officialblackwallstreet:June 1st, 1921 will forever be remembered as a day of great loss and devasta
officialblackwallstreet:June 1st, 1921 will forever be remembered as a day of great loss and devastation. It was on this day that America experienced the deadliest race riot in the small town of Tulsa, Oklahoma. 97 years later, that neighborhood is still recognized as one of the most prosperous African American towns to date.In the early 1900s, many African Americans migrated from southern states hoping to escape the harsh racial tensions while profiting off of the oil industry. Yet even in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jim Crow laws were at large, causing the town to be vastly segregated. From that segregation grew a Black entrepreneurial mecca that would affectionately be called “Black Wall Street”. The town was established in 1906 by entrepreneur O.W. Gurley, and by 1921 there were over 11,000 residents and hundreds of prosperous businesses, all owned and operated by Black Tulsans and patronized by both whites and Blacks.The attack that took place in 1921 (motivated largely by jealousy and an unconfirmed sexual assault accusation made by a white woman against a Black man) tore the community apart, claiming hundreds of lives and sending the once prosperous neighborhood up in smoke.Read more at: www.officialblackwallstreet.com/black-wall-street-story -- source link