Photograph of the Greenwood District burning during the Tulsa Race Massacre

Object Details

Created by

Unidentified

Caption

On May 31 and June 1, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, mobs of white residents brutally attacked the African American community of Greenwood, colloquially known as "Black Wall Street," in the deadliest racial massacre in U.S. history. Homes, businesses, and community structures including schools, churches, a hospital, and the library were looted and burned or otherwise destroyed. Exact statistics are unknown, but the violence left around 10,000 people homeless and as many as 300 people dead with many more missing and wounded.

Description

A black-and-white photograph of several buildings in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma burning during the Tulsa Race Massacre. In the foreground is an open lot with several clusters of people near cars, standing and sitting atop a rail car, and a small crowd of spectators sitting at the lower right corner. The people face away from the camera, towards a line of buildings in the background A large plume of smoke is rising at the center, and there is smoke all along the horizon. There is loss at the top left corner of the photograph, and top and bottom left corners are creased where bent. Photograph is fused to cardstock along with objects 2019.95.7, 2019.95.8, and 2019.95.9.

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Cassandra P. Johnson Smith

1921

Object number

2019.95.10

Restrictions & Rights

Public domain

Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

Type

gelatin silver prints

Medium

silver and photographic gelatin on paper (fiber product)

Dimensions

H x W (Image and sheet): 2 1/2 × 5 in. (6.4 × 12.7 cm)

H x W (Board): 8 × 12 in. (20.3 × 30.5 cm)

Place depicted

Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States, North and Central America

See more items in

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification

Photographs and Still Images

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Topic

African American

Communities

Race relations

Race riots

Tulsa Race Massacre

U.S. History, 1919-1933

Violence

Record ID

nmaahc_2019.95.10

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd59bc6ede1-877e-4e23-85c2-ea9e443e3900