[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 91 (Tuesday, May 25, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3426-S3428]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 234--RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1921 
                          TULSA RACE MASSACRE

  Mr. LANKFORD (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 234

       Whereas in the early 1900s many Black individuals and 
     families settled throughout Oklahoma, setting up vibrant 
     communities and dozens of all-Black towns. These individuals 
     came looking for new opportunities, freedom, and a chance for 
     a better life;
       Whereas the most famous and prosperous of these Black 
     communities was in Tulsa's Greenwood District;
       Whereas O.W. Gurley, a wealthy Black business owner, moved 
     to Tulsa in 1906 and purchased tracts of land sold primarily 
     to Black individuals and families. The land stretched from 
     Pine Street to the north to Archer Street on the south and 
     Detroit Avenue on the west and the Midland Valley rail line 
     on the east;
       Whereas segregation and the inaccessibility of resources 
     led O.W. Gurley and others to open a variety of commercial 
     establishments, including rooming houses, grocery stores, 
     barber shops, beauty salons, restaurants, clothiers, 
     pharmacies, movie theaters, dance halls, pool halls, 
     confectioneries, jitney services, and professional offices 
     (such as for doctors, lawyers, dentists, and accountants);
       Whereas the Greenwood District became a thriving community 
     where Black business

[[Page S3427]]

