Downloaded from YTS.MX
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
♪ ♪
(beeping).
Deneen: I feel a very strong spiritual connection to what's happening in tulsa.
You know, I had to be there when they dug into the ground
For the first time to search for black people who were
Killed in the 1921 tulsa race massacre.
Brenda: Today, we remember our community members who lost their loved ones,
Their friends, their neighbors, who simply wanted
A piece of the american dream, but truly received a nightmare.
Deneen: It's a significant moment in the history of tulsa
And a significant moment in the history of the united states.
The united states has been the landscape for dozens of
Massacres that many people don't know about.
We, in many of our cities were walking over massacre sites.
People don't even know that a massacre occurred there.
Nearly 100 years ago, there were race riots and massacres across the country.
But 100 years later, there's still racism and hatred,
And that people are still willing to act on that.
Guthrie (over tv): We're gonna start with these deadly police shootings,
Sparking outrage and protests...
Reporter (over tv): Loved ones of breonna taylor grieving and outraged.
Deneen: And we see the country going through this anti-racism
Movement where black and white people took to the streets,
Shouting the slogan black lives matter and demanding to be heard.
But we are the descendants of a people that endured these
Atrocities out of this past of enslavement.
Jim crow, the '40s and '50s and '60s.
Our people are still standing and they're still fighting.
Our people have not been defeated.
This is an article I wrote about the day
That martin luther king jr. Met malcolm x.
They met in 1964.
They met only once in their life at the us capitol in 1964,
And this is a famous photo of that meeting.
So here's a story I wrote about a'lelia bundles,
Who was the great-granddaughter of
Madam cj walker,
One of the country's first black women millionaires.
I love telling people's stories.
I love that as reporters, we can stop and ask people questions.
There was a sign in the lobby of the washington post that said,
"afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted."
And I walked by that sign for more than 30 years.
And so I really believe that my mission as a black woman is
To tell the stories of people who might not be
Presented in the newspaper.
And as a black reporter, I think it's so important that
Our stories be told and telling the stories of the
History of this country that has tried to deny black people citizenship.
And even deny their very existence as humans.
I've been doing this reporting a long time writing about black history.
And then I'm astounded with the progress that black people
Made just years out of enslavement during
The reconstruction period that comes after the end of the civil war,
How they were able to establish the black towns
And universities,
And build wealth,
Become doctors and lawyers and journalists,
And build the black press.
Taft (over radio): The negro in the 40 years since he was freed from slavery
Has made remarkable progress.
He is becoming a more and more valuable member
Of the community in which he lives.
Deneen: When I look at the footage of the black families
That were so prosperous in towns like tulsa
Before the massacre, there's a real sense of pride,
But also there's this foreboding,
This sense of knowing that soon it will all be destroyed.
So there's a sadness that comes with that.
(sirens).
Reporter (over tv): Angry mobs set scores of fires in the
Predominantly black south central part of the city.
There were so many blazes, the fire department couldn't
Respond to all the calls and just let some buildings burn to the ground.
Firemen reported people were shooting at them and at least
Two firefighters were wounded.
Looting broke out in many neighborhoods before police
Moved in and began rounding up suspects.
Cameron: A lot of americans think today,
If they think of the term race riot,
They're thinking of los angeles in the 90s.
And, you know, african-american kids breaking
Into shoe stores and things like that.
But the truth is that in the breadth of american history,
The vast majority of race riots were white mobs
Attacking black people, individuals or communities.
Zechariah: See, there was a great migration of southerners to the north.
There were a lot of differences.
You had no segregated transportation and,
Uh, you could go and eat anywhere you wanted to.
Cameron: During this period, they're working in the
Factories and setting up their own businesses.
In a relative sense, they had more freedom.
However, because they started to succeed and those
Communities grew, that became a point of real tension.
And then eventually riots erupted.
Deneen: East st. Louis occurred in 1917 and it was a horrific massacre.
Some historians believe that it was prompted
By white workers who believed that black men were taking jobs that they deserve.
White mobs descended on black neighborhoods,
Pulling black people off of street cars,
Beating them with their fist, clubbing them and killing
Black people indiscriminately.
It was horrendous and barbaric.
Cameron: The naacp were so horrified by what had happened,
They decided to organize a silent March in which they were saying,
"wake up america, you need to wake up to this."
James: We to america.
How would you have us, as we are?
Or sinking 'neath the load we bear?
Our eyes fixed forward.
On a star?
Or. Gazing empty at despair?
Cameron: The naacp stood up and started to organize on
A level that african-americans had not done before and really
Set the stage for what became the civil rights movement.
People like james weldon johnson,
W.E. Du bois, walter white recruited tens of thousands of new members.
And so african-americans started to wake up and say,
"we deserve the same rights as every other person in this
Country and we have earned it."
James: Strong.
Willing sinews in your wings?
Or. Tightening chains about your feet?
♪ johnny get you gun get your gun, get your gun ♪
♪ take it on the run, on the run, on the run ♪♪
Celillianne: In world war I, we have segregated military,
But black people are fighting in this war.
They have gone overseas to fight.
Some even fought for the french.
♪ hurry right away, no delay, go today ♪
♪ make your daddy glad ♪♪
Celillianne: And they were very, very successful.
There was a group called the harlem hell fighters
And they received accolades about their courage and their success.
♪ over there, over there ♪
♪ send the word, send the word, over there ♪
♪ that the yanks are coming ♪♪
Celillianne: So when they come back to this country,
They have a sense that they have fought for their country,
Died for the country in many cases,
And that their country will treat them differently
John: There are many levels of tension created
With the african-american veterans returning from europe.
It is felt by the african-americans that they experienced freedom.
They did not live in a segregated society while they were abroad.
And they came back defiant that they had fought and died
For democracy abroad, and they were not going to accept
Second class citizenship in the united states.
C.R.: We know that at the end of the first world war,
There was a great deal of white anxiety,
Resentment, anger toward black people.
It appears as though anytime there is a perception that
Black people are rising economically,
Socially, there are those individuals and forces that
Seek to put a stop to it.
Cameron: 1919, the summer and fall of 1919,
Jump out as by far, the worst period of that kind of violence.
