# Have you heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 1, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844 "2020-06-01T11:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/21 "2020-06-01T15:26:04Z")
That was the beginning of the era of barnstormers and aerial circuses; after the war the government sold off a lot of the Jenny biplanes at a fraction of their cost, which allowed wartime aviators to buy a plane and keep flying. I don’t know what the circumstances of the specific plane or planes used in Tulsa were, but it’s not quite as farfetched as one might think that there were private citizens with airplanes. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/22 "2020-06-01T15:37:01Z")
I remember reading about it during grad school in the mid-1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/23 "2020-06-01T15:44:30Z")
Another one for the learned-about-it-from-a-fictional-show pile. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/24 "2020-06-01T16:05:27Z")
Never heard of it. History instruction was pathetic when I attended California elementary and high schools. For example, we were presented, once every three years, with the names of The California Missions, but there was never a discussion of how the missionaries treated natives. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/25 "2020-06-01T16:31:02Z")
I first of it from the Dennis Lehane novel, _The Given Day_, in which part of the story takes place during it. Great book, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/26 "2020-06-01T18:11:58Z")
The Tulsa massacre of 1921 was just the culmination of a series of anti-black violence that had been going on since the “Red Summer” of 1919. A lot of black people had moved into new areas of the country and taken jobs in factories during WWI. With the end of the war, there was a cutback in production and an increase in workers. So a lot of white people felt that black people needed to be “put back in their place”. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/27 "2020-06-01T18:30:04Z")
Yes. BUT. I lived in Tulsa. (Obviously, not while it was happening.) ---
**Author:** ![allyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@allyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allyn)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/28 "2020-06-01T19:16:55Z")
I accidentally stumbled onto it on Wikipedia while looking for something else. This was within the last two years…I was not aware of the massacre before that… ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/29 "2020-06-01T19:37:20Z")
I had heard about it back in college in the 80s because legend was the R&B group The Gap Band from OK got the letters for GAP from 3 of the crossing streets where it happened? I always kind of doubted that but it did at least clue me into a piece of American history i had no idea about. ---
**Author:** ![sjankis630](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ea924/32.png) [@sjankis630](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjankis630)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/30 "2020-06-01T19:41:05Z")
I had heard about it back in college in the 80s because legend was the R&B group The Gap Band from OK got the letters for GAP from 3 of the crossing streets where it happened? I always kind of doubted that but it did at least clue me into a piece of American history i had no idea about. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/31 "2020-06-01T19:48:08Z")
I don’t recall where I heard about it, but it was relatively recently. Was it mentioned in “These Truths” maybe? It was certainly not mentioned in the American History courses I took, one in HS, one in college. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/32 "2020-06-01T20:23:38Z")
I heard about it a long time ago from some political discussion or other. I’ve used it fairly often since then as an example. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/33 "2020-06-01T20:36:52Z")
I first heard about it some 20 years or so ago. Read about it in an article about the postwar racism surge, The New Negro and the like. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/34 "2020-06-01T21:40:19Z")
> [@sjankis630](#): > > I had heard about it back in college in the 80s because legend was the R&B group The Gap Band from OK got the letters for GAP from 3 of the crossing streets where it happened? > I always kind of doubted that but it did at least clue me into a piece of American history i had no idea about. [Apparently](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_Band) [true](http://www.bandnameexplained.com/2014/03/gap-band-band-name-meaning.html), though there doesn’t seem to be any sort of official confirmation around that I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/35 "2020-06-01T23:32:48Z")
Came across mention of it somewhere, I think some time in the past ten years or so – quite likely, actually on this board. Will confess that I reacted in a glossing-over way, as I often do: “very nasty; but there was at that time, lots of horrible stuff going on in many parts of the world – including things being pretty ugly in Ireland, ‘next door to’ my own island”. Sadly, there’s never any lack of humans behaving atrociously to other humans. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/36 "2020-06-01T23:38:13Z")
I first heard of it (that I can remember) about 20 years ago, most likely around the 70th anniversary, on “All Things Considered.” ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/37 "2020-06-02T01:18:40Z")
I recognize the name Greenwood for the district, but I don’t remember the event being called the Tulsa Race Massacre. On the other hand, I don’t remember what name was used for it. I just remember seeing about it on some kind of history program a number of years ago, and it really stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/38 "2020-06-02T01:49:54Z")
Greenwood race riot. That’s what I learned here in TN, maybe in high school? I have known about it a long time but for much of that time I didn’t know the details, like that it was more a massacre than a riot. Sadly I saw it used in a threat in the past 48 hours, as in “they come to my town with that protest shit we’ll make Greenwood look like a picnic in the park”. So I guess even the racists know about this. ---
**Author:** ![Orr\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ee59a6/32.png) [@Orr\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orr_G)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/39 "2020-06-02T02:13:58Z")
I answered with the “Watchmen” option. I’m almost positive I’d heard of it back in high school, but it had sufficiently left my brain enough for me that it was a surprise to learn about it when I watched the show. I was, however, somewhat aware of “Black Wall Street”, but had somehow managed to forget the specific set of horrific events that happened there. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844/40 "2020-06-02T04:37:19Z")
I first came across it in one of those books that talked about all the things you didn’t learn in school. It might have been “lies my history teacher told me”, but I’m not sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-heard-of-the-tulsa-race-massacre/854844.md?page=3)