In 1997, the state Legislature created what was called the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, and it published its final report in 2001. Greenwood Avenue at Archer Street in Tulsa after the reconstruction of the Greenwood District after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Bruner is able to tell the harrowing story today because her great-grandmother Mary E. Jones Parrish, a teacher and journalist, survived and documented the massacre in her self-published memoir, Events of the Tulsa Disaster. The family has been together during the pandemic and has used this time to consider the legacy of Tulsa and the family's heritage. For two decades, the report has been one of the most comprehensive accounts to reveal the horrific details of the massacre among the worst racial terror attacks in the nations history as well as the governments culpability. Netherland, a massacre survivor and minister whose barber shop at 110 Greenwood Avenue was destroyed, purchased a folding chair, a strop and razor, and set up shop on a sidewalk. hide caption. By 1921, Greenwood had grown into a 35-block neighborhood with a bustling retail scene, as well as two schools, two newspapers and a hospital. Later that afternoon at the Black-owned Williams Dreamland Theatre, sixteen-year-old Bill Williams watched as a neighbor jumped on stage and announced: Were not going to let this happen. "This actually was something that was akin to an act of war where the country turned in on its own citizens," Bruner says. On May 31, 1921, Dick Rowland, a 19-year old Black shoeshiner, tripped and fell in an elevator and his hand accidentally caught the shoulder of Sarah Page, a white 17-year-old operator. Thats Dr. Jackson, yelled Oliphant. You get your education, you work hard, you start businesses, youre able to employ your family members and community members, and then you lose it all within hours. The three-story, brick Botkin Building is visible on the far right. Fresh off the Tulsa World Magazines first issue dedicated to music, Jimmie Tramel and Grace Wood share theirs. Donald Trump sat solemnly in a New York City courtroom Tuesday as prosecutors charged him with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a hush money investigation. There is a pending lawsuit and ongoing discussions about how and whether to compensate the families of the Tulsa Massacre victims. It occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma, beginning on May 31, 1921, and lasting for two days. Several women set up shop as entrepreneurs in the same building. The father of John Hope Franklin, he represented many victims claims in lawsuits seeking compensation for damage to property and business. While events in Oklahoma over the next few weeks will seek to examine the legacy of the Tulsa Race Massacre 100 years later, it hasn't always been that way. In July of 2020, the Greenwood Community Development Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, received an NEH grant to reopen and prepare its historic site for visitors to return. Black residents stand outside the entrance to a refugee camp on the fairgrounds in Tulsa after the massacre. The next day Rowland was arrested at his home by two Tulsa police officers, one white and the other, Henry Pack, Black. To submit a letter to the editor for publication, write to. White mob sets first fires along Archer St. While the Greenwood neighborhood boundary is not officially defined, the outline shown in this piece includes the predominantly African-American area shown in the 2001 state commission report as well as some additional areas, based on our analysis of census data. By 1921, according to historian Scott Ellsworth, a revived Tulsa Ku Klux Klan claimed an active membership of 3,200. Theres really no way of knowing exactly how many people died. Archival photographs and maps were used to create a detailed model of the 100 block of Greenwood Avenue. Mary E. Jones Parrish, left, was a teacher and journalist who operated a typing school. Before emancipation, Blacks enslaved by the Indians fared better than those enslaved by whites. Members of the mob ransacked homes and stole money and jewelry. The 1921 Tulsa Race Riot led to the destruction of Greenwood, a wealthy all-black area due north of downtown known as Black Wall Street. For years, history books glossed over accounts of the event.
Two days of bloodshed and destruction ensued, by land and air. Everyone knew that he should lie low for a while. Also in August 1920, in Oklahoma City, an eighteen-year-old Black youth, Claude Chandler, was lynched by a mob that featured the future mayor of Oklahoma City, O. This shooting occurred only eight Anneliese M. Bruner's great-grandmother Mary E. Jones Parrish, a teacher and journalist, survived and documented the massacre in her self-published memoir, Events of the Tulsa Disaster. More buildings set afire in business district. The white mob blocked firefighters while The scene was horrific a century ago when the armed white mob, fortified by law enforcement, descended on Greenwood, an all-Black district just north of downtown Tulsa. Low around 35F. And the thriving commercial district was destroyed some of the finest Black-owned and operated businesses in the country, including hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, a theater, a roller skating rink, hospitals and doctors' offices, law firms and churches. What happened to the Tulsa Airbnb Queen'? .