Deneen: Red summer is a term that was coined by
James weldon johnson, who was an executive secretary of the naacp.
And he called this reign of terror "red summer" because he
Said it best described the blood that ran in the streets.
That summer of 1919, as many as 26 cities,
Where the sites where these massacres and race riots occurred.
Cameron: In omaha, there was an allegation that a man named
William brown had raped a white woman.
He's arrested and a mob starts to form outside of the courthouse.
Law enforcement said, "we're not going to hand this person over."
And the mob just got louder and bigger.
And they started shooting into the building.
They started to set fires at the doorways.
People waving american flags.
I mean, it was considered some sort of patriotic act that
They were attacking a us courthouse.
Deneen: They scale the walls of the courthouse,
Demanding the blood of a black man.
The mayor who is liberal minded,
Tries to intervene and keep the mob from lynching him.
They nearly tear the white mayor apart.
And finally, they pulled brown to the mob and they hang him.
They shoot him more than 100 times.
And then finally someone cuts the rope.
His body drops to the pavement.
They beat him.
They spit on him.
They dismember him.
And then someone grabs a new rope,
Ties him to the back of a car and then they pull him through the streets.
And then they pour kerosene on his body.
What you have to know is many of these massacres,
All it took was a rumor.
And then the rumor would spread.
Cameron: Did he commit that crime?
And this is an important part of all of the red summer.
We'll never know, you know why?
'cause he was never, there was never a trial.
There was this sense among white people,
Whether it was up in omaha, nebraska
Or down in mississippi, that extrajudicial killing is justified.
Deneen: So, this is the story that I wrote in 2018 about tulsa.
The headline says, "amid gentrification,
A race massacre still haunts tulsa.
And the story really questions why
An investigation that was opened in 1998
Was closed without physically digging for mass graves.
As a writer, there comes a certain point in the research
When you've really understand the story at a profound level.
This story about the tulsa race massacre goes to the top
Of the list of the stories that I've written in my career
At the post, and I feel that I was part of that process
Of helping to uncover a piece of the truth of
What happened in the massacre.
The survivors of the race massacre and activists in tulsa
Have been telling their stories for 20 years, for 30 years.
So I think what they do in tulsa is incredible.
I'm just adding a piece of that story to the narrative.
(phone rings).
Robert: Historic vernon ame church.
Caller (over phone): Dr. Turner talked about mass grave reaction
That we're doing for tonight.
But I was wondering, will dr. Turner be available for a live
Interview at 6:00 p.M., just to give an update?
Robert: Sure. Let me check with dr. Turner first.
Caller (over phone): Okay, okay.
Robert: You're talking to him.
Caller (over phone): Oh, hi.
Robert: Hey, how you doing?
I'm sorry, I just want, I needed a good laugh today.
Caller (over phone): No, you're just fine.
I thought it was you, but I'm like,
"I'm not going to assume."
Robert: Yeah, I answer my own call.
I have, you know, the city hall protest at 4:30, and.
Caller (over phone): Yeah.
Robert: We are, we March, we're marching here
Afterwards, and we're doing a letter writing campaign to the council.
So depending on what time that ends,
I'm sure I can be available at 6:00.
So I came to tulsa 2017, and, you know,
I thought I was just gonna be here to,
Um, you know, kiss babies, go to baby showers,
Do weddings, do baptisms, stuff like that, you know.
I really didn't come to tulsa to be, like, an activist.
"dear mayor g.T. Bynum," and I'm writing one to each of the council people.
"as you know, this was done nearly 100 years ago.
And to this date, nothing has been done by the city
To compensate the families, nor prosecute the perpetrators."
The blame of the 1921 race massacre is at the feet of the city
And those who were in charge of the city at that time.
That is a sobering fact that you not only can rob,
Burn, kill people, but you don't even wanna give them the
Dignity of having a proper burial.
I've been going every day of the excavation to pray,
And I talked to god about leading us,
Letting them know that we are looking.
And I pray that we find them.
Phoebe: Oh, good afternoon everyone,
My name is phoebe stubblefield.
As a forensic anthropologist, I will be looking
At the skeletal remains for many features.
But for this test excavation, I'll be focusing on,
Are there signs of trauma?
If we find it right away, our question may be answered fairly quickly.
How did I feel when we first broke ground?
Extra thankful that we are getting to this point.
And I have relatives that lost their house in the massacre.
It's the first stage of some kind of peace for the many
Tulsans that are asking questions about what happened
To these individuals.
This is that moment when tulsa said,
"we're coming clean, we're following up finally on our own history."
Celillianne: The real true healing for us as a people is
That when we do look at ourselves,
And for the ancestors in particular.
But for them, we are not here.
So all that they endured, went through,
Died for, fought for, lived for and loved for.
But for them, we are not here.
Jimmie lily: Tulsa was at the time of the riot called
The oil capital of the world.
People poured in there from all over to get those jobs that
The oil industry had available.
Eldoris: We had our doctors.
Kavin: I am a descendant of isaac evitt,
Who was my great grandfather.
Who owned the zulu lounge, just a little club, just a juke joint.
John: My grandfather, buck culbert franklin,
In February 1921, moves to tulsa and establishes
A law firm with two other attorneys.
And there's a rich set of businesses in tulsa at that time.
Regina: My great grandfather, james henry,
Was the business manager for the tulsa star,
Which was the black newspaper.
I think what he saw was that sense of industry,
And you did it independent of anybody's interference.
You did it independent of anybody's oppression and you
Did it quite frankly because there was segregation and
Folks had to depend on each other.
Goodwin: Tulsa proved that the whole idea
Of white superiority was a myth, was a big lie.
And it proved that people with assets and with education
Could do as well as anyone else in similar circumstances.
Robert: And that's one of the curses of the ideology of white supremacy.
Which is, you make an idol out of whiteness,
And whiteness has to always be superior to everybody else.
And so, what does a lie do when it confronts the truth?
Right?
It either awakens to the truth,
Or it destroys the truth
And continues to believe the lie.
C.R.: Woodrow wilson is alleged to have said that
Birth of a nation was like writing history with lightning.
His one regret was that it was also true.
The showing of birth of a nation in the white house was
A love song to the ku klux klan.
