Negroes Say Greed of Tulsa Whites
Started Rioting
The New York Tribune/June 13, 1921
"The African Blood Brotherhood, a negro organization formed as a protection against lynchings and race riots, held a mass meeting yesterday afternoon at the Palace Casino, Madison Avenue and 135th Street, to protest the outrage at Tulsa, in which eighty-five persons were killed . . ."
The Lesson of Tulsa
"I am a stenographer in a downtown office, and just now a large company of Negroes were marched through the street past my window, under the protection of white soldiers. They are taking them to the ball park, where they will be under protection . . ."
The Lesson of Tulsa
The Workers' Council/June 15, 1921
"Whatever the investigation in Tulsa may find concerning the causes of this latest negro pogrom, these simple facts prove this was no struggle between blacks and whites, but a butchery of helpless Negroes by a band of white terrorists . . . "
Mob Fury and Race Hatred
as a National Danger
The Literary Digest/June 18, 1921
"For while the immediate cause of the Tulsa tragedy has been concisely described as “an impudent negro, an hysterical girl, and a yellow-journal reporter,” the conditions which provided the tinder for this spark are not peculiar to Tulsa or Oklahoma, but exist in varying degree, we are told, in all parts of the country where the negro is numerous enough to be a problem..."
The Turk in Tulsa
"The men who committed this massacre put the American in the same public international pillory as the Turk. World public opinion does not draw the distinctions we would like. Exactly as we hold Turks as a whole responsible, when massacre succeeds massacre, so Americans are held responsible, as a whole, when negro massacre succeeds massacre, as for two years past . . ."
The Tulsa Race Riots
The cause of it all, as stated by Adjutant General Barrett, was “an impudent negro, a hysterical girl and a yellow journal reporter.”
The Economic Basis of the Tulsa Riot
by E.T. Allison
The Toiler (Cleveland)/June 18, 1921
"IT was white business interests which fomented the Tulsa riot. Whatever differences there may have been between white workers and black workers on account of undercutting of wages by the Negroes because of unemployment, it must not be assumed that these differences counted for any thing with the white master class . . ."
Moving Toward Race War
The New Republic/June 21, 1921
"THERE are men who will frown upon us for even entertaining the hypothesis of a possible race war, for even naming the horror. . . ."
Riot Victims are Neglected
by Geo. W. Buckner
"Tulsa with sixty-four millionaires, has been rated as the richest city per capita in the United States. Even the Negro population boasted of caring for nearly all their wants. . . "
Fraud and Corruption in Office Charged Against Chief
"Tulsa, Okla., June 25—Chief of Police John Gustafson of Tulsa and other members of the police department were indicted today by the grand jury in connection with the recent race riot and on charges of vice . . ."
The Eruption of Tulsa
"A hysterical white girl related that a nineteen-year-old colored boy attempted to assault her in the public elevator of a public office building of a thriving town of 100,000 in open daylight . . . "
The Tulsa Riots
"Within six hours of the time, on June 1, when the New York Evening Post called up the National Office on the telephone to ask whether anything had been heard of race trouble in Tulsa, Okla., a representative was on the way to the battle-scarred city to investigate for the Association. Meanwhile reports continued to come in . . ."
Tulsa Man Explains How Race Troubles There May Be Settled by Moving Negro Section to Remote Part of City
The Evening World (New York)/July 1, 1921
“Every one knew that something was going to happen in Tulsa,” said W. H. Honnold of Tulsa, Okla., who is at the Astor. “The recent trouble there was the result of. . . "
Now Tulsa Does Care
by Amy Comstock
"The causes that culminated in the recent race riot in Tulsa are not different from those that prompted similar eruptions in Chicago, Washington, East St. Louis and Springfield, Ill., except that ... "
Chief Guilty on Two Counts
Tulsa Daily World/July 23, 1921
"After six hours’ deliberation the jury in district court before which John A. Gustafson, deposed chief of police, who has been on trial for the past two weeks, returned a verdict of guilty on the charge of..."
Klan and Negro
Capitol Journal (Salem Oregon)/August 3, 1921
"I am a white man.
I believe that the United States is a white man’s country. By all the instincts and traditions of my race, I believe that the United States having been created by white men will be ruled by white men. I do not believe that this doctrine applies merely to Tennessee and the rest of the southern states, but to the entire country."
Tulsa Riot Originated in False Rumor
Dallas Express/October 13, 1921
"Dick Rowland, negro elevator operator, whose alleged attack on a white girl precipitated the Tulsa riots of June 1, has been released from the county jail. The charge of assault made against him was not sustained. It developed that Sarah Page, the white girl whom Rowland is said to have assaulted, had never entered a charge against the negro."
Tulsa Bonds Reduced, Building Increases
Dallas Express/October 15, 1921
"Dick Rowland, Negro bellhop who, it was alleged, committed the crime of rape and about whom the riots of June 1st in this city were precipitated, was released from the county jail today and the charges against him dismissed. It was brought out in the investigation that he was entirely innocent."
New Light to be Shed on Tulsa Affair
Dallas Express/October 22, 1921
"Elisha Scott of Topeka, Kans., one of the attorneys retained by the Tulsa riot victims, has a signed affidavit in his possession that when produced will throw an entirely new light on the insurrection carefully planned by the whites here on May 31st last."
Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator
"The girl said she noticed the Negro a few minutes before the attempted assault looking up and down the hallway on the third floor of the Drexel Building as if to see if there was anyone in sight but thought nothing of it at the time. . . "
Two Whites Dead in Race Riot
Tulsa Daily World/June 1, 1921
"After six hours of race rioting, extending over the entire city, two white men are known to be dead and about a score are known to be injured. There are no known negro fatalities, though reports are that several were killed. One injured negro is at the police station and is expected momentarily to die."
