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

5. The Segregation of Memory

Chapter 5 The Segregation of Memory It is part of our nature as human beings—whether as individuals, groups, or societies—that we create "pasts" with which we can live. If the reality of our history poses questions about our lives of today which are too painful or ominous to ponder, then we will mold our past into a less threatening chronicle, or repress it entirely. If anything , our "historic memory" is as malleable as our personal one. Thus the way in^vhich the Tulsa race riot is remembered speaks to us as much about the Tulsa and America of today as it does about the events of 1921. The historical context of the riot and the scopeof its effects must therefore be considered alongside the direct investigation of events and responses. I What is to be made of the madness that was the Tulsa riot of 1921? The forces which helped to create it were many. Some of them affected the entire nation; others affected only Oklahoma; some were peculiar to Tulsa. The various racial ideologies which were being popularized nationally helped to breed situations in which large-scale racial violence could incubate. By the time of the riot, Tulsa had become a bastion of Ku Klux Klan strength in the Southwest. The mythical "reconstruction" of black Tulsa by politically and socially influential white Tulsans, be they members of the hooded order or not, re98 The Segregation of Memory 99 vealed a total disregard for the rights of black citizens.1 Concomitantly, the actions of those black Tulsans who defended their homes, businesses, fellow citizens, and families were tangible examples of the doctrine of a steadfast self-defense which many black Americans were advocating. Such a doctrine had long been a part ofblack history, but the contradictions raised by the black experience in the First World War, coupled with the acute rise of white violence, increased its importance during the immediate postwar years. Indeed, O. W. Gurley, an affluent black Tulsan who suffered heavy losses due to the riot, laid much of the blame for the violence on the group of blacks who went down to the courthouse. The leader of this group, Gurley stated, was a tall man "who came back from France with exaggerated ideas of equality."2 The Tulsa riot, along with the other race riots of the postwar period, was in one sense a physical realization of some of the major black and white racialideologies of the era. The political currents flowing through Oklahoma during this period were also important. The decline of a major political organization in the state, the Oklahoma Socialist party, which was at least rhetorically supportive of black rights, .and the rapid rise of another, the Ku Klux Klan, which was clearly anti-black, was not without significance. But neither political development explains why the riot happened. Rather, they were indicative of a more basic ideological shift within the state and region. Dallas and Shreveport, for example , were other centers of Klan strength in the Southwest, yet neither of them experienced racial violence on the scale of Tulsa during this period. The nationwide recession of 1921, which severely affected Tulsa, may have also played a role in increasing social tension , but economic woes do not by themselves create racial violence, as the experience of the Great Depression of the 1930s revealed.3 Tulsa's vice conditions and the nature of its local law enforcement were highly relevant. Five weeks before the riot, in April, 1921, a federal agent visited Tulsa undercover to investigate crime conditions in the city. In his report, he stated: Summary of conditions: Vice conditions in this city are very bad.Gambling , bootlegging and prostitution are very much in evidence. At the leading hotels and rooming houses the bell hops and porters are pimping 100 Death in a Promised Land for women, and also selling booze. Regarding violations of the law these prostitutes and pimps solicit without any fear of the police, as they will invariably remind you that you are safe in these houses.4 The abundance of crime in Tulsa, coupled with the extremely selective nature of the city's law enforcement, helped to create a situation where the role of the police in the actual policing of the city was illdefined .5 This situation was further exacerbated by the city's "vigilante" tradition. The incident involving the seventeen IWW members revealed much more...