Celillianne: And that film glorifies the klan and its
Role in the country of protecting the virtues of the
White woman who was probably going to be attacked by black men.
And this is part of what continues to be the theme,
If you will, regarding what happens in 1919,
And the start of these riots.
We have in washington, d.C., a series of events from
June 30, 1919 to July 18, 1919.
Three or four white women reported incidents in which
They were attacked, accosted in some way.
Challenged by men who were described as black.
Deneen: Many people say that it began with false accusation
By a white woman that black men had assaulted her.
There are sailors and soldiers in town from world war I,
They decide that they will defend the virtue of this woman.
They began pulling black people off of street cars in d.C.
And beating them.
C.R.: It is dangerous for black people to be on the streets.
There are assaults by whites on blacks on pennsylvania avenue northwest.
A black man is beaten in front of the white house.
Celillianne: And the media coverage of what is going on
Adds or compounds to the problem.
Deneen: We know that the washington post printed a
Headline calling for the mobilization of white mobs.
And we know that other newspapers across the country
Reprinted the story that ran in the washington post during
That race riot of 1919.
Keyon: We have your, what, you see two black people?
Miya: No, I'm not letting him walk away with my phone!
Celillianne: Sadly, we have red summer type activity in
This country now, in terms of white women complaining about
Black people who are engaged in legal human behaviors.
Woman: You cannot sleep in that room.
Celillianne: A young woman who is sleeping in her dormitory lounge.
Officer: We need to make sure that you belong here.
Celillianne: A white woman called the police.
A family that's barbecuing in the park.
Jennifer: And charcoal grills are not allowed here.
Celillianne: A white woman calls the police.
In central park, a man is birdwatching.
He tells a white woman that she's not allowed to walk her
Dog where she's walking the dog.
And then she threatens him.
Amy: I'm gonna tell them there's an african-american
Man threatening my life.
Christian: Please tell them whatever you like.
Amy: I'm being threatened by a man in the ramble,
Please send a cop immediately!
Celillianne: It's almost as if the white population functions
As deputy for the police.
You can be questioned at any time.
Who are you? Why are you here?
What is your name?
While it's not massacres, it's a massacre of the spirit.
Deneen: And this editorial from 1919,
The headline is "the rights of the black man."
"the time has come in the history of the colored americans
To protect themselves against the cowardly attacks of a mob,
No matter what its nationality may be.
The black man is loyal to his country and his flag.
And when his country fails him,
Fails to protect him?
He means to protect himself."
The washington bee was a phenomenal black owned newspaper.
Its editor was what they called a "race man."
So he used the newspaper to advocate for justice for black people.
C.R.: The black newspapers performed heroically during
The red summer, and they provide an understanding of a
Complex series of events that had life or death consequences.
Celillianne: Black veterans who had just returned from
World war I were determined to protect their property and their families.
C.R.: Black people threw bricks from the tops of houses
And apartment buildings.
Whites were repulsed from southwest altogether,
And as they came up seventh street,
They met stout resistance by black people,
People firing back.
They would not surrender.
Celillianne: And it's not until it escalates to this level
That approximately 2,000 national guard are sent there to quash it.
But ultimately what does quash it is a rainstorm.
C.R.: A man named william canfield marshall
Found himself in d. C. During the race massacre.
And he told his son thurgood marshall what he had gone through.
And thurgood marshall would say many years later he had a hell of a time.
But he would also note proudly that even though they don't
Get credit for it, but the negroes won the battle that day.
They won that one.
The resistance seen and showed by black people in the
Nation's capital became a hallmark of black resistance across the country.
Sterling: I talk to old lem and old lem said.
They weigh the cotton, they store the corn.
We only good enough to work the rows.
They run the commissary, they keep the books.
We got to be grateful for being cheated.
They make our figgers.
Turn somersets.
We buck in the middle say.
Thank you, sir.
They don't come by ones.
They don't come by twos, but.
They come by tens.
Brian: Before the summer of 1919,
Elaine was a fairly new town.
Much of the land was bought in large tracts
By plantation owners who were trying to figure out how to eke out a profit.
Blacks in the region were in servitude to whites
Just as they had been during antebellum slavery.
Immediately following the war, the price of cotton skyrocketed.
The crops are how the blacks were able to eke out their survival.
And this gave them a unique opportunity to make a lot of
Money very, very quickly.
But regardless of how much of a boom that they produced,
They were never going to be given the shares.
Deneen: In September of 1919 black farmers decided
To organize to get better prices for their crop.
Late September sharecroppers are meeting inside this church in hoop spur.
Miller: They know that there might be problems.
So they posted a couple sentries out front because
They were told that if they tried to unionize,
There would be trouble.
Deneen: The story varies as to what happens next.
Lisa: From my grandmother's stories,
There were white men and law enforcement that pulled up to
The church that night, but they pull up and they just start shooting.
Brian: The police officers would have a different
Narrative that they were fired upon.
Deneen: There may have been two black veterans who fired
Out to defend those inside the church.
One white man is killed.
Word goes out at the black people in elaine are in an insurrection.
They're uprising.
Brian: Whites poured in from the neighboring counties.
All looking for some sense of reprisal for the death of the
Police officer that had been shot outside of hoops spur.
Miller: Word got out that there was a riot going on in
Which black people were going into white people's houses,
Pulling them out and killing them.
All of which was a lie.
The local newspaper was one of the biggest perpetuators of that lie.
Lisa: And that set off three days of what I'd say is just
Pure carnage, murder.
Deneen: There is this photo from the elaine, arkansas
Massacre that still haunts me.
A young black woman who lived in elaine is shot in the neck
By the white mob.
Her skirt is pulled up in her bare bottom is showing
Directly toward the camera.
There's no dignity in her death.
I mean, I've been doing this reporting a long time writing
About the tragedy in black history,
But this particular picture is seared into my memory.
It's a terrible thing that happened in elaine, arkansas.
Tell me where we are right here.
Lenora: This location is called hoops spur.
Where the church house once stood.
James: When it started, it just spread like wildfire.
You know, my grandpa said white people were coming from
Mississippi, oklahoma.
They was coming from all around just to kill black people.
Lenora: Tennessee, yes.
