46 Books in the “Tulsa Race Massacre Books” Category (collage)

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The Tulsa Race Massacre describes the complete destruction of the Black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma by the white citizens of Tulsa. The community would later be known as “Black Wall Street” due to it’s prosperity. The Massacre marks it’s 100th anniversary May 31 – June 1, 2021.

Only recently has any attempt been made to accurately report on this terrible crime. Indeed, one of the books below, published in 2002, Riot and Remembrance: The Tulsa Race War and Its Legacy uses the words “War” and “Riot” to describe what was actually a merciless and brutal massacre and plundering of a community.

WBUR (Boston’s NPR news station) interviewed the only survivor old enough to recall that horrific day, Olivia Hooker. On May 31, 1921, Hooker was six-years-old.

“It was a horrifying thing for a little girl who’s only six years old, trying to remember to keep quiet, so they wouldn’t know we were there.” —Olivia Hooker (February 12, 1915 – November 21, 2018)

Today there are three remaining survivors, including Lessie E. Benningfield Randle, who is known to friends and family as, “Mother Randel.” The community based organization, Justice for Greenwood, is passing a petition, Stand with Justice for Greenwood!, in which they assert:

“Tulsa’s government has repeatedly denied reparations to the descendants and survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Now, for the 100th anniversary, the mayor is co-opting their movement for justice by instead promoting the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Centennial Commission—a group that has excluded and refused to meet with survivor Mother Randle, yet claim to be working in honor of her. While the Centennial Commission received $30 million in funding for the celebration and stands to gain more in revenue from the upcoming Greenwood Rising Museum, Mother Randle still lives in poverty at age 106. This is simply theft—theft of her legacy, image, and pain. We cannot allow the city leaders to champion their revisionist history and continue to exploit the very people affected by it.

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