Citation

Witten A, Brooks R, Fenner T. Leading Edge 2001; 20(6): 655-660.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, Society of Exploration Geophysicists)

DOI

10.1190/1.1439020

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

On 30 May 1921, a black man was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S., for allegedly attempting to rape a white woman in an elevator in a downtown building. Many days later, the woman recanted her original story; however, by this time events had spun out of control. When the arrest was revealed to the public in a May 31 newspaper article, an armed mob convened outside the jail intent on lynching the suspect. A lynching was prevented by the arrival of armed black World War I veterans. The rage of the mob was redirected, resulting in a night of violence. Red Cross records state that 1115 residences were destroyed and historical photos document total destruction of the Greenwood section (the focal point of Tulsa's black business community) of the city. The current estimate of deaths resulting from this event is approximately 300.

As a result of the chaos that followed these violent events, there was little effort to document casualties. In fact, it was not until the definitive study by Elsworth in 1982 that there was any significant historical documentation. Now, 80 years later, not a single body has been recovered. Rumors of mass graves persist, but several recent excavations have yielded nothing.

Language: en