Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921

Epilogue: Notes on the Subsequent History of "Deep Greenwood"

Epilogue Notes on the Subsequent Historyof "Deep Greenwood" The rebuilding of black Tulsa after the riot, particularly that of "Deep Greenwood," is a story of almost as great importance as the riot itself. Perhaps more than anything else, this rebuilding was a testament to the courage and stamina of Tulsa's black pioneers in their struggle for freedom. Many of the buildings along the first block of GreenwoodAvenue running north from Archer Street were rebuilt by the end of 1922. Although the burned-out shells of the pre-riot structures were for the most part torn down, many of the new buildings assumed the form of their predecessors. The 1922 Williams building, for example, bears a great resemblance to its pre-1921predecessor. Many of these later buildings were constructed, as the original ones had been, with red bricks from a local brickyard located two blocks north on the avenue.1 "A little over a decade" after the riot, Henry Whitlow has written, "everything was more prosperous than before. Most of these businesses even survived the Depression." Furthermore, Whitlow tells us that a local Negro Business Directory was published, a Greenwood Chamber of Commerce organized, the National Negro Business League hosted here, and a black entrepreneur by the name of Simon Berry established a black-owned bus system. "Tulsa's Negro owned and operated business district became known nationally."2 Phoenix-like "Deep Greenwood" did not, however, prosper for108 Epilogue 109 A city reborn: looking north down Greenwood from Archer, 1938. Courtesy of W.D. Williams ever. By the end of World War II the district had begun a downward spiral. Again we turn to Whitlow: "The merchants of south Tulsa found that the dollar from Greenwood was just as green as the south of the tracks dollar. Relations became better . . . by the late fifties Greenwood was on the decline."3 "Greenwood won't be here any longer," Clarence Cherry told a journalist in 1971. "In a few years there won't be any Greenwood." Seven years later, Cherry's Shine Parlor is gone. So is the cafe, the nightclub, Jackson's barber shop, and the rooming house which lined the first block of Greenwood Avenue when Cherry reminisced .4 In 1978, only two businesses, one of them the Oklahoma Eagle, remained. To be certain, the red brick buildings—many of them with cement datestones reading 1922—remain, but they are but empty ghosts of an earlier era. Sitting in his sister's home in Tulsa, Dr. John Hope Franklin told the author, "There are two ways which whites destroy a black community . One is by building a freeway through it, the other is by changing the zoning laws." Along with the destruction of the 1921 riot, the first block of "Deep Greenwood" has, at least physically, survived this, too. Franklin's father helped to defeat the fire ordi- 110 Death in a Promised Land nance passed by the City Commission after the riot. In recent years, a freeway has cut through the section, but the first block ofGreenwood Avenue remains. Few places in the city of Tulsa are as worthy Greenwood and Archer, 1978. Contents Foreword xv PRELUDE In the Promised Land 1 CHAPTER 1 Boom Cities 8 CHAPTER 2 Race Relations and Local Violence 17 CHAPTER 3 Race Riot 45 CHAPTER 4 Law, Order, and the Politics of Relief 71 CHAPTER 5 The Segregation of Memory 98 EPILOGUE Notes on the Subsequent History of "Deep Greenwood" 108 Appendix I 113 Appendix II 115 Notes 119 Essay on Sources 139 Acknowledgments 151 Index 155 Epilogue 111 of preservation as this first block of "Deep Greenwood," a monument to human endurance. This page intentionally left blank ...