     owners, schools, and churches flourished and, by the late 
     1910s, it was the wealthiest Black community in the United 
     States;
       Whereas churches such as Vernon African Methodist Episcopal 
     Church, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, First Baptist Church North 
     Tulsa, Paradise Baptist Church, Metropolitan Baptist Church, 
     and others became central to the family life and culture of 
     the Greenwood District;
       Whereas the Greenwood District became home to prominent 
     professionals such as Dr. A.C. Jackson, who was known as the 
     most skilled Black surgeon in the United States, and 
     prominent attorney B.C. Franklin;
       Whereas Ellis Walker Woods, who walked more than 500 miles 
     from Memphis to Oklahoma, answered the call for African-
     American teachers and became the first principal of Booker T. 
     Washington High School;
       Whereas, by 1921, the community was home to thousands of 
     Black residents who lived and worked in the most prosperous 
     Black community in the United States;
       Whereas the community earned the name the ``Negro Wall 
     Street of America'' (later, simply known as the ``Black Wall 
     Street'') from the famed African-American author and 
     educator, Booker T. Washington;
       Whereas, as the opportunities for Black families grew, the 
     community began to attract more Black families, business 
     owners, well-educated professionals, and individuals fleeing 
     racial oppression and discrimination in other States;
       Whereas the town of Tullahassee, Oklahoma, founded in 1883, 
     is regarded as one of the oldest surviving historically Black 
     towns of Indian Territory;
       Whereas the area where Tullahassee was founded was 
     originally part of the Creek Nation and the town had an 
     established school by 1850;
       Whereas the town of Langston, Oklahoma, was founded in 1890 
     and named after John Mercer Langston, an African-American 
     educator and Member of the House of Representatives from 
     Virginia;
       Whereas, 7 years later, the Oklahoma Territorial 
     Legislature established the Colored Agricultural and Normal 
     University (referred to in this preamble as ``CANU''), which 
     would later be renamed Langston University. The university 
     has grown from 41 students in 1897 to more than 3,000 in 
     2021;
       Whereas prominent Oklahomans such as Melvin Tolson, Ada 
     Lois Sipuel Fisher, Clara Luper, E. Melvin Porter, Frederick 
     Moon, Marques Haynes, Zelia Breaux, Isaac W. Young, Inman 
     Page, and Zella Black Patterson resided in Langston or called 
     CANU home;
       Whereas the town of Tatums, Oklahoma, founded in 1895, was 
     named after brothers Lee B. Tatum and Eldridge ``Doc'' Tatum 
     and found prosperity in 1929 when oil wells were drilled;
       Whereas Norman Studios filmed Black Gold, a silent film, in 
     Tatums and enlisted the citizens of the town and Marshal L. 
     B. Tatums to be featured in the movie;
       Whereas the town of Taft, Oklahoma, founded in 1902 on land 
     allotted to Creek Freedman, changed its name from Twine to 
     Taft to honor the then Secretary of War, later President, 
     William Howard Taft. The town had a thriving business sector 
     with 3 general stores, a drugstore, a brickyard, a soda pop 
     factory, 2 hotels, and a bank;
       Whereas the town of Grayson, Oklahoma, brimmed with 5 
     general stores, 2 blacksmiths, 2 drug stores, a cotton gin, 
     and a physician soon after it was founded in 1902. Originally 
     known as Wildcat, the town changed its name in 1909 to honor 
     the Creek Chief George W. Grayson;
       Whereas the town of Boley, Oklahoma, established in 1903 
     and named after J.B. Boley, a railroad official of the Fort 
     Smith and Western Railway, grew to be one of the wealthiest 
     and largest Black towns in Oklahoma;
       Whereas, only 5 years after being founded, Booker T. 
     Washington visited Boley and wrote about the prosperity he 
     had witnessed;
       Whereas, in 2021, Boley still carries on their standing 
     tradition of a Black community-based rodeo, now the oldest of 
     its kind in the Nation;
       Whereas the town of Rentiesville, Oklahoma, founded in 
     1903, was developed on 40 acres owned by William Rentie and 
     Phoebe McIntosh;
       Whereas John Hope Franklin, a prominent scholar of African-
     American history, was born in Rentiesville in 1915;
       Whereas Franklin and his family later moved to Tulsa where 
     Franklin graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, 
     survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and went on to become 
     one of Oklahoma's most decorated historians;
       Whereas the town of Clearview, Oklahoma, founded in 1903 
     along the tracks of the Fort Smith and Western Railroad, was 
     widely known for their baseball team;
       Whereas, in the summer, people from surrounding counties 
     would come to watch the baseball team play, turning the 
     railroad tracks into substitute bleachers;
       Whereas the town of Brooksville, Oklahoma, founded in 1903, 
     was originally named Sewell. The town was renamed in 1912 to 
     honor the first Black man in the area, A. R. Brooks;
       Whereas, soon after the town of Brooksville was 
     established, Rev. Jedson White founded the St. John's Baptist 
     Church;
       Whereas George W. McLaurin, who was the first Black 
     graduate at the University of Oklahoma, taught at the local 
     school in Brooksville;
       Whereas the town of Red Bird, Oklahoma, founded in 1907 
     along the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway, was built on land 
     allotted to the Creek Nation;
       Whereas E. L. Barber was one of the original developers of 
     the town of Red Bird, the first justice of peace of the town, 
     and an early mayor;
       Whereas, before Red Bird officially became a town, Barber 
     had organized the First Baptist Church in 1889, which grew to 
     be the largest church in Red Bird;
       Whereas the town of Summit, Oklahoma, founded in 1910 along 
     the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway, grew because of the town's 
     railway depot;
       Whereas Rev. L. W. Thomas organized the St. Thomas Baptist 
     Church in the town of Summit and the congregation met without 
     a building for 6 years until the congregation came together 
     to build the church, which still stands in 2021;
       Whereas the town of Vernon, Oklahoma, founded in 1911 on 
     Tankard Ranch in the Creek Nation, was home to many 
     trailblazers such as Ella Woods, who was the first 
     postmaster, and Louise Wesley, who established the first 
     school and church in the town;
       Whereas, before the community of Vernon built the New Hope 
     Baptist Church in 1917, the congregation conducted services 
     underneath a tree. New Hope Baptist Church still stands in 
     2021 after more than 100 years;
       Whereas the town of Lima, Oklahoma, founded in 1913 along 
     the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, came together 
     as a community to improve their town. Together, they built 
     the Mount Zion Methodist Church in 1915, which still stands 
     in 2021;
       Whereas, the history of these historically Black towns is 
     interwoven into the history of the State of Oklahoma and the 
     residents of these towns have achieved great successes and 
     faced tremendous challenges;
       Whereas the stories of the Black towns and communities in 
     Oklahoma are inextricably linked to the events of May 30 to 
     June 1, 1921, in the Greenwood District of North Tulsa, 
     Oklahoma;
       Whereas, on May 30, 1921, a young Black man named Dick 
     Rowland was in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, and entered the 
     Drexel Building to use the only bathroom in the area 
     available to Black people;
       Whereas an incident occurred on the elevator between Dick 
     Rowland and Sarah Paige, the elevator operator, and Sarah 
     Paige screamed;
       Whereas, after a police investigation, the next day Dick 
     Rowland was detained at the Tulsa Police Department for 
     questioning before being moved to the Tulsa Courthouse for 
     additional security;
       Whereas, on May 31, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune released a 
     sensationalist story claiming that a young Black male had 
     attacked a White girl;
       Whereas that story and long-simmering tensions in the city 
     led to a large group of White individuals surrounding the 
     courthouse to demand that Dick Rowland be released so that he 
     could be lynched;
       Whereas a group of Black men traveled to the courthouse to 
     help defend Dick Rowland from the angry mob;
       Whereas, after a scuffle at the downtown Tulsa courthouse, 
     White rioters pursued Black men to the Greenwood District and 
     the violence escalated;
       Whereas houses and businesses were looted and burned 
     throughout the Greenwood District and attacks lasted well 
     into the next day before being quelled by the Oklahoma City 
     National Guard;
       Whereas, in less than 24 hours, 35 city blocks were 
     destroyed by fires and 6,000 African-American individuals 
     were detained;
       Whereas, out of the 23 churches that were located in the 
     Greenwood area prior to the 1921 Massacre, only 13 churches 
     survived and only 3 churches were able to be rebuilt after 
     being destroyed: Paradise Baptist Church, Mount Zion Baptist 
     Church, and Vernon AME Church;
       Whereas, outside of the massacre area, 5 churches were able 
     to rebuild after being destroyed;
       Whereas, the Black citizens in Tulsa began rebuilding the 
     Greenwood District immediately, with Church services resuming 
     the following Sunday;
       Whereas this new Black Wall Street reached an economic peak 
     in the mid-1940s but subsequently declined for many reasons 
     that undermined the economic foundation of the community;
       Whereas, almost 100 years later, the residents and 
     businesses in the Greenwood District carry on the legacy of 
     resilience and determination;
       Whereas Greenwood is home to thousands of individuals and 
     families who make important contributions to their city and 
     the United States and there are countless minority-owned 
     businesses in Greenwood that drive the local economy;
       Whereas there is still much work to do to heal the 
     community and ensure all people in Greenwood have the promise 
     of a brighter tomorrow; and
       Whereas Greenwood is a community still scarred by the 1921 
     Tulsa Race Massacre, but not defined by it: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) acknowledges that the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre was the 
     worst race massacre in the history of the United States;
       (2) recognizes that because of the worst race massacre in 
     the history of the United States, several hundred Black 
     residents of

