The story of “Black Wall Street”
The destruction of Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ranks as one of the darkest days in racial history in America, as angry mobs of white people stormed the illustrious city, once dubbed “Black Wall Street,” burning it to the ground.
Above this tumult, which spanned May 31 to June 1 in 1921, a story of faith based on the prayer for justice by the mother of one of the survivors, Viola Ford Fletcher, is still speaking today.
Born May 10, 1914, Viola Fletcher turns 111 years old this year. Her life has been a testimony of God’s faithfulness and the power of prevailing prayer, even amidst the glaring injustice that occurred in her community when she was still a child.
EARLY HISTORY
The district of Greenwood in Tulsa was directly connected to the land given to freed men by their former Native American masters. The land, considered unsuitable for agriculture, was later found to contain petroleum oil, which led to the Oklahoma oil boom. Generating much of Greenwood’s “Black” wealth, it gave rise to some prominent Black people like Sarah Rector, a Muskogee Creek coloured girl, considered to be one of the richest young Black women of those times, as well as O.W. Gurley, who bought 40 acres of land in the Tulsa region and began building out a community he called Greenwood.
Greenwood was seen as the ideal place for Blacks to gather, build businesses, and eke out other opportunities that were not possible under the Jim Crow segregation laws that were in place. Soon a flourishing city, it became a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity, with Black entrepreneurs lending money and assisting new business owners to establish themselves.
Several noteworthy enterprises emerged, including:
- the Stradford Hotel, a 54-suite luxury establishment that was the largest Black-owned hotel in the US at the time;
- Dreamland Theatre, the state’s first Black entertainment venue;
- First Black airline service in the USA, run by pilot Paul Berry.
So thriving was the community that it was estimated that the “Black dollar” circulated within Greenwood more than thirty times before ‘migrating.’ It was, therefore, easy to see the level of interconnectedness within the economy, which led noted author and orator Booker T. Washington to give Greenwood the name “Black Wall Street.”
THE RIOT
The very laws that had led to the separation of the Black and White communities were now working to develop and propel the growth of the Greenwood community. Jealousy soon raged, and accusations levied against a Black man that he had assaulted a white woman led to a race riot that saw a mob of White people descend on Greenwood.
Survivors Lessie Benningfield Randle, Viola Fletcher (centre), and Hughes Van Ellis sing together at the conclusion of a rally during commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre on June 1, 2021, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Over the span of two days, the mob burnt, looted, and destroyed the city, killing some 300 persons and injuring over 800. What had taken some 15 years to build was made uninhabitable in a few hours, leaving approximately US$100 million in damages (based on today’s estimates) and dislocating some 10,000 persons.
A MOTHER’S PRAYER AND THE COURT CASE
Viola Ford Fletcher was just a 7-year-old girl in the midst of what came to be known as the “Tulsa Race Massacre.” She saw all the atrocities visited upon the community and often heard her mother praying as they worked in open cotton fields after the attack.
In her biography, Don’t Let Them Bury My Story, Fletcher vividly recounts that her mother would ask God over and over that “I [Viola] would live to be old enough to see justice for myself and all those who were victims of the massacre.”
She came to realise years later that the words her mother had spoken into the atmosphere, in effect, meant that her daughter, Viola, would live long enough to find justice.
In 2020, Fletcher and the only other survivors of the massacre (Lessie Benningfield Randle and Hughes Van Ellis—her brother) initiated legal action in the US Supreme Court against the state of Oklahoma for the wrongs suffered by the Greenwood community.
As a result, in May 2021, Fletcher testified before the 117th Congress, which subsequently recognised the riot as “one of the largest single instances of state-sanctioned violence against Black people in American history.”
That same year, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, President Joe Biden visited Fletcher at her home, and the three survivors were invited to Ghana where they were regaled by the president, His Excellency Nana Akufo Addo.
Still, all attention remained fixed on the case. Unfortunately, Fletcher’s brother passed away in October 2023, at 102 years old, leaving his sister and Lessie Benningfield Randle (born Nov. 10, 1914) to carry on the charge. Both appeared before the Oklahoma Supreme Court in April 2024 to press their claim for reparative justice, but the matter was dismissed on the grounds that although “the grievances were legitimate, they did not fall within the scope of the state’s public nuisance statute.”
NEVER DEFEATED
However, Fletcher’s legal team, led by Damario Solomon-Simmons, unveiled on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, Project Greenwood, an ambitious scheme to restore the city’s Greenwood district and compensate the victims of the massacre and their descendants. Solomon-Simmons disclosed that the design work had started years ago.
The concept is meant to achieve several objectives, including the removal of the stigma brought on Tulsa by the massacre; promoting healing and reconciliation; building a trauma centre; supporting surviving businesses; and providing reparations to the victims with primary focus on the two remaining survivors—Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Ford Fletcher.
Project Greenwood has also garnered attention from Mayor Monroe Nichols, Tulsa’s first Black mayor, who is aiming to implement significant elements of the plan in partnership with other stakeholders.
It is still in the early days of the planned project, but various options are being explored, including private partnerships, to finance its realisation. If successful, this model could be replicated in other parts of the USA that were affected in a similar fashion to Greenwood.
Even before Project Greenwood was unveiled, another milestone was struck by the efforts of Black Wall Street’s survivors and supporters. The Justice Department provided its first comprehensive report of the massacre, which it described as “a coordinated, military-style attack” on the citizenry of the town. A feat only the many hands of prayer over the years could have accomplished!!
MY GOD IS POWERFUL
The issues surrounding this matter are indeed heartrending, but one can take hope in the faith of a praying mother and in the words of Mrs. Fletcher herself:
“My God is a powerful God, and I know the injustices that my people and I have suffered in this nation will one day be atoned for.”
Knowing that the prayers of the righteous avail much, may we remain steadfast in supplication for those who are facing righteous oppression across the world, believing, like the mother of Viola Ford Fletcher, that our faithful God will award justice in due season, in order to bring glory to His name.
Sources: www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/tulsa-race-massacre-restitution-oklahoma/ www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/tulsa-massacre-reparations.html/ www.san.com/cc/nonprofit-renews-push-to-restore-neighborhood-after-tulsa-race-massacre/
Gordon M. Swaby is an engineer by profession and a Kingdom visionary