The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921
The tragic legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre is that history has been so successfully suppressed that the only way we can learn about it is through comic comics. Most people would never have known it was a true occurrence if it weren't for HBO's Watchmen adaption. The program portrayed the incidents that led to several articles being written and published after the fact to confirm that yes, this really did happen.
The presence of the Ku Klux Klan and the trial of a 19-year-old Black man who was accused of attempting to sexually assault a 17-year-old White girl provoked a large riot in Tulsa in 1921. Soon, groups of white men started setting Black-owned businesses on fire and randomly shooting Black people. According to estimates, 300 Black people died.
The records of what had happened then disappeared. There were no records of the National Guard being called in. Police seized photographic evidence. For many years, local newspapers ignored it, and until the 1970s, anyone attempting to conduct study on it faced danger. Even the wording was cleaned up; instead of being called a slaughter, it was called a "riot" for years.
Not until the Oklahoma City Bombing brought reporters to the region and oral histories of the locals started to be documented in the 1990s did knowledge of what happened start to circulate once more.
- Year: 1921
- Damage: at least 300 Black people died