Deneen: Black people lived all over, right? James: Yeah.
Lenora: Yes. There were houses all around. So many.
There's so many that's not in that place anymore.
Deneen: And so you think the bodies are buried somewhere
In a mass grave down there?
James: My grandmother told me a lot of people just got
Buried where they were because it took so long to kind of clear everything up.
And they just buried them right there.
So it's a lot of stories.
Deneen: I mean, this land holds a lot of pain here.
Lenora: A lot of pain.
There's still a lot of stigma, a lot of repercussions from
That massacre that happened back then.
Miller: There was an article in the arkansas gazette
Something like, "evaluating the elaine riot."
My father, I saw him reading the newspaper.
I looked at him and I said, "daddy, what's wrong?"
And he said, "this person says that the elaine riot was fiction."
And I said, "yeah, well, okay," because I'd never heard of it,
And this is high school.
And he says, "well, you know, I had four uncles who were killed down at elaine."
Dr. Johnston, my great uncle, had three brothers.
Brian: The johnson brothers were an affluent family.
They were among the wealthiest blacks in the county.
The youngest brother had gone off and fought in world war I and had just returned.
Miller: They went down south of elaine to go hunting,
Which was a typical event for brothers back in the early 1900s.
They were coming out of the woods.
The day after the shooting at hoops spur.
My great uncles were not involved in any rioting.
They never made it back to helena.
Brian: They were found on the side of the road,
All four of them, badly butchered.
The mother brings the bodies to the sheriff and she is told
That the men had shot one of the white men and killed him.
And in return, the mob shot them.
The mother asks that they be buried in a single shaft.
She maintained let them be in death as they were in life.
Brian: This is arkansas state archive.
And today we'll be looking at governor brough's scrapbook
That highlights the elaine massacre.
Deneen: Okay. Just to recap, this massacre is occurring,
The governor of arkansas does what?
Brian: He immediately goes out with his friends,
Loads up the car and decides to go out and see what's going on.
Deneen: To do what?
Brian: We know that he's participating in events while he's there.
We do not know, however, if he is involved in the massacre of anyone.
Along the way there, he maintains that he's shot at
Through a cane break and that they notice a black man
Running through the fields.
So they stopped the car and they pursue,
And we can actually see photographs of them because
There are photographs of the governor there.
Here's the governor, and you could see him among those
Individuals in the mob.
Deneen: These photos are astounding.
Brian: This is the governor walking along in the thickets with troops.
Notice, you can see his soldiers have guns,
Have the rifles.
This is the only account that we have of a governor ever
Hunting for black citizens in american history, that I know of.
Deneen: This governor brough, calls in the military,
Supposedly to help ease the tensions there.
We know from survivor stories that the black people who were
Hiding in the thickets, or in the mississippi river,
In the swamps, were hiding from the white mobs.
When they saw the soldiers walking across the field
Toward them, black people would come out of the hiding
Places because they thought they were coming to save them.
And instead the soldiers would fire on the black people who
Were hiding in the thickets and in the swamps.
Lenora: The very help had turned out to be an enemy,
And so they scattered, and some escaped.
There was some white families who were compassionate and had
Enough heart to grab some blacks in and hide them.
They had various ways of escaping,
But so many lost their lives.
So many.
Miller: And most historians at this point have settled on
There being about 200 black people killed.
We don't know that because we have not recovered the bodies.
Deneen: That massacre goes on for days and finally ends in October of 1919.
We know that hundreds of black people were rounded up and arrested.
Lisa: In total, there was 122 elaine defendants that were
Convicted and some were sentenced upward of 20 years in prison.
But 12 men were convicted and sentenced to death
For the murder of a white man.
12 men that were drug away from their families,
Thrown in jail, tried, convicted, tortured.
Deneen: One old black man wrote that he was whipped
To nearly inches of his life.
They were strapped to electric chairs.
They were suffocated with some kind of chemical on a cloth.
As these white mobsters tried to elicit confessions from them.
Brian: Immediately the community wants all of them
Dragged out in the street and killed.
The governor, however, maintains that there must be order.
And he promises the mob that he will give them a trial,
And he will give them an execution.
Miller: The first two or three trials,
There was not even any cross examination or no defense put on at all.
From the time the jury was impaneled to the time the
Person was found guilty and sentenced to die was less than two hours.
Lisa: I am descended from three of the elaine 12.
It has been a heavy, heavy weight,
Just remembering my ancestors
And remember what they
Sacrificed, what they went through.
They did not turn on each other.
They told their stories.
They told the truth.
They stuck to their stories
And they didn't give up.
They didn't give up.
So they had to do something.
♪ let my people go ♪
Claude: If we must die, let it not be like hogs,
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot while around
Us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mark at our accursed lot.
Deneen: Claude mckay wrote this poem in 1919 during the
Summer when all these atrocities are occurring
Against black people.
And he's saying basically, we're going to fight back.
Claude: Like men, we faced the murderous,
Cowardly pack pressed to the wall dying,
But fighting back.
Deneen: The black press plays a crucial role in this democracy.
There were reporters and columnist at the turn of the
Century who were advocating for rights for black people,
For justice for black people.
And ida b. Wells is one of the greatest investigative journalists in history.
She follows this great legacy of people like harriet tubman,
Who would fight for justice.
She was fearless in a way and not intimidated by white mobs.
One of the men on death row, wrote to ida b. Wells asking for her help,
And she responded, she traveled to arkansas.
She disguised herself and went inside the jail to collect
Stories from these men who were on death row.
And she published their stories.
Lisa: Ida b. Wells wrote convicting and executing the elaine 12
Would destroy the economy of arkansas and pretty much
Threatened that she would help all of the sharecroppers
In elaine and in arkansas flee the state.
Her contribution to helping not just the elaine 12,
But helping the families, helping the survivors,
Telling their stories.
The elaine descendants owe ida b. Wells a debt of gratitude.
Deneen: Her account of their case really brought national
Attention to what happened in elaine, arkansas.
We know that these men are then represented by scipio jones,
A very well known attorney.
He worked with other attorneys to take the case all the way
To the us supreme court.
The us supreme court essentially agreed that the
Due process rights of these men had been violated and they
Were eventually freed.
