helpless;

Flames Raging” “Blacks Carry Belongings As They Vacate.”

One story relates how an old black woman

had given her “Bible records” to a National Guardsman.

The next morning the exaggerated headline reads, “Dead

Estimated At 100; City Is Quiet.” Blacks are slowly released from camps

if their employers vouch for them, and they wear

yellow armbands to signify their harmlessness.

The city promises reparations for damages.

A Board of Estimates is formed.

The responsible white community is shocked, ashamed, and angry.

On Friday martial law is lifted at 3 p.m.

One hundred members of the American Legion are sworn in

as special police officers to keep the peace.

There are rumors of truckloads of black bodies

dumped in the Arkansas River.

A grand jury is to be called to “probe the rioting.”

The World carries an article in which

“Negro Deputy Sheriff Blames Black Dope-Head

For Inciting His Race Into Rioting Here.” Barney

Cleaver describes Will Robinson not only as a “dope-head”

but also as an “all-round bad Negro.”

A city board moves to rezone the area near the Frisco tracks

where black families had lived,

changing it into an industrial and warehouse area

and forming, in effect, a wall between white and black communities.

The new “Niggertown” is to be rebuilt, to have, in fact,

its own police station (until 1945).

Many blacks have fled Tulsa forever:

young hotheads and “radicals” on one side

and professional people, community builders on the other.

On June 5th the flood in Pueblo, Colorado

is splashed across the headlines.

The Tribune will not rehash the story of the race riots

for the next fifty years.

Ron Padgett: from Radio, in Toujours l'amour (1976)

Little Africa on Fire, Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Burning of Church where Amunition [sic] Was Stored - During Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

 

Char[r]ed Negro Killed in Tulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Negro Slain in Tulsa Riot, 6-1-1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Truck Being Used to Gather up Colored Victims - During Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Scene During Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Captured Negros on Way to Convention Hall  - During Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University

 Tulsa Race Riot, June 1st, 1921. Scene at Convention Hall. (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

 All That Was Left of His Home after the Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-1921. (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Ruins of the Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Ruins of the Tulsa Race Riot, 6-1-21 (Greenwood District, Tulsa, Oklahoma): photographer unknown, 1 June 1921 (De Golyer Library, Southern Methodist University)

Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017

Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017

Black Wall Street | This is the historic Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Known as Black Wall Street, this is the site of the Tulsa race riots of 1921. Thirty five city blocks were destroyed, and up to 300 dead resulted after the worst race riot in American history. All sparked after a dubious claim of rape: photo by Victor Hamberlin, 1 January 2017

Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | The major fire in the center behind the Producers Supply Company is the Midway Hotel in flames. The building behind it that you can see is the Gurley Building burning. The flames to the right are from the Williams Building. The as yet unburned building behind the building behind the red train car is the Woods building at the corner of Greenwood and Archer. Based on shadows this was taken about 8 in the morning. Original photographer is unknown. Original photo is 1989-004-5-28, McFarlin Library. Department of Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tulsa. Used with permission.: photo by Marc Carlson, 15 June 2012

Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | The major firein the center behind the Producers Supply Company is the Midway Hotel in flames. The building behind it that you can see is the Gurley Building burning. The flames to the right are from the Williams Building. The as yet unburned building behind the building behind the red train car is the Woods building at the corner of Greenwood and Archer. Based on shadows this was taken about 8 in the morning. Original photographer is unknown. Original photo is 1989-004-5-28, McFarlin Library. Department of Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tulsa. Used with permission.: photo by Marc Carlson, 15 June 2012

Colorized image from the Tulsa Race Riot. | The major firein the center behind the Producers Supply Company is the Midway Hotel in flames. The building behind it that you can see is the Gurley Building burning. The flames to the right are from the Williams Building. The as yet unburned building behind the building behind the red train car is the Woods building at the corner of Greenwood and Archer. Based on shadows this was taken about 8 in the morning. Original photographer is unknown. Original photo is 1989-004-5-28, McFarlin Library. Department of Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tulsa. Used with permission.: photo by Marc Carlson, 15 June 2012

 Canned Meats | In our canned food aisle [Collinsville, OK]: photo by Wade Harris, 23 May 2007

tarboat (2008): pig's feet are not something that appear in our local supermarket!

Wade Harris (2008): Tarboat: I worked in this store as an assistant manager twice, spaced about two years apart, and I never did see anybody actually buy any pig's feet. But...they seem to last forever so as far as I know those have been the same jars all during that time.

Barbed Wire Around Swimming Pool | Nothing adds to the fun and jollyment of swimming on a hot summer day like a couple of strands of rusty barbed wire on top of the fence surrounding the pool you're in...... [Collinsville, OK]: photo by Wade Harris, 6 March 2007

 Jackie Robinson signing autographs at Braves Field, Boston, 1948: photo by Michael Ryerson, 2 August 2018

There's a bitter-sweetness about this photo, for me. The kid with his hand on Jackie's shoulder. This is happening in Boston; Jackie is with the visiting Brooklyn Dodgers; at this point, neither of the Boston major league clubs has yet fielded a black player; this will remain the case for quite a few more years to come. Yet these Boston kids are openly adoring a hero. 

Jackie was often angry, with cause; everywhere he went, he had to break down walls, and there was constant resistance. His defiance shone out in his aggressive, challenging style of play. I worked at the ballparks in Chicago, so got to see quite a bit of Jackie when the Dodgers were in town. He played with an intensity and edge that went beyond mere athletic competition; he was furiously competitive; but his adversary was never anything as simple as an opposing team or player. A slow fire burned in Jackie, and there were days when it flared up into something almost like majesty. 

There was the day he was on third base, and dancing, feinting, as if taunting, intentionally provoking; finally he got what he wanted, a moment's distraction on the pitcher's part; in the space of that brief pause and the long unfolding moment that followed, the world had changed; Jackie had bolted for home; there was a collectively held breath, and then Jackie was sliding home, in a sudden bright cloud of dust.  

 Dark rocks [California]: photo by Andrew Murr, 1 August 2018