TULSA, OKLAHOMA – The Justice Department recently announced a close review of the Tulsa Race Massacre, where hundreds died in a thriving Black community in 1921. Locals say the scars of that violence still run deep, and many are turning to history as a bridge toward healing and reconciliation.
Viola Fletcher, a survivor of the massacre, recounts the horrors. “I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot. Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire – I still see Black businesses being burned… I hear the screams, I have lived through the massacre every day,” she said.
The historic Greenwood District, once known as “Black Wall Street,” saw its bustling business area and more than two dozen churches set ablaze by a mob of white men in 1921. Today, only three of those churches remain, residing as symbols of hope, survival, and reconciliation.
Standing on ground that once bore the brunt of this violence, Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street Historical Center now serves as a bridge connecting the past, present, and future.
“You need to understand the truth about history to understand where we are today,” said Center Director Raymond Doswell.
Doswell explains how the potential for violence existed due to racial hatred over the thriving success of majority black businesses.
Given that environment, it only took a single incident – reportedly when a Black man stepped on a white woman’s foot in an elevator – to trigger a massacre, where an angry mob murdered as many as 300 people and destroyed Black Wall Street.
“The bustling Greenwood area was looted and burned, and people were shot and attacked,” said Doswell.
He says the impact of the massacre still weighs heavily on the community today, hoping that through education, future generations can work to build a better future.
These divisions are not only historical but physical; the train tracks through downtown Tulsa serve as a dividing line between predominantly Black neighborhoods to the north and predominantly white neighborhoods to the south – a reminder of the lingering racial divides community leaders hope to bridge.
“That train track and many other tracks that are not trains will say that we’re not doing it,” said Pamela Scott Vickers with the non-profit Faith Still Standing.
Vickers works to preserve the history of the 21 churches impacted by the 1921 violence. A granddaughter to a survivor, Rosa Davis, she shares that the education system failed to teach her about what her ancestors endured.
“You were not supposed to talk about this. I didn’t learn about this in school; I learned about this because of my grandmother,” Vickers said.
Today, Faith Still Standing represents 16 congregations that relocated after the fires. Vickers’ home church, Paradise Baptist, was among those burned to the ground and later rebuilt on the same foundation.
Historic Vernon AME Church, one of only three churches to survive the massacre, also stands nearby, where its basement served as a refuge during the violence.
Kristi Williams, steward of Vernon AME, gave CBN News a tour of the basement that survived the fires.
“Not only did the basement survive, but it was a refuge for people during the massacre who hid here and survived. So, we call ourselves the church that withstood the heat,” said Williams.
The congregation contributed donations – some as small as 25 and 50 cents – to rebuild, creating a living testament to the resilience of Tulsa’s faith community. But as Williams notes, many residents have only recently learned of this history.
“There are a lot of people who were born and raised here and didn’t hear about the story until later. As my mom said, you weren’t allowed to talk about it.”
This silence is beginning to break as the community and country faces this history. Tulsa formally apologized in 2021, and the mayor issued an executive order to begin the reparations process, starting with the city’s housing disparities.
And now, the first-ever federal probe into the crimes led by the Department of Justice’s Cold Case Unit in the Civil Rights Division has opened the first-ever federal probe into the crimes. Yet, today, black history faces restrictions in the classroom.
“Well, I’ve created my own school here called Black History Saturdays in 2023, when our governor signed House Bill 1775, which restricted teaching Black history and banned over 100 books. So, I started my own school for pre-K all the way through adults,” Williams said.
For many, reclaiming their heritage through accurately telling this story is essential.
“Especially if you’re not from Tulsa… reflect on how this affects your community when you go back home,” said Doswell, a common challenge given to anyone who visits Greenwood Rising.
For these predominantly Black congregations, their faith that still stands remains a powerful source of resilience and unity. Community members say one way to move forward is by connecting, serving, and worshiping with people of diverse backgrounds; reminding us that faith goes beyond race, creed, or culture.
As Vickers reflects, “If you claim to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you need to look in the instruction book and do what it says about how we treat one another.”
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