More than 100 years since the Tulsa Race Massacre, a survivor of the attack living in Atlanta is sharing her memories and hopes for the future.
Channel 2′s Wendy Corona spoke with Mother Viola Ford-Fletcher, who was just seven years old during the attack, where a mob of armed white men took over what was known as Tulsa, Okla.’s Black Wall Street and burned it to the ground.
Ford-Fletcher is sharing her memories of the terror of that day, where as many as 300 people were killed and 35 city blocks were set aflame so that others can learn from it.
May 31 and June 1 mark the 103rd anniversary of the attack in 1921, which continued for two days until state leaders sent in the National Guard.
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Now, community leaders in Atlanta hope to rebuild the spirit of the community, hoping Ford-Fletcher’s voice may be the spark.
“We were told, all the Black people, to leave town, if not we are going to be killed,” Ford-Fletcher told Channel 2 Action News.
Sitting in Virgil’s Gullah Kitchen and Bar in West Midtown, a long way from Western Oklahoma, Ford-Fletcher and her grandson Ike Howard shared the Tulsa survivor’s memories of living through the massacre.
Atlanta, sometimes called the Black Mecca of the South, and Black Wall Street in 1920s Tulsa, have a lot in common, including thriving communities and racial tensions.
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“Lots of cruel things happening, people being killed and ran out of town,” Ford-Fletcher said. She remembered watching armed white men storm the Greenwood District, burning homes, businesses and even churches.
“See the smoke, smell the smoke and see the fire. Buildings and churches and restaurants and everything nice up and down the street,” she said.
As the community lay under siege, Oklahoma Gov. James B. A. Robertson declared martial law and ordered the National Guard to take over. Ford-Fletcher’s family got away but had to leave behind the life they’d built.
Her mother and father, and their six children, all got out.
“We all escaped and no one in our family got killed, but we lost everything we owned,” Ford-Fletcher said. Her family hunkered down in a small town not far from Tulsa, sometimes living in a tent.
Now, her grandson Howard hopes to pass on the lessons of survival to the next generation.
“The key is education. Definitely financial literacy, but education and having faith,” Howard said.
Jasmine Young, founder of the Financial Literacy Institute, is another person who believes there are lessons to learn from the example of Black Wall Street. She is leading the Black Business Expo this weekend to honor the legacy of Black Wall Street and the power of community.
“I wanted to revive that spirit to encourage our community that even though that happened 103 years ago, that we can do it again and we are more than capable,” Young said.
This weekend marks the third annual Black Wall Street Expo, and a series of events meant to honor Ford-Fletcher and Black Wall Street, hosted by the Financial Literacy Institute will be held in College Park.
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