African American Literature
November 4, 2015
The Legacy of the Tulsa Race Riot
Greenwood, Tulsa Oklahoma, “Black Wall Street”

In the early 20th century Greenwood, a neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the most affluent and successful African American communities in the United States. The oil booms of the early 1900’s had many people moving to Tulsa for a chance at quick economic gains and African Americans hoped to prosper from the new industry as well. Tulsa, like many cities and towns throughout the US, was highly segregated, with African Americans settling into the northern areas of the city. The racial split gave African Americans the ability and motivation to make Greenwood a black entrepreneurial mecca. By 1920 black owned businesses were spread over a mile long. They included grocery stores, restaurants, and medical and law offices. The community also developed two daily newspapers. Greenwood Oklahoma’s success gave the town the popularly known name of “Black Wall Street”(Johnson). The hostile racism and success of the community lead the white people in Tulsa to develop spite and jealousy. These harsh feelings lead to one of the most damaging riots in history, killing over three hundred Oklahoma citizens and leaving over nine thousand homeless. The Indian Appropriations Bill was passed and signed into law in 1889, which authorized President Benjamin Harrison to open unassigned lands to white settlers. The passing of the bill lead to The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. On the afternoon of April 22, 1889 an estimated fifty thousand people lined up for a piece of the two million acres of Oklahoma land that was open for settlement. A young African American entrepreneur from Arkansas named O. W. Gurley resigned a presidential appointment from Benjamin Harrison in order to participate in the Oklahoma Land Rush and innovate on his own. By 1906 Gurley moved to