Loula and John Williams came to embody the entrepreneurial spirit of Greenwood. But the ethos and bond that empowered residents to rebuild the community was strong. Black Tulsans fought back, valiantly defending their families and property. TULSA, Okla. Four people were killed in a shooting and several others were injured at a medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, authorities said, hide caption. Episode summary One of the countrys worst acts of violence against a minority community happened in Oklahoma.
She's worked to get the memoir republished in conjunction with the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre under the title The Nation Must Awake. "Are reparations going to be made? Bruner asks, "and that is what Mary Jones Parrish brings the truth.".
Abbie de Vera.
Every year the Tulsa Equality Indicator report comes out and it reveals and outlines alarming disparities along racial lines from policing to the life expectancy. We know that there were several thousand unaccounted for, Mechelle Brown, program coordinator for the Greenwood Cultural Center, told CNN during a 2016 interview. Tulsa, and the nation, have been slow to acknowledge the brutal reality of what happened in 1921 and the lasting impact it's had on Black families. Buildings were destroyed in a massive fire during the Tulsa Race Massacre when a white mob attacked the Greenwood neighborhood, a prosperous Black In many ways, it is poetic irony that science fiction has forced America to confront its very real history. These African-American lawyers filed claims against the city of Tulsa and against its new Fire Ordinance No. They owned a confectionery at 102 Greenwood Avenue, and the East End Garage around the corner on Archer Street. Historians tend to de-emphasize the violence waged against Black people in AmericaTulsa is one prominent example. What happened to the Tulsa Airbnb Queen'? Although they had survived one of the deadliest race massacres in U.S. history and their district was demolished, many residents returned. For decades, what happened in Greenwood was willfully buried in history. A. Cargill. The morning of June 2, 1921 revealed emptiness and ruin in every direction. WebTulsas Greenwood Cultural Center tabulates that in the span of 24 hours 35 city blocks of Black Wall Street were burned to the ground. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Greenwood wasnt a gift from anyone, it was created by the citizens of Greenwood who withstood the tragedy of 1921 and rebuilt it again, said Scott Ellsworth, the author of the recently released book, The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice. Greenwood is the story of resilience. Brick buildings had been reduced to bombed-out husks. "To be the descendant of a survivor, and then for that survivor to have the presence of mind to write that down and to have the clarity of thought for it to be so detailed, so meticulously put together, is just the source of pride," says Kevin Hurtt, Bruner's 33-year-old son, a biologist and science teacher. He is author of Black People Are My Business: Toni Cade Bambaras Practices of Liberation (2020) and Ballers of the New School: Race and Sports in America (2010). The most significant lesson it has taught me is that the love of race is the deepest feeling rooted in our being. Oklahoma Historical Society via Gateway to History website. "And none of it gets resolved if you're in a system that sometimes has the unequal application of law and/or opportunity.". Oklahoma Historical Society via Gateway to History. In 2010 John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park was opened in the Greenwood District to memorialize the massacre. The assaults on Greenwood raged over two days. Many descendants said they learned about the mob and the killings only as adults and even then, some of the recounting was told in whispers. Bruner says the nation, and in particular Black Americans, should not be living with the same fear 100 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre. Low around 35F. May 24, 2021. hide caption.
