The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 was one of the worst instances of mass racial violence in American history. The violence was driven largely by White hostility toward African-American economic prosperity, and it centered on Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood District (also known as Black Wall Street), a commercial area with many successful Black-owned businesses. In 24 hours, hundreds were killed, thousands displaced, and 35 city blocks were burned to ruins. The attack on Black Wall Street included the first aerial bombing of a U.S. city.
The American National Red Cross provided relief to many victims of this massacre. The Tulsa Chapter compiled reports and a photo album relating to their management of the disaster relief effort.
This is a summary compiled for the American Red Cross Headquarters at Washington, DC. It provides a narrative overview of the massacre, the kinds of relief the Red Cross provided, and a list of destruction:
- 1,256 buildings burned
- 314 buildings looted
- approximately 10,000 people made homeless
- 183 people hospitalized, “practically all for gunshot wounds or burns”
- 531 serious injuries requiring first aid or surgery
- an unknown number of dead – “Figures are omitted for the reason that NO ONE KNOWS.”
This report comes from a larger file of Red Cross reports about the Tulsa Massacre. See the full file in the National Archives Catalog.