Cameron: Fighting back by the black community that year
Wasn't just in the streets.
It wasn't just shooting at the mob as they'd come down the
Street, it was in the courts as well.
And those cases proved pivotal for how we live today.
Anybody, white or black, if you're arrested,
You get an impartial jury.
You can't have a forced confession.
These are things that had to be fought for.
Miller: When it was handed down,
The naacp hailed it as the biggest civil rights victory
In the history of the country.
And so out of a lot of misery comes some good, I like to think.
There's a direct, connective thread from east st. Louis
Through dc, and omaha, nebraska,
And elaine, arkansas, all the way to tulsa.
The patterns of the white mob attacking black people
Is the same in each of these communities.
Many of the factors are the same.
Economic envy, the fallacy of white supremacy,
The accusations that a white woman was accosted by a black man.
There are patterns in each of these massacres.
The patterns set the stage for the tulsa race massacre of 1921.
Robert: Two years before the 1921 race massacre,
Tulsa was the site of a convention for the sons of the confederate veterans.
And those veterans were treated like rock stars.
When these veterans came into town,
They drove through greenwood.
And it's said that those veterans rebuked the white males
Of that day for allowing the black population
To be so successful.
Celillianne: There's a lot of jealousy associated with black accomplishment.
There's a lot of envy associated with black
Accomplishment and the whole idea that a black person has a
Certain space and place that they should remain in,
And that that should be dictated to them by white people,
The people of greenwood,
They said no to that.
Olivia: People who worked in service used to come to my
Father's store and tell him that their employers were
Stockpiling ammunition.
So something was planned long before the outburst.
They were looking for something to happen that could start it off.
Kavin: Dick rowland, a shoeshine boy,
Went up to the upper levels of the drexel building.
He got on the elevator and sometimes the elevator did not
Settle correctly.
And he stumbled coming into the elevator and brushed up
Against sarah paige, who was the elevator operator.
Regina: She hollers and he runs out.
Now immediately folks come to her rescue.
You know, they hear the damsel in distress and it goes from
That to all of a sudden,
There's an assault, an attack.
Robert: So, the next day, the tribune came out that
Afternoon and told about what had happened and said,
It looks as if we're going to have a lynching.
Joe: They had heard that they were trying to lynch
A black boy down around at the courthouse.
So they had an old pistol around the house,
He put one in his pocket and he took off and he just hung
Around there to see what was going on.
Clyde: So a bunch of blacks went down there and asked if
They could help protect him.
And when they went down, they were armed and a bunch of
Whites gathered up.
Joe: They gathered, they gathered,
They gathered and finally there was 1,500,
2,000 people down there, black and white.
Clyde: And one guy said to this black boy,
Said, "what are you doing with that gun?"
The boy said, "if I have to, I'm going to use it."
So, a big scuffle broke out and a shot was fired from what I understand.
Then all hell broke loose as they say.
In 1921 was when I wasmassaca
A volunteer on my cousin's mayoral campaign in 2002.
And we were at a candidate debate and somebody at that
Forum said something about that there had been a riot
In tulsa where bombs were dropped from airplanes onto tulsans.
And I remember hearing that and thinking,
That's ridiculous, there's no way something like that
Happened here and I haven't heard about it or read about it.
My family history goes back to about the 1870s in tulsa.
In fact, my great-great grandfather,
My granddad, and then my cousin,
They've been mayors here.
I went and asked my grandfathers,
Neither of whom were alive at the time,
But their parents were alive and were here.
And they both had stories that had been passed down to them about it.
And I couldn't believe it at the time that something like
That happened here and that it had largely been covered up.
Nobody talked about it openly.
And then I go back and look at the history and find that in
The late 1990s there was a state commission that
Collected oral history, did geo-physical scanning,
Looking for mass graves and they identified an anomaly in
Oaklawn cemetery.
And then the city would not give them permission to dig.
And so I remember just saying,
"man, if I'm ever mayor we are going to follow through on this."
It should not have taken 99 years for us to be doing this investigation.
But this generation of tulsans has committed to doing what's
Right by our neighbors and to following the truth,
Wherever it leads us.
And that is what this investigation and this test
Excavation today is all about.
I think it's so important to recognize,
There's no way we're in a position to do this work if
You didn't have the members of that commission back in the
90s who collected that oral history from survivors
Who are no longer with us 20 years later.
If they don't do that work we're not able to find these graves in 2020.
Don: Tulsan black community had no option but to be its own market.
Kavin: My father, state representative don ross,
Now retired, created the tulsa race riot commission report.
It was mainly because of the so-called conspiracy of silence.
White folks didn't want to talk about it,
Because it was an embarrassment to the city
And nobody wanted to rehash what had happened and it became hush-hush.
For black folks they didn't talk about it because those
Who committed the atrocities were still around and was
Threatening another riot if anybody spoke about it.
So for decades, no one talked about it.
Eddie: Kavin, do you have.
Kavin: Go ahead.
Eddie: Hi, I'm eddie faye gates chair of the survivors
Committee of the oklahoma legislative commission to
Study the tulsa race riot of 1921.
Kavin: I was about 36 at the time when I was asked to
Videotape the testimonies of the riot survivors.
Many of these senior citizens were at the age of five, six,
19 years of age at the time,
Going back in time to tell of ill fated days of greenwood 1921.
Ernestine: I was studying my lesson for exam for the next day
At booker washington high school.
When somebody banged on that door,
My mother had gone to bed.
Joe: Well, there was a lot of commotion around.
I remember and my mom was very excited about what was going
On, all the noise.
Dad just got in from work, he went back went to sleep and
She woke him up and said, "I don't think you ought to go to sleep.
There's too much going on."
Eldoris: And I was awakened by my mother,
I was real frightened because she had told me what was happening.
And I couldn't imagine that I just said to her,
I just got up and was real afraid.
And she says, we have to go out, get out.
I said, she says that white people are killing the colored people.
Veneice: Up on the standpipe hill they were shooting from
There and we were out in the backyard,
My father came and had us to come in because the bullets
Were falling out in the backyard.
George: All of us were in the house when we saw coming up
The wall, four men with torches in their hands,
Torches were burning.
When my mother saw them coming she said,
You get up under the bed.