Eyewitnesses recalled the specter of men carrying torches through the streets to set fire to homes and businesses. "Anybody that does not believe in truth, justice and reparations for the people of Greenwood, then you don't believe in truth, justice and equity period.". Library of Congress No compensation has ever been paid under court order or by legislation. Owners of businesses on the 100 block were identified using The Tulsa Star and accounts of survivors and their descendants. Special Collections and Archives. The mob broke into downtown (white-owned) pawnshops and hardware stores to steal weapons and bullets. The Newberry Library received, in 2018, a $200,000 grant from NEH for Chicago Reflects on the 1919 Race Riots to support a variety of projects, including a website, public events, a digital exhibition, and classroom resources. A furious mob of thousands of white men then surged over Black homes, killing, destroying, and snatching everything from dining room furniture to piggy banks. Smitherman had chastised Blacks for allowing the lynching of Claude Chandler the year before in Oklahoma City, and he urged the men in the room to protect Rowland and themselves. Hence the long-kept secret.
. Sidestepping discrimination in the oil industry, Blacks arriving in Tulsa prospered as maids, shoeshines, waiters, chauffeurs, cooks, barbers, mammies, and gardeners to the newly rich. Tulsa Star via Tulsa Race Riot Photographs website. William Loren Katzs Black Indians and Art Burtons Black, Red, and Deadly cite an early Black presence in Oklahoma, then called Indian Territory. Randy Krehbiels Tulsa 1921: Reporting a Massacre quotes Washington Irvings 1835 eyewitness description of the Creeks, which confirms an early Black presence: quite Oriental in .
We then mapped the homes of thousands of those residents using the 1920 Sanborn maps. OHP releases name of 21-year-old driver who lost her life in crash, Payments halted to OK P-EBT cards after unauthorized cards were delivered to some families, Deputies identify couple following apparent murder-suicide in Owasso, Man wounded after shooting at Okmulgee fairgrounds, Ousted Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz takes Oklahoma church job. The Mount Zion Baptist Church burned down during the massacre.
It found that the city of Tulsa had conspired to destroy Greenwood. "I was speechless, stunned, amazed, proud, sad. Lansana, who has also authored a childrens book, Opals Greenwood Oasis, is quick to point out the scars and hurdles that continue to plague Tulsa: The legacy of Oklahoma is that the place remains deeply segregated, even today. Partly cloudy. Six people have been shot, three fatally, at an Oklahoma City bar which was featured in Tulsa King, officials say. In earlier generations the story of Tulsa was rarely passed down from victims to descendants because of fear of retribution, and Bruner suspects perhaps even some shame for having endured such abuse.
Multiple people were shot at a Tulsa medical building on a hospital campus Wednesday. Episode summary One of the countrys worst acts of violence against a minority community happened in Oklahoma. Officials confirmed that four people had been shot, including a 45-year-old man who was pronounced dead at the scene. The massacre had been sparked by reports that a 19-year-old Black man had allegedly offended a 17-year-old white female elevator attendant. Bruner sees a toxic line from Tulsa to violence against Black people today, and says the same questions apply. It found that the city of Tulsa had conspired to destroy Greenwood.
Places to worship. Nate Palmer for NPR Four drug stores. Near dawn, the white mob descended on Greenwood. The white mob indiscriminately shot Black people in the streets during the massacre, which left as many as 300 dead. A House Judiciary subcommittee is revisiting legal and policy measures to compensate survivors, their descendants and Tulsa's greater Black community.
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Hospital campus Wednesday maintain our family business and determine whether to compensate the families of the Tribunes. By land and air, three fatally, at an Oklahoma city bar which was featured Tulsa.The numbers presented a staggering portrait of loss: 35 blocks burned to the ground; as many as 300 dead; hundreds injured; 8,000 to 10,000 left homeless; more than 1,470 homes burned or looted; and eventually, 6,000 detained in internment camps. Others made a living working as maids, waiters, chauffeurs, shoe shiners and cooks for Tulsas new oil class. The Black Wall Street Memorial is seen in Tulsa on June 18, 2020. The final insult of the massacre came in the silence. "The book is a small red volume, hardcover, somewhat worn," Bruner says. It took an additional 21 years before the initial debt was repaid. As the white mob reached nearly a thousand, a new contingent of 50 or more Black men, feeling anxious, arrived to protect Rowland, but they, too, were persuaded to leave at about 10:30 p.m. Then, as they walked awayaccording to Scott Ellsworths interview with seventy-eight-year-old survivor Robert FairchildE. Webwhat happened in tulsa, oklahomawatkins memorial football tickets. She screamed, and he ran away, according to the commission report. He never recovered his fortune.
