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Tulsa 1921: The Tulsa Race Massacre and the Destruction of Black Wall Street

Tulsa 1921: The Tulsa Race Massacre and the Destruction of Black Wall Street

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In this episode, Brittany Ransom investigates the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, one of the deadliest and most deliberately obscured acts of racial violence in American history. What happened in Greenwood, often called Black Wall Street, was not a riot, it was a coordinated assault that left as many as 300 Black residents dead, more than 35 city blocks destroyed, and over 10,000 people homeless.

Early reports falsely minimized the devastation. Decades later, survivor testimony and official investigations revealed a very different truth: white mobs looted and burned Greenwood block by block, while airplanes flew overhead, dropping incendiary devices and firing into the neighborhood. Homes, churches, schools, hospitals, and businesses were reduced to ashes in less than two days.

More than 1,200 homes were burned, with property losses exceeding $1.5 million in 1921—the equivalent of tens of millions today. Insurance companies refused to pay claims. Families were forced into Red Cross tents through the winter. City officials worked to bury the evidence and erase the crime from public memory.

This episode confronts the uncomfortable reality that the perpetrators were never held accountable, and asks what it means when a mass killing goes unpunished.

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Music featured in this podcast is used with permission from Myuu.⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spoti.fi/1Uda2ci

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