Oklahoma's Black Wall Street

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Exhumations resume for DNA to ID Tulsa Race Massacre victims

A team of scientists started the process of re-exhuming human remains Wednesday in their effort to identify people killed in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, one of the worst known examples of white mob violence against Black Americans in U.S. history.

https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-oklahoma-forensics-city-massacres-b0c4350019a6b4af80429e9a511a7874?

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Hundreds gather at historic Tulsa church’s prayer wall

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Hundreds gathered Monday for an interfaith service dedicating a prayer wall outside historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood on the centennial of the first day of one of the deadliest racist massacres in the nation.

https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-race-massacre-centennial-bbfa1f6ad42b104d258c13999a2d7aa4

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‘The foundation of the wealth’: Why Black Wall Street boomed

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — In a century-old family story about a teenage aunt who liked to drive her luxury car down the trolley tracks of Tulsa, Kristi Williams still savors a tiny, lingering taste of how different life could have been for all Black Americans after slavery.

https://apnews.com/article/ok-state-wire-business-race-and-ethnicity-874fade343fc7515210117c4efe1335f

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Tulsa pastors honor ‘holy ground’ 100 years after massacre

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — When white attackers destroyed the prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood 100 years ago this week, they bypassed the original sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of North Tulsa.

https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-racial-injustice-race-and-ethnicity-religion-27a4b1540304babc39917eb9973c2c11

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Their stories were lost to slavery. Now DNA is writing them

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — In the 1700s, a boy was born into slavery in Colonial America. He spent his life working in the coastal city of Charleston, South Carolina. And when he died in middle age, he was buried alongside 35 other slaves.

https://apnews.com/article/dna-slavery-charleston-africa-c0aeabe3c0ab74ea34c074ba20479d99

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Viola Ford Fletcher, oldest living Tulsa Race Massacre victim, publishes memoir

NEW YORK (AP) — Being a centenarian hasn’t slowed down Viola Ford Fletcher’s pursuit of justice.

https://apnews.com/article/viola-fletcher-book-memoir-tulsa-race-massacre-0042fdce69750104e9dd6aef69f63de0?

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Oklahoma judge dismisses Tulsa race massacre reparations case filed by last known survivors

An Oklahoma judge dismissed the reparations lawsuit filed by the last three known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre on Friday, court records show.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/08/us/tulsa-race-massacre-reparations-case/index.html

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Beauty from Ashes on Black Wall Street

Tulsa, Oklahoma, had a thriving Black community with Black-owned, Black-operated medical offices, law offices, banks, hotels, grocery stores, and schools. Black dollars circulated many times over within the Greenwood community, also known as Black Wall Street. This local multiplier occurred largely out of necessity, since Whites believed themselves too good to do business with Blacks. 

https://atoday.org/beauty-from-ashes-on-black-wall-street/

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Oklahoma Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit of last Tulsa Race Massacre survivors seeking reparations

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dampening the hope of advocates for racial justice that the city would make financial amends for one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history that left as many as 300 people dead and a once-thriving district in smoldering ruins.

https://apnews.com/article/1921-race-massacre-tulsa-black-survivors-b7a4c83514ce79640a8490d49efb9006?

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Tulsa Race Massacre reparations is soul-redeeming work for the US, Oklahoma civil rights lawyer says

NEW YORK (AP) — It wasn’t until his junior year of college that civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons learned about a devastating massacre that took place in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-race-massacre-book-reparations-solomon-simmons-47b043953f6da482e01f2a6a2ba3b1f1?