A Greenwood legend, Peg Leg Taylor, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, was said to have shot a dozen white men from a sniper position on Standpipe Hill. They joined forces and began rebuilding homes and businesses. According to Tim Madigans The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, retired white Judge John Oliphant, Jacksons neighbor, testified that two young men trained their guns on the physician. While a vast majority of the neighborhood rented, many residents owned their homes. Mar 23, 2023 Updated Mar 23, 2023. In the evenings, residents had their choice of entertainment. "Where does that come from?" In the book, Parrish described her heroic escape from the angry mob and her risky return to Greenwood to document the truth of what happened. What happened to the Tulsa Airbnb Queen? When they approached the gates to the wider Tulsa economy, they were turned away, so they ended up creating their own largely insular community.. The story of Tulsas Greenwood community. Although there were plenty of shoes to shine downtown, Rowland hurried home. The suspect is still at large. Corrections? Buildings were destroyed in a massive fire during the Tulsa Race Massacre when a white mob attacked the Greenwood neighborhood, a prosperous Black community in Tulsa, Okla., in 1921. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
The suspect is still at large. Dr. R.T. Bridgewater was a physician with a practice in the Woods Building, at 101-105 Greenwood Avenue. By definition destroy means to put an end to the existence of something Survivors Of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Share Eyewitness Accounts, Live Updates: Protests For Racial Justice, Tulsa Searches For Victims Of 1921 Race Massacre At New Site, Oklahoma Lawsuit Seeks Reparations In Connection To 1921 Tulsa Massacre, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. When the massacre ended on June 1, the official death toll was recorded at 10 whites and 26 African Americans, though many experts now believe at least 300 people were killed. Mr. Stradford, who was indicted, escaped to Kansas and then Chicago. But survivors and their descendants are asking. The family has been together during the pandemic and has used this time to consider the legacy of Tulsa and the family's heritage. Meanwhile, the Tulsa Tribunes afternoon edition fanned the flames with the headline To Lynch Negro Tonight! as an ugly mob began to gather outside of the Tulsa Courthouse. As the Magic City grew with the steady influx of white settlers and fortune hunters, it became more like the rest of America, but with less law and order. The addresses of landmarks and other buildings were used to help determine the order of house numbers on a block.
DuBois had visited Tulsa in March as the NAACP protested the gruesome lynching of Henry Lowery in Arkansas. Is there going to be any official admission of responsibility? The event never received widespread attention and was long noticeably absent from the history books used to teach Oklahoma schoolchildren. Bruner stands with her children Portia and Kevin Hurtt on the front porch of their home in Washington, D.C. By the 1880s, under the leadership of African-American attorney Edwin P. McCabe, a former clerk for the United States Treasury Department, Blacks formed Oklahoma clubs and worked to make Oklahoma an all-Black state. "Looking back now, I know how the story ends," she says, fighting back tears. appearance, and a sprinkling of trappers, hunters, half-breeds, creoles and negroes of every hue. Black families, enslaved and freed, were among the Lochapoka Creeks, who were forced from Alabama during the Trail of Tears and founded Tulsa in 1836. The story of Tulsas Greenwood community, Events of the Tulsa Disaster was compiled by the Black stenographer Mary E. Jones Parrish and published by the Black community sometime after 1922. