Tulsa's "Black Wall Street" Begin Reperations

By Lidya Maru

On June 1, 2025, Monroe Nichols, Mayor of Tulsa, announced his plan for the “Road to Repair” reparations for the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. The attacks lasted 18 hours between May 31 and June 1 in the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Tulsa was very prosperous but highly segregated, with the Greenwood neighborhood housing the majority of the Black community in the city. Greenwood held a thriving business district and was home to many affluent Black families, earning its name of “Black Wall Street.” The extreme segregation, along with increased racial tensions following World War I, led to many instances of racially motivated violence, such as lynchings, led by white supremacist organizations. 

On May 30, 1921, a Black teenager named Dick Rowland was wrongfully accused of raping a white woman named Sarah Page in an elevator. He was arrested, and stories of his arrest and alleged crime quickly spread through Tulsa. The news aggravated local white communities, and angry mobs began to demand Rowland's release. The authorities refused to release him, and armed Black men fought to protect Rowland from the angry mobs. Tension between the two groups culminated, and the Black Tulsans retreated to Greenwood. 

Following the confrontation, thousands of white Tulsans looted and burned the Greenwood District in retaliation, many of whom were deputized or armed by local officials. In the massacre, approximately 1,500 homes were looted or burned, and at least 8,000 people were left homeless. 

Initial reports on the death count of the massacre were reduced and silenced, with the initial number reported as 36 deaths. Modern estimates place the number closer to 300 lives lost. This name change symbolizes a shift in the way the Tulsa Massacre is viewed and reported, painting it as the tragedy that it is. “The Tulsa Race Massacre has been a stain on our city's history... hidden from history books,” Nichols said. 

Nichols also announced the first-ever official Tulsa Race Massacre Observance Day and the creation of a private charitable Greenwood trust. The trust would be tasked with securing $105 million in assets, $24 million for housing, $60 million for historic preservation, $21 million for land development, and other reparative projects for the affected communities. However, this is not the first instance of a city providing Black residents with reparations. Evanston, Illinois, became the first city to make reparations available to its black residents in 2021 by offering qualified households money for expenses. 

However, there are still many instances where reparations are seen as a controversial solution to past acts of racism. Maryland Governor Wes Moore claimed he would veto a measure to create a commission for studying reparations in his state in May. Last year, California officials apologized for past racial discrimination against Black Americans but refused to offer direct financial payments. 

In the wake of President Trump and many major companies ending DEI practices, this is the first large-scale plan to commit funds to addressing the impact of a specific racially motivated attack.