Black+Wall+Street+and+The+Tulsa+Race+Riot

 By Corah, Grade 6

Black Wall Street was an all black neighborhood in Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Many compared it to a mini Beverly Hills. When the blacks were getting richer the whites got jealous and this is how it started. A 19 year old black man named Dick Rowland got on an elevator in Greenwood. And a 17 year old white girl named Sarah Paige was operating the elevator. When Dick got off he tripped and grabbed Sarah’s arm to keep him from falling and she yelled. A nearby cashier heard the scream and called the cops. The next morning Dick was sent to court. While he was in court a group of Black veterans from World War One were armed outside of the courthouse to protect Dick.

On June 1, 1921, the Ku Klux Klan dropped a Molotov Cocktail on the town because they felt threatened. Over 600 businesses were destroyed, 3000 Blacks were killed. Some had unmarked graves and more than 1.5 million dollars in damage had been done.

The Tulsa Race Riot was a cruel and bloody event. The reason the KKK terrorized the town was because the whites felt threatened that the Blacks were getting richer than the whites, The whites didn’t want the Blacks to have power because the whites had always had the power and they wanted it to stay that way.

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