Not many are too familiar with Black Wall Street or the Rosewood Massacre that happened in Florida during the early 1920s but that’s another story, in this post I’m going to explain and explore the history behind Black Wall Street. If you’re familiar with the background of the incident that eventually occurred which was the destruction of what could have been a prosperous economic stable for black folks in future generations then please feel free to comment. So, Black Wall Street was a community of thriving black businesses in the Greenwood district in the city of Tulsa Oklahoma. Fresh off the reconstruction era and 41 years after the emancipation proclamation, black folks found ways to stay resilient through the daily adversity of racism and thus created paths for their people to succeed. Once established in 1906 Black Street Wall was finding prosperous outcomes within the community. However, due to the perpetual racial segregation and discrimination done to them, they were in danger of attacks and the ultimate one was inevitable when whites became infuriated from the fruitful life these black folks were living. Moreover, black residents owned and co-owned 10,000 public facilities such as schools, restaurants, hotels, businesses to name a few and even though they were receiving an array of economic opportunities they were still second class citizens. Everything changed drastically for the worse when what is known today as the Tulsa race riot which occurred during May 31st to June 1st. As with the Rosewood Massacre which began with a lie of sexual assault of a black man attacking a white woman it also occurred here which sparked the outraged from a white mob to take initiative and seek “justice” and “superiority” while simultaneously instilling fear in the hearts of the black residents in Black Wall Street. The attacks ended with the annihilation of Black Wall Street, 1,000 homes burned, and the hundreds of deaths of the black residents. In regards to that, when the black residents did try to defend themselves and the place they cherished and wished to see grow it ultimately backfired and they were arrested for not knowing their place in this land when not long ago these white terrorists viewed them as their property and up until that day these terrorists still believed they were their masters so to speak. This violent act towards these business-minded black folks was the ramifications of Jim Crow, and it all came down to reminding the subordinate of their status in this country (USA). To conclude this post the entire Tulsa race riot all took but 16 hours to destroy and erase a part of not only black history but American history and it’s unfortunate that American wants to forget it. If you feel the need to comment please do and follow my page for future posts because I will have another post detailing another aspect of black history that people might have little to no knowledge about. As always, peace and keep it real.
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