While I was under the bed, one of the guys coming past the
Bed stepped on my finger.
And as I was about to scream, my sister put her hand over my
Mouth so I couldn't be heard.
They set our house on fire and went right straight to the
Curtains to set the curtains on fire.
Now I remember that.
And they came and asked my father and he used a
Provocative, unacceptable word, "n-word."
Woman: Uh-hmm.
Kinney: "do you have a gun?"
He said, "I don't have a gun."
But he said, "well, please don't set my house on fire."
Well, he knew that we were up in the attic, so he...
As soon as he left, they set our house on fire.
We were up in the attic, four children.
When we got down, telephone poles were burning and falling.
And my poor sister who was two years younger than I am said,
"ken is the world on fire?"
Said "I don't think so, but we in deep trouble."
John: We have eyewitnesses that describe being awakened
In the middle of the night by loud white men.
Being told to get out of their homes.
As they come down the stairs into their living rooms they
See their prized possessions being stolen,
Their piano, their furniture, the piggy banks from the
Children's savings.
Olivia: They came by the thousands and decided first
They would pillage and they just hauled the belongings of
The black population of tulsa away to use for their own use.
And they didn't leave anything valuable if they could find it.
The first batch of photos, by the way,
Are the postcards.
And you will notice these are literally postcards.
Deneen: Yes.
Marc: "little africa on fire, tulsa race riot, June 1st, 1921."
This photograph was actually taken from the roof of the hotel tulsa.
And over here, you can see standpipe hill.
And this is looking across northeast across the tracks.
That large batch right there is actually greenwood and archer on fire.
Deneen: So what was the purpose of them creating
Postcards of greenwood burning?
Marc: Souvenirs. Deneen: Souvenirs.
Marc: Souvenirs. The concept of doing souvenirs of things like lynchings,
In fact, what they used to do frequently is while a lynching
Was occurring, the photographer would go out,
Take a picture, run back to his lab,
Print off copies, go back out to the crowd and start selling them.
Deneen: This is so amazing to have this treasure trove of photographs and postcards.
Because as a historian, you know over time,
You've talked about how the story of an event can change.
Marc: Can change.
I try to work from the documents as closely as possible.
Because while the documents may not be initially any more
Accurate than an oral statement,
As a rule, the documents don't change.
Photographs are even better.
The trick with photographs is learning how to read the photograph.
And again, there are lots of pictures of mount zion burning.
Deneen: Oh, that's mount zion church burning.
So were, were there, um, I know that black world war I
Veterans actively put up a resistance to defend greenwood.
Were they inside mount zion, inside the...
Marc: According to the caption.
Deneen: Right. Marc: Yes, they were.
The notation on it claims that they were storing ammunition there.
I'm not sure that's ever actually been proven one way or the other.
Jobie: They got in the basement of mount zion church.
And as the whites would
Come off of archer street,
Coming up elgin and like that they would shoot
And they killed quite a few white people.
Regina: There are stories of people being in the basements
Of churches and having little cubby holes where they would
Shoot through and be able to defend themselves to the
Degree that they could.
Kavin: Gun shops were invaded by the white mob who went and
Get guns, and that's when the skirmish start to break out.
Many of the fights occur along the railroad tracks,
Which today, we regard as one of the dividing lines of north and south tulsa.
Robert: Men of that generation believed in honor and protecting your family.
And we put up a valiant effort considering the odds.
And we defended as best we could until they got the airplanes.
Eldoris: When we left our house,
I was so afraid because bullets were coming down
Around us, but the planes were up in the air shooting down.
And I could hear those bullets falling.
And all of a sudden, when we got to the track,
I went over the track and there were a lot of people
Running, dodging the bullets.
Regina: I remember hearing the stories of when people were
Trying to flee, when the onslaught of the bullets
Raining down on houses and folks knew either they were
Either going to be possibly shot to death or they be
Burned alive inside their homes.
They had to decide, "am I going to stay in the home and we're going to burn up?"
Right?
"or do we take our chances and run out and possibly get shot to death?"
John: My grandfather describes the scene in an eyewitness
Account that he has written.
"from my office window, I could see planes circling in midair.
They grew in number and hummed and darted and dipped low.
I could hear something like hail falling upon the top of my office building.
Down east archer, I saw the old midway hotel on fire, burning from its top.
Smoke ascended the sky in thick black volumes and emitted oil.
The planes, now a dozen or more in number,
Still hummed and darted here and there with the agility of
Natural birds of the air.
I came out of my office and locked the door and descended
To the foot of the steps.
The sidewalks were literally covered with burning turpentine bombs.
I knew all too well where they came from,
And I knew all too well why every burning building first
Caught from the top."
Many people indeed deny that tulsa was bombed from the air.
The eyewitness accounts, not just from my grandfather,
But from other people of airplanes bombing the
Community are proof enough for me.
Olivia: My mother took me to the window and had me peer
Through the blinds, and she pointed up on the top of the hill.
She said, "you see that thing up there?
That's a machine gun.
See the american flag on top of it?
That means your country is shooting at you."
♪ ♪
Deneen: In tulsa, martial law is eventually declared,
The national guard is called in,
And trucks drove through the streets of tulsa,
Picking up all the black men, women,
And children they could find.
Kavin: Many of the black folks were rounded up and placed in
Internment camps around the city;
Convention hall, mcnulty park, the fairgrounds,
All of these areas was used to house black folks.
Joe: It wasn't long before they had another truck with
Some soldiers in it that came and picked us up,
Put us all in the truck, took it down to the convention center.
We didn't see dad anymore for a couple of days.
They had taken him out to this mcnulty park.
That's where they took him.
John: My grandfather is interned in the convention hall for several days.
Many other people, african-american men,
Women and children, are interned in the ballparks
And other areas where the african-american community
Can be sequestered while the rest of the city decides
What to do with this community that they had destroyed.
Ernestine: That night, we slept in the fairground
And the next morning, this young man came up to my mother.
I remember him coming up.
He had a gun and he asked my mother,
"would you keep my gun while I go with them to help bury the dead?"
Well, you know, when he came back,
We didn't even ask him about that.
We should have just asked him, but we didn't.
