WASHINGTON, May 3, 2021 — A century ago this month, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, OK, known

as “Black Wall Street,” was ablaze.

An incident in an elevator between a Black teenage boy and a White teenage girl triggered two days
of violence against the Black community. When the smoke lifted, the destruction was massive: White
residents had mobbed the neighborhood. Scores of the city’s Black residents were dead, and dozens
of blocks—homes, businesses, livelihoods—were destroyed.
"Eye witnesses will long remember the speeding ambulances, the crowded hospitals, drugstores,
churches and First Aid Stations,” Maurice Willows, Director of Relief for the American Red Cross,
wrote in a report at the time that is now held by the National Archives and Records Administration.
“While the records show 763 wounded, this does not include wounded people afterwards found on
practically all roads leading out of Tulsa.”
In remembrance of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Netisha Currie, an archives specialist at the National
Archives, curated the current Featured Document Display. The online exhibit will be up until June 17,
accompanied by text written by Currie.