A child rescuer on June 1, 1921 — with Whites out to kill them, Blacks could rely on no one but each other. Black Wall Street, the name fittingly given to one of the most affluent all-Black communities in America, was bombed from the air and burned to the ground by mobs of envious Whites. In a period spanning fewer than 12 hours, a once thriving Black business district in northern Tulsa lay smoldering — a model community destroyed and a major African-American economic movement resoundingly defused. Among these were 21 churches, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores and two movie theaters, plus a hospital, a bank, a post office, libraries, schools, law offices, a half dozen private airplanes and even a bus system. As could have been expected, the impetus behind it all was the infamous Ku Klux Klan, working in consort with ranking city officials and many other sympathizers. It was the golden door of the Black community during the early 1900s, and it proved that African Americans could create a successful infrastructure. The dollar circulated 36 to 100 times, sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community. Now a dollar leaves the Black community in 15 minutes. As for resources, there were Ph. One doctor was Dr. Berry, who owned the bus system. These are Black-built, Black-owned buildings that were occupied by bustling Black businesses before envious whites rioted and destroyed them. It was a time when the entire state of Oklahoma had only two airports, yet six Blacks owned their own planes. It was a very fascinating community. The mainstay of the community was to educate every child. Nepotism was the one word they believed in. The main thoroughfare was Greenwood Avenue, and it was intersected by Archer and Pine Streets. From the first letters in each of those three names you get G. At the end of the day, June 1, 1921, this is what remained of Black Wall Street. Lost forever were over 600 successful businesses, including 21 churches, 21 restaurants, 30 grocery stores, two movie theaters, a hospital, a bank, a post office, libraries, schools, law offices, a half dozen private airplanes and a bus system. Black Wall Street was a prime example of the typical Black community in America that did business, but it was in an unusual location. You see, at the time, Oklahoma was set aside to be a Black and Indian state. There were over 28 Black townships there. The citizens of this proposed Indian and Black state chose a Black governor, a treasurer from Kansas named McDade. But the Ku Klux Klan said that if he assumed office that they would kill him within 48 hours. Here, the businesses that had been the economic engine of this most prosperous Black community in the U. A lot of Blacks owned farmland, and many of them had gone into the oil business. The community was so tight and wealthy because they traded dollars hand to hand and because they were dependent upon one another as a result of the Jim Crow laws. This was the type of scenario that was going on day to day on Black Wall Street. On Black Wall Street, a lot of global business was conducted. The community flourished from the early 1900s until June 1, 1921. Imagine walking out of your front door and seeing 1,500 homes being burned. It must have been amazing. Survivors we interviewed think that the whole thing was planned, because during the time that all of this was going on, White families with their children stood around the borders of their community and watched the massacre — the looting and everything — much in the same manner they would watch a lynching. They were caused by jealousy. Almost 1,500 homes were also destroyed in the 35 blocks that went up in flames and over 3,000 Black residents murdered by the Ku Klux Klan-led Tulsa Race Riot. A lot of White folks had come back from World War I and they were poor. When they looked over into the Black communities and realized that Black men who fought in the war had come home heroes, that helped trigger the destruction. It cost the Black community everything, and not a single dime of restitution — no insurance claims — has been awarded the victims to this day. We estimate 1,500 to 3,000 people were killed, and we know that a lot of them were buried in mass graves all around the city. Some were thrown into the river. As a matter of fact, at 21st Street and Yale Avenue, where there now stands a Sears parking lot, that corner used to be a coal mine. They threw a lot of the bodies into the shafts. A local newspaper had printed a fabricated story that Rowland tried to rape Page. In an editorial, the same newspaper said a hanging was planned for that night. As groups of both Blacks and Whites converged on the Tulsa Courthouse, a White man in the crowd confronted an armed Black man, a war veteran, who had joined with other Blacks to protect Rowland. Eddie Faye Gates, a member of the Tulsa Race Riot Commission, formed several years ago to determine exactly what happened, told CNN what happened next. The gun went off, the White man was dead, the riot was on. Today, only a single block of the original buildings remains standing in the area. Experts now estimate that at least 3,000 died. As fires set by white rioters raged, claiming all they held dear, Black men who fought back to protect their families, homes and businesses were arrested and killed. There were outnumbered 10 to one. Booker, then a teenager, hid with his family in their attic until the home was torched. The explosive devices may have been dynamite or Molotov cocktails — gasoline-filled bottles set afire and thrown as grenades. Only a single block remains of the 1,400 homes and businesses that made up the area known as Black Wall Street. Unmarked graves Many of the survivors mentioned bodies were stacked like cord wood, says Richard Warner of the Tulsa Historical Society. Survivors search the ruins of their homes for anything they can salvage. To this day, no insurance claims nor any restitution has been paid. In its search for the facts, the commission has literally been trying to dig up the truth. In an effort to determine how many, archeological experts used ground-piercing radar and other equipment to test the soil in a search for unmarked graves. The test picked up indications that hundreds of people have been buried in an area just outside the cemetery. It chronicles efforts in Oklahoma to gain reparations for the survivors. This story comes from the , which can be reached at. If we want our dollars to return, we must spend them within our own community. 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