Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

By midnight on June 1, 1921, all Black Tulsans were in danger. A white-passing Black man saw the mob of white men being deputized and quickly told his roommate Seymour Williams, a Black WWI veteran and teacher at Booker T. Washington High School, what he saw. Williams quickly tried to get others to take their guns and defend the district, but no one agreed to join him. While he attempted to defend the area, white and Black people shot at each other across the Frisco train tracks that divided the white-populated area from Greenwood. The National Guard began to request reinforcements, but Governor J. B. A. Robertson required a formal request, even as the city delved into chaos.

At one o’clock in the morning, white people began burning the houses, businesses, schools, churches, and other important buildings in Greenwood. By morning, 24 buildings were burnt. As the Tulsa National Guard went into Greenwood, they were meant to protect the Black Americans, but as they were an all-white unit, many of them saw the Black people as responsible for the violence. 

Some Greenwood citizens attempted to flee, but many were killed by white rioters before they could escape. Rumors flew about Black people shooting a white woman in her home and a train full of armed Black people coming to support Greenwood; none of the rumors were true.