H. Res. 398 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
May 18, 2021. 
Whereas, in the early 20th century, de jure segregation con-
fined Tulsa’s Black residents into the ‘‘Greenwood Dis-
trict’’, 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 com-
munity 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 de-
scended 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
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contributing to the violence through overt and often ille-
gal 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 other-
wise destroyed approximately 40 square blocks of the 
Greenwood district, including an estimated 1,256 homes 
of Black residents, as well as virtually every other struc-
ture, including churches, schools, businesses, a hospital, 
and a library, leaving nearly 9,000 Black Tulsans home-
less 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 Gov-
ernor of Oklahoma declared martial law, and units of the 
Oklahoma National Guard participated in the mass ar-
rests of all or nearly all of Greenwood’s surviving resi-
dents, 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 collec-
tive 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 re-
port that detailed, for the first time, the extent of the 
Massacre and decades-long efforts to suppress its recol-
lection; 
Whereas none of the law enforcement officials nor any of the 
hundreds of other White mob members who participated
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in the violence were ever prosecuted or held accountable 
for the hundreds of lives lost and tens of millions of dol-
lars of Black wealth destroyed, despite the Tulsa Race 
Massacre Commission confirming their roles in the Mas-
sacre, 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 
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 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Represent-
atives that the United States can achieve a more perfect 
union— 
(1) by condemning the violence and destruction per-
petrated against the African-American community of 
Greenwood, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the scene of the then- 
largest single instance of domestic terror against Amer-
ican citizens; 
(2) through the rejection and active opposition to 
the false ideology of White supremacy and condemnation 
of all groups and organizations that ascribe to this false
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system of belief and seek to perpetuate their views 
through violence and unlawful conduct; 
(3) by promoting tolerance and unity and taking ac-
tions to ensure that governmental policies and actions do 
not foster division, disharmony, or intolerance; 
(4) by calling upon all Americans to celebrate the 
ethnic, racial, and religious diversity that has made the 
United States the leader of the community of nations 
and the beacon of hope and inspiration to oppressed per-
sons everywhere; 
(5) encouraging all persons in the United States to 
reflect upon the history of the United States as an im-
perfect but committed journey to establish a more per-
fect union and to cherish and exercise the rights, privi-
leges, and responsibilities guaranteed by the Constitu-
tion; and 
(6) recognizes the commitment of Congress to ac-
knowledge and learn from the history of racism and ra-
cial violence in the United States, including the Tulsa 
Race Massacre, to reverse the legacy of White suprem-
acy and fight for racial justice. 
Attest: 
Clerk.