Justice Department launches first federal review of 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

The U.S. Department of Justice announced it is launching a "review and evaluation" of the Tulsa Race Massacre in a long-awaited federal probe more than a century after one of the worst acts of racial violence in U.S. history.

The last two remaining survivors of the historic 1921 assault — Viola Fletcher ("Mother Fletcher") and Lessie Benningfield Randle ("Mother Randle") — have for years called on the federal government to examine the violent decimation of Greenwood, a thriving Black neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, referred to as "Black Wall Street."

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the federal report will honor the victims’ legacies and hope it will help prevent their stories from being lost to history while noting there is "no expectation" that there are living perpetrators who could be criminally prosecuted for the massacre more than a century later.

"We acknowledge descendants of the survivors, and the victims continue to bear the trauma of this act of racial terrorism," Clarke said. "Although a commission, historians, lawyers and others have conducted prior examinations of the Tulsa Massacre, we, the Justice Department, never have."

The announcement comes about three months after the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit from the remaining survivors seeking reparations. Survivors alleged that because of the massacre, they continued to face racially disparate treatment and city-created barriers to basic needs such as jobs, financial security, education, housing, and justice.

"It only took 103 years, but this is a joyous occasion, a momentous day, an amazing opportunity for us to make sure that what happened here in Tulsa is understood for what it was: the largest crime scene in the history of this country," Damario Solomon-Simmons, lead attorney for the survivors, said at a news briefing Monday.

Review launched under Justice Department cold case initiative

The Justice Department Civil Rights Division review of the Tulsa Race Massacre was launched under the authority of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which Congress passed to seek justice for long-ignored victims of racial violence. The law allows the Justice Department to investigate deadly civil rights crimes that occurred before 1980.

Clarke said the department will examine witness accounts, historical research and documents, and analyze the massacre in light of current and 1921-era civil rights laws. The department will release a public report detailing its findings and conclusions, which is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.

"In the words of Ida B. Wells, one of this nation’s most staunch antilynching advocates, 'The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,'" Clarke said. "We hope that official reports, which reflect the Justice Department’s exhaustive efforts to seek justice, at bare minimum, prevent these victims and the tragic ordeals they endured from being lost to history."

Clarke asked that anyone with evidence or materials related to the massacre that isn't already in a curated collection notify the Cold Case Division at ColdCase.CivilRights@usdoj.gov using the subject line, "Tulsa Race Massacre."

The Justice Department declined to provide additional information about the review and evaluation when reached by USA TODAY.

What was the Tulsa Race Massacre?

In the early 1900s, the 40 blocks to the north of downtown Tulsa boasted 10,000 residents, hundreds of businesses, medical facilities an airport, and more. Then on May 31, 1921, a white mob descended on Greenwood — the Black section of Tulsa — burning, looting, and destroying more than 1,000 homes.

The massacre is reported to have started with an accusation that Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old shoe-shiner, assaulted a white female teenager on an elevator. Decades later, the 2001 Tulsa Race Riot Commission concluded, Sarah Page, 17, was interviewed by police but made no allegations of assault.

Rowland was arrested, and white men went to the jail to demand that he be released to "face mob justice," Clarke said. A fight broke out after members of the Black community showed up to protect Rowland from being lynched.

A mob then invaded Greenwood, looting and destroying businesses and homes.

Tulsa authorities deputized some white men, instructing them to "get a gun and get busy and try to get a (Black person)," according to witness accounts and records at the time. The Oklahoma National Guard participated in mass arrests of nearly everyone living in Greenwood.

"Some suspect that the aim of the white mob was, all along, to appropriate the wealth of the Black community and that the allegations against Mr. Rowland were merely an excuse," Clarke said.

The true death toll of the massacre may never be known, with the search for unmarked graves continuing more than a century later. Most historians who have studied the event estimate the death toll to be between 75 and 300 people.

Contributing: Camille Fine, USA TODAY