175 Are Killed in Fierce Race Riots at Tulsa, Oklahoma
The Evening World (New York)/June 1, 1921
"TULSA, Okla., June 1 4.40 P.M. Bulletin.—Major Charles W. Daley of the police force this afternoon estimated the number of dead from the race clash here at 175.
He said he believed a number of negroes had been burned to death when their homes were swept by fire . . ."
State Troops in Charge
Tulsa Daily World/June 1, 1921 (Third Extra)
"At 9:45 armed citizens and one guard corporal marched the prisoners which had been held in Convention Hall south through town. It was reported the negroes were to be corralled at the Western league park . . ."
Train Scarred by Bullets at Tulsa;
Passengers Fling Selves on Floor
The New York Tribune/June 2, 1921
"OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., June 1.—Evidence of the fury of the race clash at Tulsa was borne by a St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad passenger train which arrived here today from the East . . ."
Negroes Gladly Accept Guards
by Faith Hieronymous
"Inside the park was color and heat – stifling, odorous heat – the crying of babies, the sound of many voices and the moaning of women; and negroes – thousands of negroes huddled together as far as the eye could see from one end of the grandstands to the other.
"The majority of them accepted the inevitable in good part; crowded and hot and sticky as it was, there was good cheer every place . . ."
Tulsa Race Riot Charged to Cowardice of Officials
The New York Tribune/June 3, 1921
“With either a sheriff or a chief of police with nerve, this whole thing would not have happened,” said Governor Robertson to Judge W. B. Williams. “It is damnable and inexcusable. The farce has gone on long enough. Get a grand jury. In your instructions order an investigation of the sheriff’s office, the city administration and particularly the police department . . ."
Negroes Blame Peonage for Outbreak in Tulsa
The New York Tribune/June 3, 1921
“The refugees asserted that under the system of peonage which prevails in Oklahoma crops have been taken from the colored farmers and share-croppers by white planters, who have given in return only a bare subsistence to the negro tenant . . ."
The Hopeful Figure
The Evening World (New York)/June 3, 1921
"RACE RIOTS in Omaha, East St. Louis, Chicago and now in Tulsa have occurred under all degrees of segregation of negroes. In Tulsa the segregation was unusually sharp. Obviously, race segregation is not an adequate preventive of trouble . . ."
Tulsa in Remorse To Rebuild Homes;
Dead Now Put at 30
The New York Times/June 3, 1921
"This oil metropolis of the Southwest was emerging tonight from one of the most spectacular outbreaks of lawlessness that has been known in Oklahoma since the early pioneer days. The combined agencies of law and order of city, county and State, directed in person by Governor Robertson and other State officials, had gained the upper hand and comparative quiet prevailed. . . "
U.S. Inquiry In Tulsa Race Riots Ordered
The New York Tribune/June 4, 1921
"WASHINGTON, June 3.—A general inquiry into the race riots at Tulsa, Okla., has been ordered by Attorney General Daugherty, it was announced today at the Department of Justice . . .
Thirty Whites Held for Tulsa Rioting
The New York Times/June 5, 1921
"The thirty whites under arrest are alleged to have been around plundering the devastated negro district. About seventy-five men have been taken into custody in the last two days on various charges, but many of them were released. Chief Gustafson declared that drastic measures would be taken against all looters . . . "
Denies Negroes Started Tulsa Riot
The New York Times/June 5, 1921
"The African Blood Brotherhood, which is believed by the authorities in Tulsa, Okla., to have fomented the race riot in that city, yesterday issued a formal statement denying that this organization or members of its Tulsa branch were in any way the aggressors in the Tulsa disturbances . . ."
The Real Tulsa
Daily Ardmoreite/June 5, 1921
"Tulsa, the wolf enfolded in the cloak of the Lamb; Tulsa, the Pharisee Tulsa, proclaiming from the housetops, “Thank God, I am not as Ardmore;” Tulsa, young in years, but old, so old in sin; Tulsa, flouting the vermillion encrusted brazenness of the courtesan and seeking to pass it off as the blush-mantled cheek of the innocent, the undefiled, the virtuous maiden; Tulsa, parading the streets with all the effrontery of the evil doer of ancient times . . ."
Urges Negroes Here To Arm Themselves
The New York Times/June 6, 1921
"Negroes in New York were urged to arm by Herbert H. Harrison, President of the Liberal League of Negro Americans, at a meeting yesterday at 135th Street and Lenox Avenue to ask for contributions to a fund to relieve the suffering caused to the negroes of Tulsa . . ."
Harding Voices Regret Over Tulsa Rioting
The New York Tribune/June 7, 1921
"President and Mrs. Harding, motoring from Valley Forge, Pa., to Washington, stopped at Lincoln University shortly after 10 o’clock today and were cordially greeted by the Rev. John M. Rendall, president of the institution, and 400 negro students . . ."
Harding Exhorts Negroes To Study
The New York Times/June 7, 1921
"No Government can wave a magical wand and take a race from bondage to citizenship in half a century. All that the Government can do is to afford an opportunity for good citizenship . . ."
What Three Editors of Daily Papers
Say About the Tulsa Tragedy
The Dallas Express/June 11, 1921
"Doubtless the first of that train of causes which culminated in an orgy of murder, incendiarism and vandalism at Tulsa, probably the most horrifying mob-crime ever committed in this country, is to be found in a spirit of insolence and lust among a few Negroes . . ."
Civil War at Tulsa, Okla.
The Toiler (Cleveland)/June 11, 1921
"America’s weekly race riot between American born Negroes and American and foreign born whites was carried off on scheduled time but on a considerable larger scale and with more elaborate trimmings than usual last week . . ."