Deneen: So while people were being held in these camps,
Bodies of black people were being taken off the streets and buried.
We don't know how many people died in the tulsa race massacre,
But historians say as many as 300 black people were killed.
An oral history tells us that black people were buried
Somewhere in tulsa in mass graves.
These sites included the canes,
Which is near the arkansas river,
The old booker t washington cemetery and oaklawn,
Which is a public cemetery in tulsa.
Clyde: My cousin and I were going over to visit my aunt
And we walked past the cemetery.
We looked around and we saw about six or eight men digging this big hole.
And scattered around in the area was a large number,
Maybe six or so, big wooden crates,
Like you ship oil field equipment in.
And we were curious.
You know how kids are.
So we walked back and went in the gate and walked down to
Where these boxes were and opened the lid on one and
There were three bodies in this one.
And we went over to the second one and there's four or five
Bodies in that one.
It was a huge crate.
I started over looking at the next crate and the man came up
And said, "you boys get out of here. You have no business in here."
Reporter (over tv): Happening today in just a few hours,
Crews will once again search oaklawn cemetery for 1921 tulsa race massacre victims.
Back in July, they searched the cemetery,
But did not find any human remains.
Deneen: The headlines in July of 2020 were scientists in
Tulsa find no human remains in the search for mass graves.
And I kept saying to editors,
"look, people only read the headlines these days.
That's not the story.
The story is that tulsa is really expanding its search."
I know as a reporter from talking to people that that
Was only the tip of the iceberg,
That they were going to be looking in other places
In the city and also other areas of oaklawn cemetery.
Phoebe: Good afternoon, everyone.
We will begin excavating some much more discrete sites.
I'm very hopeful that we'll at least find these individuals
That are just hidden in an otherwise well-organized cemetery.
Deneen: It's a cold morning on October 19,
And we are watching.
We're watching the movements of the scientists.
We're peering over the fence to look for any reaction and emotion in their faces.
Now, I know that the state archeologist had told
Reporters previously that the minute the team encounters
Human remains, they would put up a tarp because it is
Forbidden to photograph the dead.
And I was there when we were looking over the fence,
We saw a frenzy of activity among the scientists on the other side of the fence.
We see them put up a tarp.
We see one of them examine something in her hands.
They're pointing to the dirt, they're pointing to the dirt.
And I know, I was like, "they have found something."
The earth had unleashed the truth in that moment.
Kary: Thank you all for being here this afternoon.
So today I'm here to report an update.
At this point in time, I can confirm that we have
Identified the outlines of at least ten coffins based
On the backhoe excavation work that we did.
This constitutes a mass grave.
Kavin: Being a part of the oversight committee and
Working with the research scientists inside the grave
Was very sobering.
I noticed that you can see the outlines of the coffins.
They were like two by two, and then they were lined up like dominoes.
Phoebe: But as the trench went west,
We found another coffin and another and another coffin
Right after each other in the same burial moment.
So for dimension wise, there could be as many
As 30 individuals in there.
And so those are the signatures of a mass grave.
G.T.: This is emotional, to be there in that cemetery,
In this space that until that day,
Everyone, when they would drive by,
Would think was just a field.
And yet under that earth, all these years,
There've been these graves.
Deneen: It was like they had found people who had been
Disappeared by history.
It wasn't a movie.
You know, it wasn't a chapter in a book.
It happened to real people.
Kavin: It wasn't until I got to my car and started
The engine and about to leave then it hit me with this overwhelming,
I'm remembering screaming out,
"we found them, we finally found them.
Thank god we found them."
James: Some people will say that right back here is a burial site.
They say maybe it could be hundreds of bodies buried over there.
Deneen: Why do you think they would bury black people here in unmarked graves?
Lenora: Because, the things that they were doing was not out in the open.
So, it's just like any other murdering event.
If somebody knew something, they want to dispose of that body as quickly as possible.
So, they just did what they were doing and just dumped
Them into graves, is what we were told.
James: We put a tree out there.
Somebody came and chopped it down.
So now, we're going to put a marker out there.
Lenora: We're treading on bloody soil,
And you're talking about entitlement?
If reparations is really a word and it has a definition,
I think, elaine, we have the poorest people
Treading on the richest soil.
It's just a lot of horrible things have happened
In this town and in subjacent towns.
James: You see all this cotton rolled up in these fields?
And, there's millions and millions of dollars,
But black people don't own none of that.
I worked all my life and I can't even buy me a new vehicle.
You know, it wasn't because I wasn't working.
You know, you just, you, the system here is designed against black folks.
Lenora: Uh-hmm.
Lisa: Black people have been working,
Busting their butts, trying to be independent,
Trying to build wealth for their families,
And I think about all these communities and all of our
Ancestors and what they were working to do from
Reconstruction until now, and it seems like every time they
Were doing just what people say they weren't doing,
They came in and they burnt it down!
They set it on fire.
Time and time and time again!
Ernestine: When we came through greenwood,
There was not a building standing.
Eldoris: It was just the sound of this bricks,
Stones, buildings blowing up.
You just, war-torn place.
♪ ♪
John: What happens after may 31st, June 1st,
Is that you have a decimated community.
Many people flee the city and never return.
And, those who try to stay and rebuild are forced to gather
The bricks and remnants of what were their homes,
And try to rebuild on the land that they had.
And, the insurance companies refused to honor the insurance
Policies that people have taken out on their homes and businesses.
Regina: My great grandmother, she listed the dishes,
The property, the homes, things there were items in the
Home that were due, these things that we work for, right?
And someone needs to make restitution.
Of course, she was rejected outright in the court system.
Kavin: My great-grandfather wasn't able to rebuild because
All of the monies were no longer there.
He attempted to sell the family land in order to
Reopen, but lost the home and the business after many attempts.
And, he would leave the state of oklahoma,
Never to return, and died angry.
Robert: Black people, armed with their faith and ambition
Built the most prosperous place,
Not just for black people,
But for any people in this country.
And, what did this racist, white community
Of tulsa do in response?
They burned it to the ground.
So, every Wednesday I go to city hall,
And I tell them about the people that were killed,
And I tell them about the homes that were bombed and
Burned, and the people that were looted,
And the bodies that were dumped in the mass graves.
