J.B. Bates, 2004
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Turner, Reginald
setName: label: See more items in
content: Guide to 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Oral History Collection
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAAHC.A2014.240, Series 8
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: J.B. Bates was born on June 13, 1916 in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the Greenwood District. After the Race Massacre, Bate's father and uncles were taken to a detention center. Bates' mother took J.B. and his sister and hid in the chicken house. Bates' grandfather was murdered during the riot.  Their possessions were destroyed but his house remained standing. They lived with relatives until they were able to return two-weeks later. Bates would later become a Tulsa Public School custodian. He served as a plaintiff in the court case, Alexander, et al., v. Oklahoma, et al. in 2003. Bates died in 2008 in Tulsa.