Photograph of the Oklahoma National Guard 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. Amidst the violence, both white rioters and the Oklahoma National Guard rounded up black residents of Greenwood and forced them to detention centers. More than 6,000 African Americans were interned at the Convention Hall, the Tulsa County Fairgrounds, and the baseball stadium McNulty Park. Some were held for as long as eight days.

Description

A black-and-white photograph of the Oklahoma National Guard in front of a Tulsa, Oklahoma police station. Uniformed guardsmen at right are lined up in front of a row of cars. At lower left, guardsmen surround a tripod-mounted machine gun. The gun sits on a wheeled flatbed. At top right, several people congregate near the entrance to a building with "POLICE STATION" sign mounted above the door. There is loss at the top right and lower right corners of the photograph. The photograph is fused to cardstock along with objects 2019.95.7, 2019.95.8, and 2019.95.10.

Credit Line

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

1921

Object number

2019.95.9

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): 3 × 4 1/4 in. (7.6 × 10.8 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_2019.95.9

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5ed3ec268-7020-40f6-ab4b-ed98548a8b69