IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 435 
Recognizing the 100th Anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2021 
Mr. HERN (for himself, Mr. COLE, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. MULLIN, and Mrs. BICE 
of Oklahoma) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on 
Education and Labor, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the 100th Anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race 
Massacre. 
Whereas, in the early 1900s, many Black individuals and 
families settled throughout Oklahoma, setting up vibrant 
communities and dozens of all-Black towns. These indi-
viduals came looking for new opportunities, freedom, and 
a chance for a better life; 
Whereas the most famous and prosperous of these Black 
communities was in Tulsa’s Greenwood District; 
Whereas O.W. Gurley, a wealthy Black business owner, 
moved to Tulsa in 1906 and purchased tracts of land 
sold primarily to Black individuals and families. The land 
stretched from Pine Street to the north, to Archer Street 
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on the south, and Detroit Avenue on the west, and the 
Midland Valley rail line on the east; 
Whereas segregation and the inaccessibility of resources led 
O.W. Gurley and others to open a variety of commercial 
establishments, including rooming houses, grocery stores, 
barber shops, beauty salons, restaurants, clothiers, phar-
macies, movie theaters, dance halls, pool halls, confection-
eries, jitney services, and professional offices (such as for 
doctors, lawyers, dentists, and accountants); 
Whereas the Greenwood District became a thriving commu-
nity where Black business owners, schools, and churches 
flourished, and, by the late 1910s, it was the wealthiest 
Black community in the United States; 
Whereas churches such as Vernon African Methodist Epis-
copal Church, Zion Baptist Church, First Baptist Church 
North Tulsa, Paradise Baptist Church, Metropolitan 
Baptist Church, and others became central to the family 
life and culture of the Greenwood District; 
Whereas the Greenwood District became home to prominent 
professionals such as Dr. A.C. Jackson, who was known 
as the most skilled Black surgeon in the United States, 
and prominent attorney B.C. Franklin; 
Whereas Ellis Walker Woods, who walked over 500 miles 
from Memphis to Oklahoma, answered the call for Afri-
can-American teachers and became the first principal of 
Booker T. Washington High School; 
Whereas, by 1921, the community was home to thousands of 
Black residents who lived and worked in the most pros-
perous Black community in the United States; 
Whereas the community earned the name ‘‘Negro Wall Street 
of America’’ (later, simply known as the ‘‘Black Wall 
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Street’’) from the famed African-American author and 
educator, Booker T. Washington; 
Whereas, as the opportunities for Black families grew, the 
community began to attract more Black families, busi-
ness owners, well-educated professionals, and individuals 
fleeing racial oppression and discrimination in other 
States; 
Whereas the town of Tullahassee, Oklahoma, founded in 
1883, is regarded as one of the oldest surviving histori-
cally Black towns of Indian Territory; 
Whereas the area where Tullahassee was founded was origi-
nally part of the Creek Nation and the town had an es-
tablished school by 1850; 
Whereas the town of Langston, Oklahoma, was founded in 
1890 and named after John Mercer Langston, an Afri-
can-American educator and Member of the House of 
Representatives from Virginia; 
Whereas, 7 years later, the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature 
established the Colored Agricultural and Normal Univer-
sity (referred to in this preamble as ‘‘CANU’’), which 
would later be renamed Langston University. The Uni-
versity has grown from 41 students in 1897 to over 
3,000 in 2021; 
Whereas prominent Oklahomans such as Melvin Tolson, Ada 
Lois Sipuel Fisher, Clara Luper, E. Melvin Porter, Fred-
erick Moon, Marques Haynes, Zelia Breaux, Isaac W. 
Young, Inman Page, and Zella Black Patterson resided 
in Langston or called the CANU home; 
Whereas the town of Tatums, Oklahoma, founded in 1895, 
was named after brothers Lee B. Tatum and Eldridge 
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‘‘Doc’’ Tatum, and found prosperity in 1929 when oil 
wells were drilled; 
Whereas Norman Studios filmed Black Gold, a silent film, in 
Tatums and enlisted the citizens of the town and Marshal 
L.B. Tatums to be featured in the movie; 
Whereas the town of Taft, Oklahoma, founded in 1902 on 
land allotted to Creek Freedman, changed its name from 
Twine to Taft to honor the then Secretary of War, later 
President, William Howard Taft; 
Whereas the town of Taft had a thriving business sector with 
3 general stores, a drugstore, a brickyard, a soda pop 
factory, 2 hotels, and a bank; 
Whereas the town of Grayson, Oklahoma, brimmed with 5 
general stores, 2 blacksmiths, 2 drug stores, a cotton gin, 
and a physician soon after it was founded in 1902. Origi-
nally known as Wildcat, the town changed its name in 
1909 to honor the Creek Chief George W. Grayson; 
Whereas the town of Boley, Oklahoma, established in 1903 
and named after J.B. Boley, a railroad official of the 
Fort Smith and Western Railway, grew to be one of the 
wealthiest and largest Black towns in Oklahoma; 
Whereas only 5 years after being founded, Booker T. Wash-
ington visited Boley and wrote about the prosperity he 
had witnessed; 
Whereas in 2021, Boley still carries on their standing tradi-
tion of a Black, community-based rodeo, now the oldest 
of its kind in the Nation; 
Whereas the town of Rentiesville, Oklahoma, founded in 
1903, was developed on 40 acres owned by William 
Rentie and Phoebe McIntosh; 
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Whereas John Hope Franklin, a prominent scholar of Afri-
can-American history, was born in Rentiesville in 1915; 
Whereas Franklin and his family later moved to Tulsa, where 
Franklin graduated from Booker T. Washington High 
School, survived the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, and 
went on to become one of Oklahoma’s most decorated 
historians; 
Whereas the town of Clearview, Oklahoma, founded in 1903 
along the tracks of the Fort Smith and Western Rail-