I tell them that, and I call out the city of tulsa.
This city of tulsa
Has never paid reparations
To those that they killed!
This city and her law enforcement officer.
The district attorney has never filed charges on those
Who committed acts of mass terror!
Black lives have never mattered in this city!
Black lives have never mattered in this country!
Deneen: Black activists on the ground now are agitating that
The city do all it can to search for the mass graves
And also pay reparations for what was lost
In the 1921 tulsa race massacre, and they hold the powerful in tulsa accountable.
They hold their feet to the fire.
G.T.: A lot of folks want to leap ahead and talk about reparations.
I really want us, before we get to that discussion,
To just try and find these folks.
And so, I would like us to do that before we move on to,
You know, what that justice may look like.
Robert: At first, he said it was divisive.
Now he's pivoting toward, it's not time to talk about it yet,
And I'm like, "if that's your answer, when is the time?"
I mean, I know we were doing excavations,
But it's not like we don't know folk were killed.
And these reparations was good enough for the
Japanese-americans after being placed in internment camps.
And I agree, they should have got reparations.
But, if they can get reparations, why not african-americans?
G.T.: The challenge I run into is that reparations means
Different things for different people.
And so, for some people, it is a cash payment from the city.
And, I don't support that because I don't think that tulsans,
In 2020, should be financially penalized for
Something that happened a century ago.
But, reparations for other people mean making sure that
We're doing things today that address historic systemic
Challenges and racial disparities that still pervade in our city.
Robert: Where is your bravery?
Our reparations?
Where is your bravery?
Our doing right?
Deneen: How long do you wait?
How long do you wait for justice?
And, black people have grown impatient waiting for justice and reparations.
It's part of that cry for justice,
Because there was economic loss.
The economic loss was devastating.
It was loss of generational wealth.
And there's also generational pain.
Robert: We will continue to March for truth!
March for justice!
No justice, no peace!
Reparations!
Not tomorrow, but we demand reparations now!
Lisa: A lot of people say "reparations."
I use "restorative justice."
We need to start with acknowledging what has happened.
And, restorative justice, is a, you know,
To me includes reconciliation and healing.
Lenora: I'm here to focus on land loss.
Lisa: And there's been committees and commissions
And a lot of things that have happened,
But there hasn't been a healing in the community of elaine.
Joann: Share with us just the name of one person
Who you believe has been impacted greatly,
Who did not die, but they clearly represent,
In your view, somebody who's walking, but dead.
James: My auntie just passed on, maybe a month ago.
After 1919, she went to mississippi.
Joann: Yeah. James: And she never came back.
Wendell: Would you call your aunt's name?
Because it is important that the names of those who have
Lived, died, and been affected be called.
Joann: I know. That's right.
Wendell: Would you call her name, please?
James: Dorothy jones. Joann: Appreciate it.
Wendell: Thank you. Joann: We call her name.
Wendell: We call her name, dorothy jones. Joann: Praise god! Thank you.
Lenora: A few years ago, I believe it was 2012, we held a ceremony,
And we came to this very spot,
And we just prayed that the land would be healed.
We thank you, dear master, for your amazing grace.
We thank you for these who are here,
Dear god, to help this story be told.
We ask that you would be with us and give us wisdom and knowledge.
And, we say thank you, and we're forever grateful.
In jesus' mighty name. Amen.
James: Amen. Lenora: Amen. Deneen: Amen.
And people are starting to really look at elaine,
But we have no idea to this day what really happened or
The exact number of people who were killed.
During the red summer, if the white community was
Controlling the situation, once the violence was over,
The impulse of every community was just, "how did that happen?
We're better than that," and that was the end of it,
But that was not the case in chicago.
John: In chicago, a hapless black man swims by accident
Into the white swimming space on lake michigan.
There's a confrontation that the young black man ends up dying.
That leads to a riot where many people are killed in chicago.
Cameron: This enormous, vital, important economic hub of the
United states was in chaos for a week.
Because the african-american community had grown to the
Point where it was not only an important economic component
Of the city, but also political because black people
Could vote and their vote was critical in mayor's getting elected.
So the city of chicago, they did a very,
Very detailed study of the riot.
Who was injured? What race they were?
Where a lot of these incidents occurred?
It's very specific.
Deneen: "the negro in chicago: A study of race relations and a race riot.
The commission presents for the consideration and action
Of state and local authorities
The following recommendations and suggestions.
That all reports and complaints of neglect of duty
Or participation and rioting by police,
Deputy sheriffs or militia be promptly investigated and
The offenders properly punished."
♪ in the morning ♪
♪ feet to the earth ♪♪
Deneen: "that the newspapers generally apply the same standards of
Accuracy, fairness and sense of proportion and publishing
News about negroes as about whites."
♪ cold pavement pressed ♪
"we urge all citizens, white and negro,
Vigorously to oppose all propaganda of malicious or
Selfish origin, which would tend to excite race prejudice."
♪ who have you been? ♪
Deneen: What immediately stands out for me is they're calling
For the end of racial prejudice, and this is 1919,
And these are still issues that we're dealing with
100 years later.
♪ what can you do? ♪
Cameron: We think that we're so evolved and we're better
Than the people in 1919, we're better than our earlier
Generations, but the ghosts of the problems that they were
Facing are haunting us still, and we need to wrestle with
Those things because it makes us a better country if we
Incorporate the truth into what happened.
Regina: It says, "place a headstone at this site of your victory,"
And it's talking about we've got to have that enduring spirit.
We've got to know that beyond death,
There is a destiny that we're still pursuing.
And so what it means is that we cannot let our ancestors down.
♪ in the morning ♪
♪ feet to the earth ♪
♪ we're transforming ♪
♪ a little rebirth ♪♪
Deneen: I still have hope that the stories that are untold will be told.
I still have hope the country will give black people
The justice and the black ancestors justice that they
Have been demanding for so many years.
Celillianne: I cry for my people.
I shed the tear that they maybe could not shed,
And at the same time, I recognize that in telling
The story of what happened to us, we can understand what it is that we have come through.
So this idea that we will make america what it was, no, no, no.
We will make america what she should be.
That's where we are now.
Captioned by cotter media group.