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     the Greenwood District were killed and thousands were made 
     homeless overnight, and the most prosperous Black community 
     in the United States was decimated;
       (3) urges that the history of what happened in Tulsa during 
     the course of those 2 days in 1921 be taught in the schools 
     of the United States in a factual and accurate manner;
       (4) recognizes the important work of groups such as the 
     1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, the John Hope 
     Franklin Center for Reconciliation, and others who work 
     tirelessly to ensure the story of the Greenwood District is 
     accurately told and remembered;
       (5) believes that while significant progress has been made 
     in the 100 years since the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, there is 
     still work to be done towards racial reconciliation, which 
     can only be accomplished through open, respectful, and frank 
     dialogue;
       (6) encourages families of all races to invite families of 
     different races to their homes to have discussions on race, 
     with parents setting examples for their children on how to 
     engage in a conversation that will build better understanding 
     of, and respect for, people of different races;
       (7) believes that the significance of the 1921 Tulsa Race 
     Massacre and the complete history of the Greenwood District 
     warrant the placement of the area on the National Registry of 
     Historical Places and urges the Department of Interior to 
     work with the community to accomplish this as soon as 
     possible;
       (8) hopes that the 100th anniversary weekend is a moment 
     for the country to look to Tulsa to see how racial relations 
     have changed during the last 100 years, to celebrate 
     improvements, and to reflect upon the areas where more work 
     is needed;
       (9) urges all people of the United States to continue 
     seeking greater understanding, dialogue, and closer 
     connections to people of different races; and
       (10) recognizes the need to help the remaining 13 Black 
     towns in Oklahoma to preserve their historic legacy of 
     political freedom and ensure their stories are known to 
     future generations of Oklahomans and people of the United 
     States.

                          ____________________