Haverford's Plant and Seed Swap!

 

100 yr. Anniversary of The Tragedy , Massacre, Destruction & the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 !

It was once known as "Black Wall Street”. Some of America's most prominent lived in Tulsa, just north of downtown. There were black owned grocery store, clothing stores, theaters and restaurants, but with a few minutes, it was all destroyed.

The growth of the oil industry made Tulsa, Oklahoma a rich town by 1921. Its predominantly black section, Greenwood, achieved a level of wealth that earned its name as the "Negro Wall Street of America."  African Americans comprised about 12 % of the overall population. Whites’ responded violently to the accomplishment of African Americans began organizing mobs of white citizens that arbitrarily assaulted blacks on a daily basis.

Tulsa Riot of 1921,that devastated some 40 city blocks in the mostly-black Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

There had also been several lynching in the vicinity of Tulsa, a major Ku Klux Klan hub, and blacks armed themselves for protection. The riot of 1921 was the culmination of these racial tensions.

In 1921, a 19 year old black man named Dick Rowland took a break from his downtown job as a shoe shiner to use the restroom at the top of a nearby building. Sarah Page, a 17 year old white girl who was operating the elevator there, claimed that Rowland assaulted her. Rowland was arrested the following day and incarcerated at the local courthouse.

Before the incident had been investigated, the May 31 Tulsa Tribune reported that Rowland, who was identified only by his color, "attacked Page, scratching her hands and face, and tearing her clothes off." That evening, a crowd of whites began to gather outside the courthouse in response to the paper's assertion that Rowland was going to be lynched.

The sheriff tried unsuccessfully to disperse the crowd, which by 10:30 PM had grown to nearly 2000. A group of 50 to 75 armed black men, who previously had been turned away, returned to the courthouse to help the sheriff defend Rowland. 

One of the white men tried to disarm one of the blacks, a shot was fired, and the two groups opened fire. Vastly outnumbered, the blacks retreated to Greenwood.  

Records kept by the Red Cross estimate that "1115 houses and businesses

belonging to black people had been burned down, and that another 314 had been looted".

Sarah Page refused to prosecute Dick Rowland: follow-up investigation found that Rowland had stumbled into the girl as he was getting off the elevator, and all charges were dropped.

What’s so unbelievable with the Tulsa Riot of 1921 is that all these people lost their life and all those business and homes that were destroyed based on a LIE. This story must be told!! Mr.Philly Librarian

Bibliography

• Scott Ellsworth, Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982).
• John Hope Franklin and Scott Ellsworth, eds., The Tulsa Race Riot: A Scientific, Historical and Legal Analysis (Oklahoma City: Tulsa Race Riot Commission, 2000).
• Eddie Faye Gates, They Came Searching: How Blacks Sought the Promised Land in Tulsa (Austin, Tex.: Eakin Press, 1997).
• Loren L. Gill, "The Tulsa Race Riot" (M.A. thesis, University of Tulsa, 1946).
• Robert N. Hower, "Angels of Mercy": The American Red Cross and the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot (Tulsa, Okla.: Homestead Press, 1993).
• Mary E. Jones Parrish, Events of the Tulsa Disaster (Tulsa, Okla.: Out on a Limb Publishing, 1998).

New Teen Fiction Books @ Haverford

 

  Let’s get Ready for Summer Reading! Come Check out some of our New Teen Fiction Books.  Click on the links under the descriptions and put the books on hold for pickup at Haverford Library.

 The Life I'm In Hardcover by Sharon G. Flake (Author)

 The powerful and long-anticipated companion to The Skin I'm In, Sharon Flake's bestselling modern classic, presents the unflinching story of Char, a young woman trapped in the underworld of human trafficking. https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/2554209

The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates  (Author)
As a child, Ta-Nehisi Coates was seen by his father, Paul, as too sensitive and lacking focus. Paul Coates was a Vietnam vet who'd been part of the Black Panthers and was dedicated to reading and publishing the history of African civilization. When it came to his sons, he was committed to raising proud Black men equipped to deal with a racist society, during a turbulent period in the collapsing city of Baltimore where they lived.

Coates details with candor the challenges of dealing with his tough-love father, the influence of his mother, and the dynamics of his extended family, including his brother "Big Bill," who was on a very different path than Ta-Nehisi. Coates also tells of his family struggles at school and with girls, making this a timely story to which many readers will relate. https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/2554199

This Is My America   by Kim Johnson  (Author)

Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time--her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a "thug" on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town's racist history that still haunt the present? https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/2540271

The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert  (Author)

Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She’s always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?

Duke Crenshaw is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band’s first paying gig tonight.

Only problem? Duke can’t vote.

When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn’t spent month’s doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right.

And that’s how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva’s missing cat), it’s clear that there’s more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.   https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/2540264

#MrPhillyLibrarian