Tulsa Race Massacre Essay

In 1921, a tragic incident in American history known as the Tulsa Race Massacre, often referred to as the Black Wall Street Massacre, took place. The wealthy Black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was attacked and completely demolished by a white mob. The result of this was the killing of hundreds of African Americans and the destruction of homes, shops, and churches. Despite its importance, the media's role in the Tulsa Race Massacre is frequently disregarded. During the event, the media's coverage was a subject of controversy, with allegations that it contributed to the violence by spreading sensationalized and inaccurate reports that depicted the Black community negatively. One of the biggest issues in this time period was

Stated in an interview, “ The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 is considered to be the worst race riot in U.S. history. The actual number of black citizens killed by local white militia men and others as a result of the riot was estimated by the Red Cross at around 300. Circumstances leading up to the riot are in question.” (Clark, 2009). The worst part of the entire event was that there truly was no reason for this to occur. When looking at photographs from the massacre, one scene is described as “A truck is parked in front of the Convention Hall. One man lies on the bed of the truck, either wounded or dead, while two others sit to either side. It is my belief that the man lying on the truck may be Dr. Jackson. A man in civilian attire stands guard over them. A crowd is gathered around the door to the building. The shadows suggest late morning, possibly around 11.” (Carlson, 2014). As described in the scene, many people were either injured or dead as a result of the massacre. One could even say that this event was caused by a lot of jealousy. According to an article written about the massacre, “Tulsa had a particularly large, affluent, and empowered African American community. To prevent a lynching, three carloads of African American men converged on Tulsa’s courthouse, guns in tow.” (David,

Therefore, as big influencers of the news and media, a lot of fall information was put out into the world. As a result, other people developed racist tendencies. According to an editorial page during the time period, it stated, “Stripped of all the excuses that may be thrown around, Tulsa shame can be summed up in the last words of Thursday's editorial, of the Oklahoma man. This is a white man’s country.” (Dunjee, 1921) As seen in the quote the tone the man is speaking in is very hateful and almost sounds like the editor is trying to slander African Americans. This was also a very small glimpse into multiple outlets of media that was being put out with this tone. “All the ones that didn’t leave town. Some people left town and have never lived here since. Since they have heard what’s going on now from the ’21 Race Riot movie and all of that, some people have come back that had not been back since they left here as children. And there’s still some that have not come back. I have gotten letters from classmates of mine, people that I knew back in the day, wanting to know what’s going on. Because they had not been back here. They live in Chicago, New York, all around. They left here and went to California, they went wherever. And some of them are just hearing about it. So they get in touch with whoever they