IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1038 

Recognizing the forthcoming centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 1, 2020 

Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma, Mr. 

LEWIS, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. CARSON

of Indiana, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. SEWELL of 

Alabama, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. RUSH, Ms. 

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. CLAY, Ms. MOORE, Mr. WELCH, 

Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. HAYES, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, 

Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. 

EVANS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. 

GREEN of Texas, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, 

Mr. RICHMOND, Mrs. FLETCHER, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 

NADLER, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. 

LYNCH, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Ms. 

SHERRILL, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mrs. LURIA, Ms. PORTER, Mr. 

CICILLINE, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. OMAR, Ms. SPANBERGER, 

Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. MENG, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, Mr. GOMEZ, 

Ms. PLASKETT, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. ALLRED, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. TRONE, 

Ms. LOFGREN, and Ms. GARCIA of Texas) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the forthcoming centennial of the 1921 Tulsa 

Race Massacre. 


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Whereas, in the early 20th century, de jure segregation confined Tulsa’s Black residents into the ‘‘Greenwood District’’, which they built into a thriving community with 

a nationally renowned entrepreneurial center known as 

the ‘‘Black Wall Street’’; 

Whereas, at the time, White supremacy and racist violence 

were common throughout the United States and went 

largely unchecked by the justice system; 

Whereas reports of an alleged and disputed incident on the 

morning of May 30, 1921, between two teenagers, a 

Black man and a White woman, caused the White community of Tulsa, including the Tulsa Tribune, to call for 

a lynching amidst a climate of White racial hostility and 

White resentment over Black economic success; 

Whereas, on May 31, 1921, a mob of armed White men descended upon Tulsa’s Greenwood District and launched 

what is now known as the ‘‘Tulsa Race Massacre’’; 

Whereas Tulsa municipal and county authorities failed to 

take actions to calm or contain the violence, and civil and 

law enforcement officials deputized many White men who 

were participants in the violence as their agents, directly 

contributing to the violence through overt and often illegal acts; 

Whereas, over a period of 24 hours, the White mob’s violence 

led to the death of an estimated 300 Black residents, as 

well as over 800 reports of injuries; 

Whereas the White mob looted, damaged, burned, or otherwise destroyed approximately 40 square blocks of the 

Greenwood district, including an estimated 1,256 homes 

of Black residents, as well as virtually every other structure, including churches, schools, businesses, a hospital, 


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and a library, leaving nearly 9,000 Black Tulsans homeless and effectively wiping out tens of millions of dollars 

in Black prosperity and wealth in Tulsa; 

Whereas, in the wake of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Governor of Oklahoma declared martial law, and units of the 

Oklahoma National Guard participated in the mass arrests of all or nearly all of Greenwood’s surviving residents, removing them from Greenwood to other parts of 

Tulsa and unlawfully detaining them in holding centers; 

Whereas Oklahoma local and State governments dismissed 

claims arising from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre for 

decades, and the event was effectively erased from collective memory and history until, in 1997, the Oklahoma 

State Legislature finally created a commission to study 

the event; 

Whereas, on February 28, 2001, the commission issued a report that detailed, for the first time, the extent of the 

Massacre and decades-long efforts to suppress its recollection; 

Whereas none of the law enforcement officials nor any of the 

hundreds of other White mob members who participated 

in the violence were ever prosecuted or held accountable 

for the hundreds of lives lost and tens of millions of dollars of Black wealth destroyed, despite the Tulsa Race 

Massacre Commission confirming their roles in the Massacre, nor was any compensation ever provided to the 

Massacre’s victims or their descendants; 

Whereas government and city officials not only abdicated 

their responsibility to rebuild and repair the Greenwood 

community in the wake of the violence, but actively 

blocked efforts to do so, contributing to continued racial 


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disparities in Tulsa akin to those that Black people face 

across the United States; 

Whereas the pattern of violence against Black people in the 

United States, often at the hands of law enforcement, 

shows that the fight to end State-sanctioned violence 

against Black people continues; and 

Whereas the year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the 

Tulsa Race Massacre: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the forthcoming centennial of the 

3 Tulsa Race Massacre; 

4 (2) acknowledges the historical significance of 

5 this event as one of the largest single instances of 

6 State-sanctioned violence against Black people in 

7 American history; 

8 (3) honors the lives and legacies of the esti9 mated 300 Black individuals who were killed during 

10 the Massacre and the nearly 9,000 Black individuals 

11 who were left homeless and penniless; 

12 (4) condemns the participants of the Tulsa 

13 Race Massacre, including White municipal officials 

14 and law enforcement who directly participated in or 

15 who aided and abetted the unlawful violence; 

16 (5) condemns past and present efforts to cover 

17 up the truth and shield the White community, and 

18 especially State and local officials, from accountVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jul 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1038.IH HR1038

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1 ability for the Tulsa Race Massacre and other in2 stances of violence at the hands of law enforcement; 

3 (6) condemns the continued legacy of racism, 

4 including systemic racism, and White supremacy 

5 against Black people in the United States, particu6 larly in the form of police brutality; 

7 (7) encourages education about the Tulsa Race 

8 Massacre, including the horrors of the massacre 

9 itself, the history of White supremacy that fueled the 

10 massacre, and subsequent attempts to deny or cover 

11 up the Massacre, in all elementary and secondary 

12 education settings and in institutions of higher edu13 cation in the United States; and 

14 (8) recognizes the commitment of Congress to 

15 acknowledge and learn from the history of racism 

16 and racial violence in the United States, including 

17 the Tulsa Race Massacre, to reverse the legacy of 

18 White supremacy and fight for racial justice. 

Æ 


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