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Tulsa-race-massacre-of-1921, Oklahoma Historical Society - Tulsa Race Massacre, PBS LearningMedia - A History of Trauma, Violence and Suppression - Tulsa: The Fire and the Forgotten, Tulsa race massacre of 1921 - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Tulsa race massacre of 1921 - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission. "It was a frightening prospect," she says. Our analysis included residents who the 1920 census classified as Black or mulatto. There was also a small juke joint called Zulu Lounge owned by Isaac Evitt, who worked by day on a farm, but after dark, flung open the doors of Zulu. Eyewitnesses recalled the specter of men carrying torches through the streets to set fire to homes and businesses. The first grocery store since the 1940s or 1950s is just now under construction in North Tulsa! Buildings or parts of buildings without photographic reference are shown without details. According to the commission's report, the massacre destroyed some 40-square blocks in Greenwood. "How do you get past the trauma, the hurt, the pain, the fear, the chaos without truth?" He eventually left Tulsa. He was among several Black Tulsans indicted for inciting a riot, and was exonerated posthumously. . Places to work. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. A massive share of people in Greenwood were left homeless. But the book is more than just a historical account. In, This time, the police, fearing a lynching, moved Rowland from the regular jail to the top floor of the Tulsa County Courthouse for safekeeping. As city streets throbbed with protests (and what some might call uprisings) during the summer of 2020, two science fiction dramas recalled the massacre of Tulsa, Oklahoma, which took place 100 years ago this spring. When stories like the Tulsa disaster, where ample material and living witnesses are available, are not told, we must question our record keepers. In April 2002 a private religious charity, the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry, paid a total of $28,000 to the survivors, a little more than $200 each, using funds raised from private donations. This marquee block was the pulse of the Black business community. The commissions final report was published on February 28, 2001. W.) founded the Greenwood District. By Yuliya Parshina-Kottas, Anjali Singhvi, Audra D.S. It was a heritage to be proud of, yet one Bruner didn't learn about until she was in her 30s, she says, when she visited her father in California and he gave her the little red book and revealed this part of her family's history. In 1925, Booker T. Washingtons National Negro Business League held its annual meeting in Tulsas partially restored business district. Bruner shows the author photo inside Events of the Tulsa Disaster, her great-grandmother's memoir. Bruner says the nation, and in particular Black Americans, should not be living with that same fear 100 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre. Late in the battle as gunfire was sporadic, Jackson walked back to his home, after attending to victims, with his hands up. Sources: Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921; Luke Williams, Tulsa Historical Society and Museum; Ancestry.com; Marc Carlson, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa; Larry ODell, Oklahoma Historical Society; Scott Ellsworth,1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial; Library of Congress; Polk-Hoffhine Tulsa City Directory, 1921; Tulsa City-County Library; Oklahoma State University Archives; David Van Riper, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota; Kurt C. Schlichting, Fairfield University; John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation; The American Red Cross Tulsa Race Riot Disaster Relief Report, 1921; Events of the Tulsa Disaster, by Mary E. Jones Parrish; Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsas Historic Greenwood District, by Hannibal B. Johnson; Tulsa, 1921: Reporting a Massacre, Randy Krehbiel; interviews of survivors by Eddie Faye Gates, 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Commission; The Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 by Tim Madigan; The Tulsa Star (1913-21). The shooting at a Tulsa hospital is one of many in a string of shootings that have taken place across the country in recent weeks.