road, was widely known for their baseball team; 
Whereas in the summer, people from surrounding counties 
would come to watch the baseball team play, turning the 
railroad tracks into substitute bleachers; 
Whereas the town of Brooksville, Oklahoma, founded in 
1903, was originally named Sewell. The town was re-
named in 1912 to honor the first Black man in the area, 
A.R. Brooks; 
Whereas soon after the town of Brooksville was established, 
Rev. Jedson White founded the St. John’s Baptist 
Church; 
Whereas George W. McLaurin, who was the first Black grad-
uate at the University of Oklahoma, taught at the local 
school; 
Whereas the town of Red Bird, Oklahoma, founded in 1907 
along the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway, was built on 
land allotted to the Creek Nation; 
Whereas E.L. Barber was one of the original developers of 
the town of Red Bird, the first justice of the peace of the 
town, and an early mayor; 
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to June 1, 1921, in the Greenwood District of North 
Tulsa, Oklahoma; 
Whereas, on May 30, 1921, a young Black man named Dick 
Rowland was in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, and entered 
the Drexel Building to use the only bathroom in the area 
available to Black people; 
Whereas an incident occurred on the elevator between Dick 
Rowland and Sarah Paige, the elevator operator, and 
Sarah Paige screamed; 
Whereas after a police investigation, the next day Dick Row-
land was detained at the Tulsa Police Department for 
questioning before being moved to the Tulsa Courthouse 
for additional security; 
Whereas, on May 31, 1921, the Tulsa Tribune released a 
sensationalist story claiming that a young Black male 
had attacked a White girl; 
Whereas that story and long-simmering tensions in the city 
led to a large group of White individuals surrounding the 
courthouse to demand that Dick Rowland be released so 
that he could be lynched; 
Whereas a group of Black men traveled to the courthouse to 
help defend Dick Rowland from the angry mob; 
Whereas after a scuffle at the downtown Tulsa courthouse, 
White rioters pursued Black men to the Greenwood Dis-
trict and the violence escalated, with houses and busi-
nesses being looted and burned throughout the Green-
wood District; 
Whereas in less than 24 hours, 35 city blocks were destroyed 
by fires, and 6,000 African-American individuals were de-
tained; 
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Whereas out of the 23 churches that were located in the 
Greenwood area prior to the 1921 Massacre, only 13 
churches survived, and only 3 churches were able to be 
rebuilt after being destroyed: Paradise Baptist Church, 
Mount Zion Baptist Church, and Vernon AME Church; 
Whereas outside of the massacre area, 5 churches were able 
to rebuild after being destroyed; 
Whereas the Black citizens in Tulsa began rebuilding the 
Greenwood District immediately, with church services re-
suming the following Sunday; 
Whereas this new Black Wall Street reached an economic 
peak in the mid-1940s, then declined for many reasons 
that undermined the economic foundation of the commu-
nity; 
Whereas almost 100 years later, the residents and businesses 
in the Greenwood District carry on the legacy of resil-
ience and determination; 
Whereas Greenwood is home to thousands of individuals and 
families who make important contributions to their city 
and the United States; 
Whereas there are countless minority-owned businesses that 
drive the local economy; 
Whereas there is still much work to do to heal the community 
and ensure all people in Greenwood have the promise of 
a brighter tomorrow; and 
Whereas Greenwood is a community still scarred by the 1921 
Tulsa Race Massacre, but not defined by it: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
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(1) acknowledges that the 1921 Tulsa Race 
Massacre was the worst race massacre in the history 
of the United States; 
(2) recognizes that because of the worst race 
massacre in the history of the United States, several 
hundred Black residents of the Greenwood District 
were killed and thousands were made homeless over-
night, and the most prosperous Black community in 
the United States was decimated; 
(3) urges that the history of what happened in 
Tulsa over the course of those 2 days in 1921 be 
taught in the Nation’s schools in a factual and accu-
rate manner; 
(4) recognizes the important work of groups 
such as the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial 
Commission, the John Hope Franklin Center for 
Reconciliation, and others who work tirelessly to en-
sure that the story of the Greenwood District is ac-
curately told and remembered; 
(5) believes that while significant progress has 
been made in the 100 years since the 1921 Tulsa 
Race Massacre, there is still work to be done toward 
racial reconciliation, which can only be accomplished 
through open, respectful, and frank dialogue; 
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(6) encourages families of all races to invite 
families of different races to their homes to have dis-
cussions on race, with parents setting examples for 
their children on how to engage in a conversation 
that will build better understanding of, and respect 
for, people of different races; 
(7) believes that the significance of the 1921 
Tulsa Race Massacre and the complete history of 
the Greenwood District warrant the area’s place-
ment on the National Registry of Historical Places 
and urges the Department of the Interior to work 
with the community to accomplish this as soon as 
possible; 
(8) hopes that the 100th anniversary weekend 
is a moment for the country to look to Tulsa to see 
how racial relations have changed over the last 100 
years, to celebrate improvements, and to reflect upon 
the areas where more work is needed; 
(9) urges all Americans to continue seeking 
greater understanding, dialogue, and closer connec-
tions to people of different races; and 
(10) recognizes the need to help the remaining 
13 Black towns in Oklahoma to preserve their his-
toric legacy of political freedom and ensure their sto-
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ries are known to future generations of Oklahomans 
and Americans. 
Æ 
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