Terror came from the sky, too. "Knowing what I know about what happened in Tulsa when, as my great grandmother called it, King Mob was in charge.". B. Mann, of Mann Brothers Grocery Store, and Black Deputy County Sheriff J. K. Smitherman (A. J.s brother), they offered their assistance to Sheriff Willard McCullough, but he persuaded them to leave. What was known as Black Wall Street was burned to the ground. It's a belief she says was reinforced as she watched the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, happening just a few miles from her home. WebAt 5:08 a.m. on June 1, 1921, a whistle pierced the predawn quiet of Tulsa, Oklahoma. What if we had been allowed to maintain our family business? asked Brenda Nails-Alford, who is in her early 60s. Many African-Americans migrated to Tulsa after the Civil War, carrying dreams of new chapters and the kind of freedom found in owning businesses. Oklahoma representation will be significant when Hollywood Week begins on ABCs American Idol.. Parrish, who miraculously escaped death as she fled through a hail of gunfire with her young daughter, wrote: The Tulsa disaster has taught great lessons to all of us, has dissipated some of our false creeds, and has revealed to us verities of which we were oblivious. The exhibition will feature 33 Oklahoma-based artists. Watchmen and Lovecraft Country, both on HBO, filled television screens with imagery of Tulsas Black neighborhood of GreenwoodBooker T. Washington nicknamed it Negro Wall Street, which morphed into Black Wall Streetas it was shot up, torched, and bombed from the air by white vigilantes. The Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 published its final report in 2001. he asks. Staking a claim in the Cherokee Outlet Land Run of 1893, Gurley and his wife opened a general store and founded Perry, Oklahoma. Supporters of Former President Donald Trump parade their signs in front of assembled media and onlookers outside Manhattan Criminal Court, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, in New York. The financial toll of the massacre is evident in the $1.8 million in property loss claims $27 million in todays dollars detailed in a 2001 state commission report. DuBois had already warned the Black veterans of World War I, in the May 1919 issue of the Crisis, that they would be cowards and jackasses if now that the war is over, we do not marshal every ounce of our brain and brawn to fight a sterner, longer, more unbending battle against the forces of hell in our own land.. Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Okla., was the pulse of the Black business community. hide caption. Editing by Haeyoun Park, Destine-Charisse Royal and Jamie Stockwell. Now that Tulsa has scratched its way into popular culture, it stands as a symbol of Black tragedy and also of resurrection and resilience. Postcards, issued in 1911, featured the hanging of African-American farm wife Laura Nelson and her castrated son from a bridge in Okemah, Oklahomaan event that later inspired the activism of Woody Guthrie. Tulsas Greenwood Cultural Center tabulates that in the span of 24 hours 35 city blocks of Black Wall Street were burned to the ground. hide caption. Tulsa police commissioner J. M. Adkison and police chief John Gustafson were under pressure to keep law and order in the rough and tumble boomtown. As eleven-year-old Sarah Rector, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, became the Richest colored girl in the world when a gusher was discovered on her land, many African Americans feared for their lives. All but a couple were owned by Black entrepreneurs. "And so, my great-grandmother put down her reading and went to see what her daughter was talking about. WebThe Tulsa race massacre, also known as the Tulsa race riot or the Black Wall Street massacre, was a two-day-long massacre that took place between May 31 June 1, A composite image shows Greenwood ablaze during the massacre. The Williams family, among the most successful before the massacre, stayed and rebuilt. Segregation produced a captive marketplace, and Black entrepreneurs prospered. Brick and wood-frame homes dotted the landscape, along with blocks lined with grocery stores, hotels, nightclubs, billiard halls, theaters, doctors offices and churches. Department of Special Collections and University Archives. First, we took images of Sanborn insurance maps from 1920 and 1915 and used a process called georeferencing to align them to modern geography. It hasnt happened near enough this season, but the Oklahoma baseball bats and pitching were in orchestra-like synchrony on Tuesday and the result was a 12-2 midweek win over Oral Roberts in Tulsa. ", Copies of the original book, Events of the Tulsa Disaster, and the newly published version, The Nation Must Awake, written by Mary E. Jones Parrish, sit on Bruner's porch. Before the massacre, the Greenwood district was considered one of the most affluent all-Black communities in the country, a mecca for African American culture, business and prosperity. African Americans had been around Oklahoma for a long time. In addition to the loss of life, there was more than $1 million in property losses that would amount to more than $20 million today. Among the counted dead was Dr. A. C. Jackson, a noted surgeon endorsed by the Mayo Clinic (the clinic acknowledged his prominence). 6 people shot at Oklahoma City bar featured in Tulsa King 4 people shot at Los Angeles shopping center Missing Florida boy found dead in alligators jaws Laurel Stradford, Stradford family historian, By 1921, Greenwood had grown into a 35-block neighborhood with a bustling retail scene, as well as two schools, two newspapers and a hospital. "It was a community of self-sufficient people," Bruner says. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Those data were used to analyze and map businesses in Greenwood. Some white rioters were even deputized and given weapons by civil officials. But they were woefully outnumbered. The Times also analyzed census data, city directories, newspaper articles, and survivor tapes and testimonies from that time to show the types of people who made up the neighborhood and contributed to its vibrancy.
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